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For crying out loud, when did an A- become a bad grade?
THAT is the $20,000 question. An A- is a good grade in chemistry. Heck, a B is a good grade in chemistry. For some students a D is a good grade. I had one student last year who was determined to pass chemistry if it killed him. He ended up with a D+. IMO, his D+ means more than most of the A's I will give to students who slept through my class. More often than not, the A's go to students who don't have to put in much effort. Which means A students are at risk for not developing good study habits.
What this student is struggling with is missing the A by 1 point on the quarter and 2 points on the final. 3 more points out of 700 and he would have had the A. I'm struggling with bumping the final. The point on the quarter I'd give. Altering the final bothers me. He didn't earn those two points while classmates did. 13 of my students earned the grade he needed or higher on the final out of 94. Is it fair to them to bump him?
You want to be a hard core on kids is really an improper tactic of teaching at any level..I believe your remarks are not in tune with to anything but yourself. Standard issues for grading do not work anymore. If a school book says one thing and everyone believes it is proper then I guess you teach the misguided way. THink about it for some time and I hope you will change your thinking process and pass the kids ideas to think outside the box.
I am not endorsing bumping all grading just for general purposes. My post offers an adjustment to a single single class the teacher or Prof. are responsible for grading..... Ethics does or should form a base of thinking for all teachers but then again so does empathy..
No person of sound mind would bump a full grade. What about a few points so this student can report a grade of decent quality.....
Helping a struggling student, in my opinion, is a good thing..Helping anyone who is struggling a great thing and I plan on continuing reaching out to those who need a helping hand....
1. I am not a teacher
2. I am a parent and I would be livid with a teacher that "bumped" grades for certain students, mine included, if they did not earn that grade.
My first question would be how much time did you spend texting or on facebook the week of that test where you go 90% instead of 94%. It has nothing to do with thinking outside of the box and everything to do with applying yourself in school. It's kind of hard to think outside of the box in subjects like math and chemistry. H2O is H2O no matter how creative you want to be.
You are giving them an honest grade. That is the best you can do.
Consider the opposite... my high school Spanish teacher gave me a B on a 89.95%. He informed me that he had purposely pointed out my last assignment so that I would be 1 point short of an A. He bragged to other teachers, including my father, that he was the only teacher tough enough to give me my only B in high school.
I would say that if you are somewhere north of him, then you are not being heartless (I moved on. He cared much more about giving me a B than I cared about receiving one.)
2. I am a parent and I would be livid with a teacher that "bumped" grades for certain students, mine included, if they did not earn that grade.
My first question would be how much time did you spend texting or on facebook the week of that test where you go 90% instead of 94%. It has nothing to do with thinking outside of the box and everything to do with applying yourself in school. It's kind of hard to think outside of the box in subjects like math and chemistry. H2O is H2O no matter how creative you want to be.
Sorry but you do not get it....
Secondly is that I do not text or spend time on Facebook. Oh, I was also Magna *** Laude throughout all my years of college but I am not keeping score..
It is well known that some Teachers including Professors and Aristocrats feel that grading is as simple as a yes or no. My wife and I graduated with honors from an Ivy League school... I am not saying I am correct but I am saying we should grade students with an eye for possible improvement, who for some odd reason are not good at taking tests. A test is a culmination of one’s ability to learn and reply to what they gathered. This time is an extremely tense hour or so for some including myself.
It is really BS to grade a student with a B+ when a point or so would have the student earning an true A....
Here is a true story:
My ex-manager dropped out of high school during the 2nd week of 10th grade because he was bored and received all D’s. Now he has a Ph.D. from an Ivy League college plus received Magna *** Laude or 4.0 GPA throughout his college years. So tell me where the grade he received in high school was accurate? It was not.
Teachers need to open their minds and hearts to a student. Screw standards!
You are giving them an honest grade. That is the best you can do.
Consider the opposite... my high school Spanish teacher gave me a B on a 89.95%. He informed me that he had purposely pointed out my last assignment so that I would be 1 point short of an A. He bragged to other teachers, including my father, that he was the only teacher tough enough to give me my only B in high school.
I would say that if you are somewhere north of him, then you are not being heartless (I moved on. He cared much more about giving me a B than I cared about receiving one.)
It is not good to say "That is the best you can do" ....We must do better...Why not?
The one point on the quarter grade is not an issue and if that is all it took for him to get an A for the semester, I'd give it. It's following it with a 2 point bump on the final to make the semester grade an A that is the issue. I'd be bumping the quarter grade to an A and then bumping his final grade to an A which means he did not earn an A on two out of three of three of the grades that make up the semester grade and did not have a high enough A on the one he did to offset the A- on the 2nd quarter and the B+ on the final.
It's really the B+ on the final that bugs me. Is he really an A student if he got a B+ on the final? (I had 13 out of 94 students earn an A or A- on the final) How would I justify changing a B+ on the final to an A- so he can get an A in the class when I already gave him 7 points extra credit AND bumped the quarter grade to an A. Yes, he missed the A by two points but I already gave him 7 points in extra credit. How many extra points should I be giving to bump a student to an A. If I bumped both grades, I would have given him 10 points extra credit to get to that A. If I hadn't given extra credit this quarter, this wouldn't even be an issue because he'd be too far to be asking for a bump.
Yes, effort counts for something. That's why I give extra credit points. That's the boost for effort. Most kids don't put in the effort there. The question is, should I give even more to a student who did? At what point do you stop bumping grades? It should be noted that I already round up at the .5 mark so a 92.5 rounds up to a 93 for an A. This student has an earned 92.3 for the semester with the bump on the quarter grade (I already did that and then calculated the semester grade would still be an A- because of the final).
My reasons for not bumping this student's grade:
1) I gave 7 points extra credit so the grade has already been bumped.
2) I already round up at the 92.5 mark (an A is "officially" a 93 but most teachers set the system to round up so they don't have to deal with requests to round up at the end of the term.)
3) I'd be bumping two of the three grades that make up the semester grade.
4) The student got a B+ on the final. I'm far more inclined to bump a student who showed improvement on the final. This student has, consistently gone after every point her could but it wasn't enough. I'm inclined to let the grade stand.
5) I give multiple opportunities to earn extra points during the term (this student took them all) in the form of corrections on lab reports and quizzes. This student doesn't have an A- because he earned it. He has an A- because I gave him lots of opportunties to get extra points. That he missed the mark by 3 points is unfortunate but I feel like I've already done a lot and if I do this for him, shouldn't I for all students?
Sorry to be cynical here, but you know that all of this is irrelevant, IT. The only issues that really matter are these:
1. How nasty are his parents?
2. How weak is your principal?
So, you bump their grades, they end up with a higher GPA than they deserve, then they can't figure out why they don't pass state tests or get a good score on their ACT/SAT....you aren't helping anyone by bumping grades. Your standard answer should be "you should have done the work to earn the A or B or whatever" and walk away.
Less cynically than my previous posts, I agree with you, GG, speaking at least for myself, but at least at certain schools or in certain districts, some teachers simply don't have the luxury of making any other choice.
When students don't pass the ACT/SAT, here's what they/the counselors/their parents/the administration will say:
1. "It's only one test on one day."
2. "It doesn't really indicate anything."
*Note: I've heard both of the above from counselors.
3. "It wasn't my fault."
4. "I don't really care."
5. "Those tests are biased against ____"
6. "You just had a bad day."
What almost never, ever, ever gets said are the following:
1. "I'm sorry I pressured your math teacher into passing you."
2. "We should have hired a tutor for you."
3. "We should have helped you learn this material instead of claiming that the teacher didn't like you/was unfair/couldn't teach."
4. "We should have had you take summer school instead of going on that trip to Boca."
5. "We should've unplugged the computer."
6. "We should've stopped making excuses for you."
To Charles Wallace: I was laughing so loud and so long about your comments that I scared our new puppy! I guess that he isn't used to me laughing after a tough day of (substitute) teaching.
Sorry to be cynical here, but you know that all of this is irrelevant, IT. The only issues that really matter are these:
1. How nasty are his parents?
2. How weak is your principal?
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(I moved on. He cared much more about giving me a B than I cared about receiving one.)
