When you get beyond Calc 1 into problems on more than 3 dimensional planes, I could see how a light buzz or high might help someone more quickly accept what their brain can't visually comprehend.
I’ve done it both ways. Can’t say I feel strongly either way. The only real effect is indeed a narrow path to passing for students who would otherwise be out of the game early in the year. A few certain F’s get salvaged into D’s. Students who get higher grades can manipulate it a little. But most of those students are motivated more by the ethics than the letter and won’t skip work just because the A will hold without this or that assignment. IOW, I don’t see much, if any, harm in it. Something I see repeatedly is confusion about “preparing” students. Of course it’s prep, to a point. It also is NOT the corporate world or college or anything else post-HS. Half of the mistakes they make in HS would result in immediate termination in the “real” world. That’s not what HS is. This whole idea about students “learning” they get something for nothing is silly. I suppose they also believe that free food is given to them at 11:45 AM every weekday, and that buses show up every morning to drive them to work. How in the world could they possibly know otherwise? As for this teacher, if the policy is 50%, end of analysis. There are a dozen policies I can rattle off that I think are absurd. And I am free to advocate to get them changed. I am NOT free to disregard them. My school has a retake policy. Two weeks to retake for max 80%. I find that ludicrous. I’m not against the entire idea. Certain situations, sure. But the blanket policy is goofy AF. So I have a built-in two weeks of testing every time, because there will most certainly be a student who scores <80% and then calls this play in. I’ll let you guess how often a student improves a test score to any meaningful degree. It’s almost entirely a waste of time. But if I disregard that policy, I would expect to be fired the minute that knowledge gets out. And also, see: you can fire a teacher super easy. Some believe this was a “bad” firing, and yet presto—GONE!
When I was in the honors dorms at UF, all the IB guys said their first year at UF was easier than their last two years of high school.
This is me. I was tested for "gifted " classes in the 3rd grade. I still remember the proctor telling my parents how fast I was at the math questions. Math then became the single biggest hurdle for me in high school and college.
I guess, to me, the issue isn't about homework as a binary Y/N. Instead, it's about finding ways to maximize the effectiveness of homework. I think some teachers are better at this than others, and necessarily, there's going to be some matches that work better for some students than for others (based on course material). But homework delivered properly can be a great tool of enhancement and even foster a greater desire to learn more about a given subject. So it's not that "homework is bad" but maybe "homework not executed well isn't effective." Just my two bits. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
How is it virtue signaling? It's a proven fact that going over a concept multiple times with a time interval in between sessions moves concepts from short to long term memory. That's the real value of doing homework. Even if it's as simple as rereading the chapter and doing a few practice problems. Weight it down to make it less impactful on an overall grade, but there is actually a value to it. That's simple logic.
Of course i don't know about uour HS, but with UF, what i was told, was that those multiple choice tests were comprised of the most common answers received from a room full of grad students. So you could have a solid grasp of the subject matter, but unless you achieved mastery, you'd be likely to make respectable mistakes like a math major grad student... while getting no credit for those questions.
Yes, I’m fine with your first 3 examples. I can see a rational basis for “make-ups”, for tossing the lowest score, or even grading on a curve. In fact, a pretty good way to address a 0 on the homework would be to allow the student to make it up, but dock a few points for being late. Even if a kid had no “good” excuse, it is still reasonable to accept late work if the objective is to get the student to learn from performing the work. There really isn’t a rational basis I can see for handing out 5’s on individual assignments when the student did 0. Even if a final curve eventually gets to the same number of students passing, if homework is graded it’s bonkers to force a teacher to give credit for nothing. Of course the main issue i have is the heavy handed nature of this policy, that the school district forced the teacher to give what seems like irrational grades.
My bigger issue is with the teacher getting fired, than with the policy. All my kids' schools have thee retake ploicies, and flexible homework redos. As a parent, i appreciate it. ....as a former student who had to choke on zeros, Fs, and such.... ....im ***** pissed!!! (I kid....water under the bridge...after years of couseling with Dr. Bacardi).
Respectfully disagree. Studies show that math is eminently learnable by volume. Do lots of math, you learn math. Dont, and your abilities atrophy, and kids think they just arent wired to do math. 2 of my kids went to an IB elementary, and they were assigned 50 math problems a night, and their progess is measured against so many problems in a measure of minutes. The school cranks out STEM studs like a factory. I've heard your school of thought, and while i can't really dispute it, my experience/observation seems to align with those studies i refer to. Btw, my daughter is one of the 2 that went there. She's my artsy one, least mathematically inclined....has A in AP calc, and like 3 college msth classes in the bag already. I think those pain in the ass math hw assignments prolly had a lot to do with artsy kid rocking math ( she hates it, btw, but hey, better to be able to do something and not have to, than unable to something you have to). Jmho/fwiw
There’s a difference between computation and concept. Kids can crank it out but don’t understand the “why” of it. That hurts them in higher level math.
Again, respectfully disagree. The higher concepts develop off of the fundamentals. By drilling in the fundies, you lay a solid foundation upon which to develop the higher. Week fundamentals are easily exploited at the higher levels, and turn guys like @antny1 and me, into CJ and HY majors respectively. No disrespect intended. I know your in education and have solid cred in your field....i just happen to subscribe to a different school of thought, and have a damn solid basis for doing so. Peace.
That’s true but 10-15 well chosen problems in the upper grades are just as good as 50 repetitions of the same thing. The key of course is well chosen.
guess it depends if you are attempting to teach both longer and shorter term solutions. Getting 50% credit zero work is never an ok proposition in any endeavor. Teaching that 0=50 only hinders the student.
I think 50 becomes the new zero and if administered consistently, that is equitable for all students. If you drop the lowest one or two scores, it might not be equitable; nor would it necessarily be a valid indicator of the students' learning. For example, students A and B both earn 90s on their top three scores. While student A earns an 89 for their lowest score, student B earns a 30 (or a zero). In such a circumstance, it's not valid or equitable.
I've had teachers give 0s for not doing homework, but also they'd give you a couple free hits where it didn't count against your overall average in the final grading.
