If a student teacher is to survive the blackboard jungle all by himself someday, he better get used to making judgment calls. At least, that’s what B, one of my students, has to say.
B (striking his level-best plaintive tone): Mr. R? I did the reading last night but...the thing is...I left my notes at home. Do I have to take the quiz, or can I make it up?
Me: Uhmm…is that true?
B: No, I just wanted to see what you would say. (Big smile). As a teacher you have to be prepared for that. Are you gonna be one of those teachers that says, “Suck it up,” or be like, “Awwwwww, don’t worry--here, I have some notes you can borrow”?
Me: *Smile*
B: No, really, what would you do? Say you had a kid who was really good, always did their work and you knew they were telling the truth. Would you let them take it later?
Me: Uhmm…let’s move on with our quiz, B.
Can you believe it? I had no ready answer, so I stalled and brushed the question aside. Of course, I did sincerely want to get on with the quiz and not drift into private conversation, but still. I’m not sure I have an answer that goes much farther than, “it depends.” In point of fact I have already made a couple of exceptions this year, so I have made some short-term decision toward leniency. Was it the right thing to do? I'm not sure. But I strongly suspect this question will come up again soon. And this time I'm going to study.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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2 comments:
Wow, that's quite the cheeky student! I like him!
My personal philosophy - and everyone has a different one, but this has worked pretty well for me - is to say on the first day of class that, out of fairness to everyone, I don't grant extensions and the like (except in the case of documented illness or family emergency), that late work carries a penalty.
This firm policy gets me out of the business of making judgment calls, and lets students know that if they're penalized for something, it's nothing personal, as anyone else would get penalized for the same thing. I also believe students are much better about turning in work when they know there's no bending the rules.
What's the downside? None, really, but the policy has to be transparent and communicated at the outset. And you can't be an asshole about it. Empathize and be kind toward the student who forgot his notes, but explain that you have to be fair and ask him to take the quiz today with everyone else. If the student is "really good, always [does] their work," then getting a low quiz grade because of an isolated mistake isn't going to affect him in the long-run.
Cheeky indeed. Toward the very end of the semester he told me in the middle of class, "I came in your favorite student, and I want to go out as your favorite student!".
Your policy sounds sensible, JBert. I'm a little surprised at myself for not having planned for this ahead of time, and I'd love to be able to start out fresh with a straightforward approach like yours. I ended up making lots of (strongly lenient)judgment calls, and I didn't like devoting so much mental space to what became an unruly dimension of teaching. I also wish I had developed a contingency plan for kids who were digging themselves into holes with absences, not doing work, or just struggling. I had people come in after school on an ad hoc basis, but I didn't always reach the kids I was hoping would come (even if they did come!).
But we'll see when that chance comes again. For now, I hope to sub throughout the spring. After that, who knows.
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