The Downward Slope until Christmas

Well we've made it through the hard part of the first semester. Really, November and December go by quickly for me. There is only one full week of school from now until Thanksgiving and then only three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's manageable.

So, on to the reflections....

First term is officially over. Grades were turned in and rosters have changed. I failed three students and had one student with an incomplete. I thought that was pretty good. The students who failed didn't show up for finals and I was told to fail them. But I've made some changes.

I was asked by my administrator to "find a way to have my students pass." So I changed my original homework policy and accepted late work from students who hadn't turned in any work. This led to hours and hours of grading for me each night. That will not be done again. I told my administrator that I am going back to my original policy and it makes my life so much easier.

My homework policy is as follows:
-Late work is accepted but at a penalty. I take 10% off of whatever score would have been received for each day that the assignment is lately. Eventually after 10 days, the assignment is worth nothing and I will no longer accept it.
-To make up for this and to give students a chance to catch up if they have fallen behind, I always provide a make up assignment and an extra credit assignment every Friday. This adds up to essentially 1 1/2 homework assignments each week. I take make up and extra credit assignments at any time during the term. These assignments are easier to grade and I don't mind taking them whenever students get them in.

It's only been one week in the new term, and this has been so much better. Less hours spent grading makes for a much happier teacher. So far, the kids are taking me seriously and turning in much more of their work. We'll see how long that lasts.