You can even see the two students who did not submit on time at the bottom. They're two very reliable students, and consequently as I was making this screenshot, I realized the email-girl was not one of these. Yikes! So I guess I have to step back and think about the actual objective of having this resource. They all turned in actual paper essays on Friday in class, so whomever did not submit to this site by midnight shouldn't really be punished, right? As long as I let them submit it at some point so I know they didn't cheat, right? Am I being too soft?
This brings me to my next point: some fellow English teacher friends and I had brunch on Saturday (on Pitt campus for nostalgia purposes, of course!) and inevitably brought up school as a major topic of conversation. We can't help it--we love it! Anyway, we debated whether or not deadlines in school were too strict. One friend teaches middle school where they are now expecting teachers to accept assignments no matter when students turn them in "because they showed performance of the task." I can see that in middle school this might be necessary; in fact, I worked at a district that had separate report card grades for two categories: Academic Knowledge and Daily Performance. Essentially every single assignment had to be broken down into those two categories, and while at first it was a major pain in the neck, by the end it took onus off of the teacher and showed students/parents the true origin of the bad (or good) grade. For instance, an essay might be 30 points AK for content and 15 points DP for things like having it turned in on time, submitting a rough draft with the final copy, participating in class activities such as peer editing, etc. So the end result is 45 points but now it's compartmentalized. Again, good for middle school, might be too much for high school.
We kind of tossed around the idea that real world scenarios have deadlines, but aren't they often flexible based on professional courtesy? I mean, the world doesn't end if a report doesn't make it on time, things can be worked around, apologies can be made. Does it really matter? That sounds really bad, but I guess it brings me back to reminding myself what the true objective is and focusing on THAT rather than the other little stuff. Maybe this is why I was a high school academic rebel. We continued to ponder whether it was a learning lesson in itself to take responsibility for late assignments and be ready to work with the consequences, and I think that's where we left it...because it was then my eggs benedict showed up and I don't leave a benny unattended for very long.
So yeah and Breaking Bad, I've been watching some of the marathon all day, admittedly this is like the 3rd time I've seen any of it. (cue the "OMGs") And this guy was a chemistry teacher? When are they going to make a show about a rogue English teacher?? And hmmmm what could that premise possibly be? I'm serious, let's work on this, people.
Well, if this doesn't sound like a conversation I've had with myself many times! I would agree that the focus should be about what will prepare them for the future, and what a boss might realistically expect. I would say that you're right, deadlines can be more flexible in the "real world," but only when we plan ahead and ask for a certain due date or an extension in advance based on our workload or schedules. The weakness of high school students, I think, is that they fail to plan ahead, turn in an assignment late, and then want someone to swoop in and save them from an inevitable consequence. My rule is that all assignments must be turned in on time. One day late equals half off. Any assignments turned in later than that receive no credit, but they must still be done. I will keep students for "mandatory tutoring" (basically, a helpful work detention) until it is done, but they have to do all assignments. Once they realize that, they start to not see the zero as an excuse not to do the work. Giving up isn't an option! I would also be happy to grant an extension to a student who approached me ahead of time, but that's never happened! You'd be surprised how diligent your students become about due dates when they realize you aren't messing around with your late policy! Sometimes we have to be hard on them to prepare them... but, like I said, I never give them a way out of important learning. Even if it means no credit, I always stress that there is a reason for every single assignment.
ReplyDeleteCori, update, I'm glad I read your comment before class on Monday...it reinforced the tendency I was feeling toward taking off points and I explained to those who missed the cutoff that it was the content that mattered most, but that sometimes things come up so a few points weren't meant to penalize the hard work they did but instead indicate that time requirements were met, showing responsibility.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say thanks for the response :)