Hey everybody!
Hope all is well with you. Spring Break is a week away! For me, I will be traveling to Arizona for a school trip with the baseball team. For many, this will mean hundreds of pages across our class being finished on the KPTP. Don't worry, I will be getting to mine once I get back. :)
Everything has been going pretty well, except one little (but possibly huge problem). I believe that their is an inconsistent grading system being used in my class.
To begin with, the CT had institued a no-late work policy at the beginning of the year. In journalism, deadlines are crucial. In the real work world of journalism, not turning in an assignment on deadline may be the difference between feeding your family and the unemployment line. The CT and I have spoke on many occasions the importance of teaching young journalists (specifically our intro classes) the importance of meeting deadlines. This isn't just for stories that go in the yearbook or newspaper; it also pertains to writing assignments, creative projects, videos, anything we have done in the class!
Lately, we've been in flux and inconsistent. There always seems to be problems where kids were constantly asking me for extensions. I had to give the extensions, due to extenuating circumstances the kids couldn't avoid. If your interviewee cannot give an interview that day, I would give an extension. If your printer at home wouldn't work, I would sometimes give an extension. I always asked the CT before I gave an extension, and the answers would vary from "yes, they deserve an extension" to "no, they have had enough time". It even at times has seem unfair and biased towards students who USUALLY turn their work in on time, but have occasionally forget and been given extensions. Shouldn't all students be given the same standards and requirements? The Grading system in here is in a true lingo currently.
I want to come back to the favoritism. It seems the CT has a soft spot for a few students, where if their grade is a high C+ for example (78.5) or a high B+ (79.2) that she finds ways to make easy assignments to raise student grades. One day, she said to me, "If you can find a way to get Student R's grade to an A before conferences, that would be nice so I won't have to hear from her parents". This really sticks out in my mind, because I don't believe in this system at all. Assessment should not be based on trying to get all students to an A level, it should be fair and challenging so that the kids will really learn. I believe some of these cupcake assignments that we have given have helped the students some, but not as much as we could be.
Suggestions? Many of these issues are behaviors that have been practiced obviously years, because she is a veteran teacher. I hope that when reading this you don't think this is an attack, but just my way of finding inconsistencies in my classroom. Thanks and I hope I get some great advice!
Spencer
You have to want to be the best. That's all that matters.
