Re: unexpected obstacles

[Arlyn DeBruyckere <arlynd@HUTCH.K12.MN.US>]

I too am glad to know it is not just me or my school.  For Ed's comment
below I would be thrilled if all of my juniors and seniors had the
ability to think at the concrete level.  Last week in lab I had a
student ask me to settle an argument between him and his partner - would
the mass of a strip of magnesium ribbon be different after it was coiled?

Yesterday I went about "5 rounds" with a student.  He couldn't figure
out why his grade was so low.  I pointed out to him all of the
assignments that he had not turned in.  The first was "grade sheets"
where I give 5 homework points to students who take the progress reports
home, get them signed by a parent and return them.  His argument was
that his mom had seen the sheet so he should get the points.  He
suggested that I call her and in that way verify that his mom had seen
his grades.  I responded that I was not going to do his homework for
him, that getting the sheet signed and returned was his responsibility.

The second round was with a lab report.  He had not done the
calculations correctly so I put an "R" on the paper which means to do it
over.  I refuse to accept lab reports with incorrect calculations but
they can re-write it and still get 90% of the credit.  He thought it was
very unfair that I would make him re-write the report - he should get
most of the points just for doing it-  and especially that he would not
get full credit if he did re-write the report.

The third round was a lab report that he had not yet turned in.  He had
it "done" except for a "few things", one of which was the date he
collected the data.  I dock reports one letter grade each for failure to
include the date the data was collected, the partner's name, the purpose
of the experiment, missing units of any kind (even just one).  He wanted
me to look up the date he had performed the experiment and why should I
expect him to have to put the date on the report anyway, I knew when we
did the experiment so what difference did it make if he didn't have the
date on the report.

The fourth round was with a homework assignment from two weeks ago.  The
assignment was to re-do the complete problem for any where they lost
points from the prior days test on a new pieced of paper.  I provided
the answer key so in reality all they needed to do was copy it but at
least they would have the correct solution and would know better (at
least I hoped) what to do next time.  He argued that erasing a couple of
numbers and writing in the correct ones should qualify as having done
this homework.  I responded that if he wanted the points he had to
follow the directions and re-write the solution on a new piece of paper
so that I could tell what was new and not have to search through the old
stuff.  His response "Mr. D, why do you have to be so mean?"

The last round (yes 5 in one day from the same student who by the way,
is an "excellent student" with reading rate and comprehension scores
"off the charts" on our district wide reading tests) was with homework
due today.  I provide the answers to all of the homework ("students have
to have immediate feedback to know if they are being successful" but it
also takes the fire out of parents when their child is failing and they
are upset that I'm too tough - I can show them failing homework
assignments where I provide the answers, which means the student just
didn't bother to do the work.) and the answer to one particular question
was about 8 typed lines long.  This student wanted to know if it was ok
to write just a few words, since I had the answer posted anyway he
thought it should be ok if he just made reference to the answer because
it was really way too much to have to write.  My response again was that
it is his homework and if he wanted credit for it HE must write the
answer and that if the time ever comes that I'm expected to do the
homework for the student I'll quit this job because I won't be teaching
anymore and I'll do something meaningful like flipping burgers.

I know it is unusual to go 5 rounds with one student in the same day but
I don't think a day goes by where I don't have a similar discussion with
at least one student on one of these type of points.  Too many of them
just want to pass, they don't really want to learn anything and they
don't like it when I don't let them pass with sloppy work and
regurgitated answers.  The percentage of students who are curious and
ask questions because they want to learn is decreasing and the number of
students who thinks the world owes them everything with little or no
work on their part is increasing.

Ed and Laura Eckel wrote:

> I
> am working on the premise that we need to force kids to step from
> concrete (and safe) thinking to abstract (and risk taking) thought
> processes.  We hammer at the notion that procedural error (and
> limitation of equipment) is a fact of life and that the student is
> responsible for minimizing uncertainty in the result to a level
> commensurate with procedural/equipment limits.

--
Arlyn DeBruyckere
Science Teacher
Hutchinson High School
1200 Roberts Road
Hutchinson, MN 55350
320-587-2151
mailto:arlynd@hutch.k12.mn.us
http://www.hutch.k12.mn.us
http://www.hutch.k12.mn.us/teacher/ArlynDeBruyckereHS.cfm