Dear Parents & Students,
A short note with my thoughts about scores and grades:
As the students and I discussed the class at the beginning of this
semester, we brainstormed a bit about ways to improve the class. From a
teacher's perspective, teaching a language to a class that meets only
once a week is a bit challenging. For example, students hand in work
one week, and don't get it back until the next. In class, even though I
hand back exercises, by the time that a week passes, students don't
remember the assignment. After talking with a couple of other teachers,
I decided that giving the students the answer key to the exercises would help. Now in
class, students know exactly which sentences are causing trouble because
they can be sure about which ones they got right and which ones they
got wrong. These assignments from the book are meant to be learning
opportunities; some students will learn as much (if not more) from
getting them wrong and correcting their mistakes. The work that they do from the book won't necessarily be graded on their
knowledge or unaided ability to remember vocabulary or to translate.
I
don't have quizzes marked on the syllabus, but I will be giving them occasional in-class quizzes. Sometimes these will be about vocabulary and sometimes they will be about grammar and translating. For example, at the end of class this week, I told them
that they would have a vocabulary quiz next week. These are not specifically on the
schedule because I am trying to gauge where the students are at and how
they are doing and am planning accordingly. When I sense that
vocabulary is not at their finger tips and that it takes a while to
translate because they're looking up words, then I have a quiz. If
aspects of the grammar are not sinking in, then we have a quiz. From my
point of view, the purpose of a test, quiz, or even homework is to
evaluate what areas are mastered and what areas need more help. In
other words, tests are as much for the teacher and for planning as they are for the
student.
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