Saturday, January 16, 2010

Consequences

I'm not sure how to teach students when there are no consequences.

A dozen or so of the kids I teach didn't come to their final. This was a couple in each class. Only a few still passed the class with a 0 for the exam. As near as I can tell (or, rather, as I have been told) only one had a valid reason (death of someone close).

What am I supposed to do with the rest? Let them take the final if/when they show up. No academic penalty. And, since the posting window is closed, I will need to calculate their grade manually (not a problem: I teach math) and post it manually.(This cannot be done at my computer since I have no rights. It has to be done in Mr. Hulk's room. After I make an appointment and wait for him, since he NEVER is available when he tells you to be there)

So what bloody incentive is there for anyone to do their work remotely on time?

The only person being punished is me.

And even though some are sped, and 2 are in Funsucker's class, I know that it will not be Funsucker who deals with any of this.

We are being told to get the graduation rate up, the test scores up and cater to their every whim. These kids think they are adults. They think that they can dictate how high school goes and that they will get out of it what they need. I don't see how.

2 comments:

Pissedoffteacher said...

My AP allows no makeups for final exams. It will be interesting to see what happens when kids start bitching to the principal.

Ricochet said...

With no consequences you can't get them to get serious about turning anything in.