So This is the New Year

I can’t decide if the first four days of class have gone by ridiculously quickly or ridiculously slowly. For several years now, I habitually X the days on the school calendar in my classroom, and I was a bit surprised to see only one open square left this week. The first week back after any break is always a bit of a challenge for students and faculty alike, with everyone adjusting from a long streak of empty days back to living on a regimented schedule.

Tuesday I collected a set of first semester reflection papers from all my classes. Positive for the most part, with the usual handful of asskissers and proclaimers of vague generalities thrown in for good measure. I specifically asked the kids for feedback on standards based grading, and it was overwhelmingly positive. They particularly appreciate the change from counting the last score on a standard to counting the highest score, even if they can only receive a maximum of 3 out of 4 on the first assessment. I am happier with it as well, as it did bother me that one bad quiz could sink an individual grade for students.

Not too surprisingly, the fact homework is not graded came up a lot. Some students seem to grasp its role as practice and like that they get the choice of how much homework they need to do. Many simply noted this as a major difference between this class and their previous math classes. What surprised me is that there were four or five who wanted homework to be counted towards their grade! None of these students are ones whose homework is done consistently or thoroughly enough to merit a good grade. Perhaps they think they need the added motivation of points? I see where they are coming from, but I think they are missing the point of practice. I also think some of them may be a bit self-deluded w/r/t how much more homework they would do well if it had points attached.

On the whole, the positive vibe of the year continues. I hope that continues through midterm exams and beyond.