Weird teaching moments. . .

[Usenko]

I have two assignments in front of me.

One of the assignments is from a boy who had foetal alcohol symptom, and for whom life hasn't really improved. His home life is best described as appalling, although his grandparents pay for him to come to our school. He has struggled with basic literacy all the time he's been at school; I have taught him for three years, so I have seen the story first hand.

The other is a clever student in many respects. However, although he is intelligent and witty, he generally does the bare minimum in class.

Both of these students have handed in assignments of pretty close to the same quality.

However, the first boy's assignment is by far and away the best thing I've ever seen him do. We had a few lessons where the students were able to do some of the work in class, so I had the chance to watch as he painstakingly put it together. It was so hard for him, but he did it, plugging away until it was done.

The other threw a few words onto the screen and then skived off for the rest of the time we had, irritating his colleagues and needing constant reminders to get back onto task. His assignment was submitted in pretty much the form it was in at the beginning of the first of three lessons allocated to working on it. He did almost nothing in all the class time I gave him.

So two assignments were pretty similar. But one represents the first boy's best effort; the other is the bare minimum.

How would you mark these two?

(There is a criterion, so the marks will ultimately be fairly similar . . but there are a few judgement calls to make)

[CBJ]

By all means add positive marker's comments to the project from the child who worked hard so that they understand that their effort has been noticed, and less positive ones to the project from the child who could have done a lot better, but if you don't assign their actual mark using the same criteria then you are not doing anyone any favours.

Edit: Typo.

[felter]

Unfortunately you can't penalise someone for being a total ****, as that is not what you are doing, you are marking the work not the person or how it was done. What you can do, is give feed back and let the **** know he is a **** and that being a **** will get him nothing. While giving the one who tries all the praise in the world for doing so, letting them know that their hard work is appreciated and will eventually get them somewhere in life. Probably the boss of the ****.

[mrbadger]

If the child who is having a hard time isn't given a realistic mark he won't benefit.
But it's not just about the mark, or it shouldn't be.

What about accompanying feedback?

You can be very encouraging in that (it might mean you have to go through it with them), but don't give an unrealistic grade, because you won't be doing them any favours.

[berth]

When I was at school (many aeons ago), each subject's teacher would give an assessment at the end of each term. You were marked A to E for quality of work and 1 to 3 for effort put into that work.

So, for example, the first guy, who struggles, would be getting E for the general standard of his work but 1 to reflect that he is trying his best.

The other one would probably end up with A3 - excellent work, low effort.

Probably a "must try harder" in red ink is all you can do, seeing as water boarding is frowned upon.

[Usenko]

Ironically, justice wound up being served . . .

The second boy's assignment turned out to be almost entirely plagiarised. So the issue has now disappeared.

[Ezarkal]

Give them the marks, and give them comments on it. Don't worry about being harsh on the ass-grabbing student. You'll be doing him a favor.

As for the hard-working student, take some time with him, and focus on the strong points he did on his work, and that he should be proud of it. At the end of the term, should he ever score just below the passing grade, then remember he's a hard worker. I've seen more than one teacher give an extra 2-3% to reward hard work, when those points were what the student was missing in order to get the passing grade.

[Ezarkal]

Ironically, justice wound up being served . . .

The second boy's assignment turned out to be almost entirely plagiarised. So the issue has now disappeared.

Karma is a bitch, and teachers will know when your work is not yours.

[Len5]

The real issue here is not the difference in effort, but the difference in challange. I can't blame the smart boy for being bored.

You just have to challange smarter kids or they may even drop out at some point when they can. This happens already too often.
You can call a smart kid an unmotivated, lazy ****, like felter, but that's not going to help him. Try to understand why he acts like that.
Kids that don't want to learn anything don't exist. Find his trigger and stimulate it. (That sounds like something illegal, but I think you know what I mean.)

[pjknibbs]

They used to give separate marks for attainment and effort when I was at school, but that seems to have disappeared now. Not sure whether that's a good or bad thing, to be honest.

[Stars_InTheirEyes]

The real issue here is not the difference in effort, but the difference in challange. I can't blame the smart boy for being bored.

You just have to challange smarter kids or they may even drop out at some point when they can. This happens already too often.
You can call a smart kid an unmotivated, lazy ****, like felter, but that's not going to help him. Try to understand why he acts like that.
Kids that don't want to learn anything don't exist. Find his trigger and stimulate it. (That sounds like something illegal, but I think you know what I mean.)

Excellent point, Len5.

[Usenko]

Len5, you're right in a sense. However, in Australia differentiation is a basic issue for classes. I have to be ready to challenge all levels of student. Differentiation is not really the problem here.

In this case however, I'm working against cultural expectations to a certain extent.

The boy in question (call him J) is from a particular ethnic community in which, when you get to a certain size and weight - which he is! - you tend to pin your hopes on a career in Rugby. Obviously that's not actually going to be a winning strategy for most people; in all the years I have been teaching, I have seen it work for ONE student (who, I may add, was also academically skilled, and was given a scholarship to a big-name Rugby school). But J just KNOWS he only has to pass the ball a few times and the first rugby scout that ever sees him will just be ready to hand him a contract on the spot. He therefore no longer has to take any interest in school.

I am, I believe, a good Science teacher; I have no difficulty challenging strugglers and high achievers alike. But if a student has made up their mind that they aren't going to use your class, you can try to convince them otherwise (and I do try) but you're about 75 - 80% likely to fail.

It's interesting, actually. Three years ago in Year 7, I taught J and P, a boy so similar to J that I had trouble telling the two apart, at first! But times have gone on. I teach P in a different class now. P enjoys science, and whilst he's no Mensa member, he's doing pretty well. And the difference is choices.

Meanwhile A, the other kid in the OP, does so much more with so much less. Breaks your heart, sometimes.

[mrbadger]

Ironically, justice wound up being served . . .

The second boy's assignment turned out to be almost entirely plagiarised. So the issue has now disappeared.

Ah plagiarisism, our constant unwelcome guest.

I've actually spent the last year using and refining assesment schemes for both of my modules that is intended to eliminate as much of that as possible.

I can't prevent it all, but the marking scheme for both modules basiically says to get half of the marks I, or the other lecturer on the module has to see the work on a weekly basis from the second week onward.

So we get to see it being developed.

Not all students like it, in fact some have elected to risk failing rather than participate. Most of those have indeed failed, and in there are the ones who have cheated, but the numbers are small.

Most absolutelly love it. Having the guarantee that a lecturer will give them at least ten minutes one to one time once a week has proved extremely populer, and done wonders for my class review scores.

It's rather hard work mind.

[BugMeister]

..we learn as much as we teach - eh, Mr U?

[Mightysword]

You just have to challange smarter kids or they may even drop out at some point when they can. This happens already too often.
You can call a smart kid an unmotivated, lazy ****, like felter, but that's not going to help him. Try to understand why he acts like that.
Kids that don't want to learn anything don't exist. Find his trigger and stimulate it. (That sounds like something illegal, but I think you know what I mean.)

Oh yeah they do exist, I was one, and there were many like me that I know personally. And even if they don't exist, there are something far more important to teach kid beside knowledge, and that is "responsibility". What about the kids that also study under their level, yet still do a proper job? Do you tell your boss "please give me only assignment that I like" ?

There is street smart, there is book smart, and there is "intelligence". Intelligent people make best with whatever situation they are in even if it's less than ideal, frankly this kid doesn't sound to be one. I used to know a guy from Japan who came to the US as an exchange student, the reason is because he "fail" to get into a university in Japan. The curriculum that he had over here was quite beneath him frankly, But did he got complacent? No, so what did he does when he was given a physic project? He made one so good it blew the teacher, class, and department out of water, he's then showed with praise, accolade, and offer for advance course. Now THAT is an intelligent person.


While I agree kids (or people) in general should be pushed to the challenge, but if "only" they're seeking for it, not as a sugarcoating excuse. Where I am from, if you do really well in the normal curriculum and seek additional challenge, they will put you in advance courses and let you compete, in Japan you can even test and skip grade if you want. But make no mistake, you have to earn the right to be in those class, the moment your performance in the common curriculum drop, you're out.

An intelligent kid will test out the class that beneath and find satisfaction in higher challenge, not throwing a hissy fit and not doing the work. I don't know why anyone would call such a kid smart, doesn't seem like one to me. If it's worth doing, then it's worth doing right.

[Usenko]

The assignment was on diseases. Each student had to pick a disease and produce an infographic on it.

One student chose ADHD.

I had to smile . . from the look of his infographic, he probably has a pretty good idea what ADHD is like. . .

Images are all over the place like a mad dog's breakfast, and the spelling and grammar have to be seen to be believed.

For example "ADHD was discovered by a pediatricn [sic] named geroge. [sic]".

[philip_hughes]

Top marks to the kid. Making an assignment look like it was done by a kid with add is a stroke of genius. We can ignore the fact he probably actually has it.

Ideal assignment in this case is:

"ADD is. .... LOOK A SQUIRREL! !!!!"

[Jericho]

When I was at school, I would have answered that both should be treated equally, what right do you have give 1 kid a better score for the same work, just because he 'tried'.

Alas, I'm now much older, and can see exactly what you mean. That kid needs to be rewarded for his effort.


Way-back-when, we had GCSE (the exam you take at 16, backed up with 2 years of coursework).

I never got on with my English teacher (with regards to the actual way she marked my work. I don't mean that she was mean or picked on me or anything). She just hated all my work and gave me crap marks the entire time, I guess it was my writing style and my laziness

One day, just before the final parents-evening, we had to do an essay about To Kill a Mocking Bird, from the perspective of one of the jurors in the trial. She gave me wonderful feedback, said it was an excellent essay, and the best thing that I'd done.

C+

Well, screw you lady.

I had terrible coursework scores going into those final English exams. But guess what? Those exams aren't marked by our teachers. And they moderated our coursework so it wasn't just her word for it.

Final score was a B in English Lit and English Lang.

I still think that she was a good teacher. She just hated everything that I wrote (to be fair, my stuff on Macbeth was awful, because girls are more interesting than Shakespeare, and because Shakespeare is simply awful. The sooner people move on from Shakespeare and the 1966 World Cup win, the world will be a better place).