This week has been a very busy week in class! Students took a quiz on Significant Figures on Monday. On Tuesday, any student who hadn't shown proficiency with significant figures was given mandatory extra practice prior to retaking the Sig Figs Quiz for an improved grade, again during class time. The required test retakes helped show students that I meant what I said when I said our goal is growth for all students. Remediation was also required because understanding significant digits (which reflect our level of precision when measuring and calculating in the lab setting) will be necessary for ALL labs and calculations from here on out! I didn't let students go into the lab until they had demonstrated that they could apply our sig figs rules.
WEEKEND HOMEWORK: DENSITY LAB REPORT
The kids' top priority this weekend should be finalizing their Density Lab calculations (most are done with this, and I have checked their results and calculations) and answering the Analysis Questions in writing (they may type or write their answers). Students received a yellow copy of the rubric I will use to grade their data sheets (100 points!) and abbreviated lab reports (75 points!). I have also posted a sample of what a lab report should look like on Schoology, and we discussed my example as well as my expectations for their data sheets and lab write-ups today during class time.
Essentially, they are labeling their answer (in paragraph form) to question #1 from their lab sheet as "Discussion of Results." The answer to question #2 (1 or 2 sentences) from their lab sheet will be labeled "Conclusion." The answer to question #3 (several sentences) from their lab sheet will be labeled "Sources of Uncertainty."
In essence, this should look a lot like the journal articles they have been reading for their Journal Article Project. (There really is a point to all this work they've been doing.)
On Monday, students should arrive to class with a hard copy of their Density Lab Report. We will spend time peer reviewing on Monday, so it's important that they at least have something for their classmates to work with! Please encourage your child to use the resources available to them - the lab sheet, the yellow rubric, and my example on Schoology - to do their very best with the calculations and lab write-up.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: TEST RETAKES
Mid-marking period grades were submitted this week. Our school and course policy - as well as my personal teaching philosophy - dictates that students may retake ANY test or quiz (for me, these will be in the Major or Minor categories) in order to improve his or her grade. Again, the goal is growth. The goal is learning. What we do in this course is cumulative, so I want students to truly understand before moving on to future material. A low test score reflects some gap in understanding or skill. If a student is willing to put in the time to improve his or her understanding, the grade should reflect that.
In order to make the retake process valuable and reflect this focus on learning, the following test retake guidelines have been put in place for my courses:
So far this year, we have taken four quizzes - Parts of Experiments, Toolkit Quiz, Sig Figs Quiz, and Safety Quiz. As I mentioned, I required some students to retake the Significant Figures Quiz during class this week. I made the exception this time around to take their improved score as their grade, instead of averaging the two.
At this point and for the rest of this year, if your child (or you!) would like to improve his or her score on any test or quiz, he or she is welcome to do so!
WEEKEND HOMEWORK: DENSITY LAB REPORT
The kids' top priority this weekend should be finalizing their Density Lab calculations (most are done with this, and I have checked their results and calculations) and answering the Analysis Questions in writing (they may type or write their answers). Students received a yellow copy of the rubric I will use to grade their data sheets (100 points!) and abbreviated lab reports (75 points!). I have also posted a sample of what a lab report should look like on Schoology, and we discussed my example as well as my expectations for their data sheets and lab write-ups today during class time.
Essentially, they are labeling their answer (in paragraph form) to question #1 from their lab sheet as "Discussion of Results." The answer to question #2 (1 or 2 sentences) from their lab sheet will be labeled "Conclusion." The answer to question #3 (several sentences) from their lab sheet will be labeled "Sources of Uncertainty."
In essence, this should look a lot like the journal articles they have been reading for their Journal Article Project. (There really is a point to all this work they've been doing.)
On Monday, students should arrive to class with a hard copy of their Density Lab Report. We will spend time peer reviewing on Monday, so it's important that they at least have something for their classmates to work with! Please encourage your child to use the resources available to them - the lab sheet, the yellow rubric, and my example on Schoology - to do their very best with the calculations and lab write-up.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION: TEST RETAKES
Mid-marking period grades were submitted this week. Our school and course policy - as well as my personal teaching philosophy - dictates that students may retake ANY test or quiz (for me, these will be in the Major or Minor categories) in order to improve his or her grade. Again, the goal is growth. The goal is learning. What we do in this course is cumulative, so I want students to truly understand before moving on to future material. A low test score reflects some gap in understanding or skill. If a student is willing to put in the time to improve his or her understanding, the grade should reflect that.
In order to make the retake process valuable and reflect this focus on learning, the following test retake guidelines have been put in place for my courses:
- Remediation. The student must meet with me individually to receive extra help on the missed test items. Sometimes this means doing test corrections. Sometimes this means doing extra practice. Sometimes we do both. The student should plan to meet with me at least once during Academic Coaching Time (ACT), any Tuesday through Friday immediately after school.
- Before the next Common Unit Assessment. The remediation and retake must occur before the next Common Unit Assessment (big unit test). Our Unit 1 test is scheduled to occur on Thursday, October 15th, so any retakes of current quizzes in the gradebook should happen by then. Retakes of the Unit 1 test must occur before the Unit 2 test occurs.
- The new grade is the average of the two. The student's new grade, after taking the retake, will be the average of the original grade and the grade after remediation. Please note that the test retake will be a different - but no more difficult! - version of the original test. (I always have a Form A, a Form B, and a Retake version with similar but different questions and answers.)
So far this year, we have taken four quizzes - Parts of Experiments, Toolkit Quiz, Sig Figs Quiz, and Safety Quiz. As I mentioned, I required some students to retake the Significant Figures Quiz during class this week. I made the exception this time around to take their improved score as their grade, instead of averaging the two.
At this point and for the rest of this year, if your child (or you!) would like to improve his or her score on any test or quiz, he or she is welcome to do so!