What Are They Thinking?
I just finished going through a stack of assignments that I collected last week. It was one of those handouts that essentially just had to be complete in order to get the credit: a Shakespeare Web Quest. I didn't check every answer, and I am sure that a lot of students got away with some responses that weren't technically correct. The important part of the assignment, really, was the part that was supposed to be on the back: Students were to make up ten questions of their own (about Shakespeare), write them on the back of the paper, and then write the answers to them. Since there were no stringent requirements about what the questions could be about, I thought it would be easy points for most students. Not only that, but they had a long time to finish it: We were in the computer lab Tuesday, and it wasn't due until Friday...and then I forgot to collect it, so by the time I picked it up, six days had passed--way more than enough time! So it surprised me a little bit that only about 2/3 of the students even bothered to turn it in, and of those who did, only a small handful actually completed the entire assignment. Something that I thought would be an easy way to boost a grade actually turned into something that made many grades drop. It's at times like this I find myself asking, What are they thinking?
I realize that not everyone is an honors student, and we all have a forgetful day now and again, but what might cause this sort of academic negligence on such a massive scale? The assignment wasn't difficult, and there was more than enough time to complete it. Why did so many of them just not turn it in? At first I thought it might be my own fault for not telling them a due date, but since more than half the class did, in fact, turn it in (albeit many of them incomplete), that expectation was obviously clear. Also, the assignment was clearly posted on my web site, as are all the assignments we do; since this was a web-based assignment, they would have had to see the due date just to get to the assignment itself. Could it have been that everyone was excited for the upcoming UEA weekend (four days off) and just started their vacations early? The original due date was so far before the time off that I don't think it was even an issue. So, what gives? What are they thinking?
I wonder that a lot about my students. When I see a kid so disinterested in what is happening in class that he can't stay awake for the entirety of even one period out of the five that make up a week of English, I wonder what he's thinking about so late at night that keeps him up and deprives him of his much-needed sleep. When I see a girl more concerned about checking her text messages on the cell phone (that she thinks I don't know about) than about finishing the test I handed out at the beginning of the period, I wonder what must be important enough to risk failing a required class for. When I see the students who never willingly do anything even remotely academic, I wonder how they believe they are going to get through life. It's not just the grades that matter, but what you learn along the way. Those lessons matter later, regardless of what your grades were.
And the same can be said of those students on the other side of the coin, the honors students. I see some of you so interested in the grades you receive that you forget about what you are supposed to be learning. It doesn't matter if you have 112% of the total points due to all the extra reading you did if the experience didn't better you in some way. Are your grades a reflection of what you actually know or just an indication of how well you give your teachers what they want? Sometimes I am even surprised by the low tolerance for effort many "honors" students exhibit. Anything challenging is called "boring" and quickly abandoned in favor of "easy points." What are they thinking?
Part of the reason I assign a lot of writing, especially to the honors class, is to give you the opportunity to answer that question. Good writing reflects clear thinking. If you can write about it well, you've probably invested some time thinking about it. And that is really what school is about: learning how to think, solve problems, and communicate.
So keep writing...and thinking. Even though you don't always get a grade or an immediate reward for everything you write, the practice will pay off later, long after you're no longer working for grades.
I realize that not everyone is an honors student, and we all have a forgetful day now and again, but what might cause this sort of academic negligence on such a massive scale? The assignment wasn't difficult, and there was more than enough time to complete it. Why did so many of them just not turn it in? At first I thought it might be my own fault for not telling them a due date, but since more than half the class did, in fact, turn it in (albeit many of them incomplete), that expectation was obviously clear. Also, the assignment was clearly posted on my web site, as are all the assignments we do; since this was a web-based assignment, they would have had to see the due date just to get to the assignment itself. Could it have been that everyone was excited for the upcoming UEA weekend (four days off) and just started their vacations early? The original due date was so far before the time off that I don't think it was even an issue. So, what gives? What are they thinking?
I wonder that a lot about my students. When I see a kid so disinterested in what is happening in class that he can't stay awake for the entirety of even one period out of the five that make up a week of English, I wonder what he's thinking about so late at night that keeps him up and deprives him of his much-needed sleep. When I see a girl more concerned about checking her text messages on the cell phone (that she thinks I don't know about) than about finishing the test I handed out at the beginning of the period, I wonder what must be important enough to risk failing a required class for. When I see the students who never willingly do anything even remotely academic, I wonder how they believe they are going to get through life. It's not just the grades that matter, but what you learn along the way. Those lessons matter later, regardless of what your grades were.
And the same can be said of those students on the other side of the coin, the honors students. I see some of you so interested in the grades you receive that you forget about what you are supposed to be learning. It doesn't matter if you have 112% of the total points due to all the extra reading you did if the experience didn't better you in some way. Are your grades a reflection of what you actually know or just an indication of how well you give your teachers what they want? Sometimes I am even surprised by the low tolerance for effort many "honors" students exhibit. Anything challenging is called "boring" and quickly abandoned in favor of "easy points." What are they thinking?
Part of the reason I assign a lot of writing, especially to the honors class, is to give you the opportunity to answer that question. Good writing reflects clear thinking. If you can write about it well, you've probably invested some time thinking about it. And that is really what school is about: learning how to think, solve problems, and communicate.
So keep writing...and thinking. Even though you don't always get a grade or an immediate reward for everything you write, the practice will pay off later, long after you're no longer working for grades.
posted by MRT at 2:32 PM
6 Comments:
Kinda know what you are feeling at my job peopole don't do the simplest things and the manager is always on there back and thy wonder why. and I wonder "what were you thinking!!"
Ha ha, this is quite funny how you describe some of your students. I wonder how many times teachers think about this question...
Ya, sometimes I wonder about those students too, and usually those are the ones that end up leaning over and asking you "Hey what were the answers to questions 1-6?" Ooohhh I really hate that!
That is a hard question! I think that maybe the kids who don't care and don't ever try do this because not trying and not caring is their identity. They brag to their friends about failing all of their classes. Maybe they like the attention they get from their parents, and sometimes teachers. I am not sure.....???
Like it's been said, a grade isn't a reflection of how much a person knows: they could've just cheated off of the person next to them. Also-you could really show what you know by not cheating, and just taking the bad grade. Learn from your mistakes, and others as well.
You definitely have some good points there. I often find myself wondering the same thing about the students that are just so bored with class that you can almost see the disgust on there face when the worksheet is passed down the row to them. However, on the other side of the coin, I often find myself in the same position you described of the honors students, the ones who do all the easy work to make the grade but fall short on learning the true lesson trying to be taught. That is what school is about after all, that old learning gag. But kids, like myself, nowadays are either too interested in video games or too concerned with impressing the big colleges with their perfect report cards and over the top resumes that that basic purpose of the classroom experience is often overlooked.
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