Try as I might to be open about how students should complete and submit homework problems, I have arrived at an old conclusion: the audience matters. What exactly does this mean? The goal of practicing problems is to reinforce the taught concepts from the course. Want to try out some Newton’s Laws problems? Go to the back of the chapter and give it a go! Want to practice for the test? Ask for extra work to hone your skills. In this sense, the audience is the student, with the student alone being the audience for the work.
But what about work submitted for credit? That’s a different story, maybe. Each student expects (rightfully) to be patted on the back for the effort and success in each submission. So is the effort alone enough? What guidelines should be in place for receiving this credit? In other words, who is the audience for this work?
It is appropriate at this point to draw a parallell between science and any other academic discipline. Consider an English course, within which a student is assigned to write an essay about a written work. I suppose the conversation is the same: margins, spacing, grammar, spelling, paragraph structure all are an accepted part of the requirements. What are these elements in science? Is it the teacher’s job to prescribe such things?
One of my pet peeves about being a high-school teacher is the overwhelming attitude that it is my job to search through student work to find that which is relevant. In other words, I am grading a problem and I have to spend extra time searching for the logic and answer. This doesn’t include not writing a name or identifying the problem being attempted. Keep in mind that I do not assign a grade for correctness so all that is needed is to get an answer, assuming I can find it. (My other pet peeve is students’ leaving course materials on the desk or table without any consideration for returning them to their original locations, even though I carefully handed them out at the beginning of the period. Do I look like your cleaning guy?)
So, despite every effort to avoid this moment I am now codifying exactly what I want for homework. I hate to be “that guy” but given the length of this post I am most assuredly “that guy” in this case. Whatever – they will get over it.
HOMEWORK RULES
- Each problem has its own side of a sheet of paper
- Student name and problem are written at the top of every page
- Must use binder paper that can be turned in
- Pencil, not pen
- Each problem has a picture, centered at the top of the page
- Each calculating step must be shown, preferrably without numbers
- Units and Significant Figures matter
I am getting cranky in my old age, and that must be clear to the many people I encounter in my life. Maybe I have been at this teaching “thing” for too long to be as flexible as I was in my younger days. Lab reports? Gotta be just right! Problem-solving? Follow the process, show units! Lab activities? Know why you are here! And put away your materials after you are done!
OK, so I need to soften on some things.. but there are two areas where I am absolutely steadfast in my approach. Indulge me for a moment in a conversation:
- Student: Mr. Quinton, I have a question – could you come here?
- Teacher: … and so this is where the menu is…
- Student: Oh, thanks – I don’t have a Mac so I don’t know how to do this
“I don’t have a Mac” is a valid answer for some people and often stated as an excuse for not knowing how to do something. The real journey we are taking is one of context. The real voyage involves identifying the need, seeking a tool to find the answer, and then delving deep enough to obtain what we wish. In other words, “I don’t use Macs at home” has no relevance because the paradigm has shifted. Every mass-produced operating system uses menus. Every operating system groups tasks in these menus. Every operating system is bent around the idea that the user is in control of the system, and not the reverse. “I don’t use PC’s” would only be relevant if Windows machines and Macs operated on completely different ideas. You may not know exactly where an item is located (believe me, I have struggled when jumping from one to the other) but I know it is there to find. Make the computer bend to your will, and not the other way around. Empower yourself with the idea that you CAN INDEED find and do what you wish and – guess what – you will. It is the belief of this that will make you grow.
The second conversation sort fo flows from the first, but in a broader way. Conversation number two:
- Student: I read the instructions and I still don’t know how to do this
- Teacher: Have you tried doing a quick search?
- Student: ???? (dude – just answer my question)
- Teacher: ????
Time to start fishing!
This conversation, I must admit, sounds a bit mean. Certainly it is my job to help all students. Certainly it is my job to answer questions and facilitate learning. Absolutely I must show kindness and support for the people in my charge. My question lies here: what is the responsibility of the student? I get that people perceive me as “knowing” so much information that I have a wisdom about computing and information yet how did I get there? If the sum total of what is to be learned in the course resides in my tiny brain then we are all in trouble. My greatest value is in showing that I am not special and all that separates me from my students is the innate desire to find answers on my own.
What is that proverb… teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life? Exactly! My greatest gift to you is to expect much and help you reach and achieve what you wish. My role is to support your learning and not to limit you by my attitudes. All I ask is that you believe that you can do this. Don’t limit yourself with limiting attitudes. Reach for what you wish with the knowledge that you CAN find what you need. I will provide the pole: let’s bait the hook and get fishing!
Whiff
We only learn when we fail. I believe this to my marrow so I will state this again for emphasis. We only learn when we fail. It is therefore unfortunate that my job is wholly centered on grades at times when it could be directed towards learning. I find deep irony in the fact that for many students the purest of learning moments occurs during and immediately after an exam or test. Take test – see answer key – Doh!
The trick is to structure the class so that they aren’t afraid to make mistakes. So how do I do this without crushing the very spirit of the student? Failure means lower grades – lower grades means lower GP – lower GPA means less chance to go to college – less chance to go to college means that I am less of a person and should feel deep shame? Regardless of what I think of this cycle it does exist and rules the lives of so many.
I guess that’s one of the reasons why I love baseball so much. Success is predicated on how a player rebounds from failure and not the failure itself. Most at bats result in running to first base followed by running back to the dugout. Let’s repeat that: the default condition in baseball is running back to the dugout after swinging a bat. I am not sure it’s possible to create the same environment in the classroom but that’s what I want. I want students who aren’t afraid to fail because they aren’t afraid to try.
Heck, I have students in class right now who are afraid to write down notes during class because they might have to make alterations as I develop a concept during class. They wait for the packaged answer so that they can memorize and move on. No, I don’t want to hear that I should accept the reality that grades are important and I should contribute to the already rampant grade inflation pervasive everywhere. No, I refuse to buy into the notion that my primary job is to help students get into college. I’ll live in my little bubble because accepting that truth is too brutal to bear.
So, I want a classroom that feels more like a baseball game than a checklist to memorize. Batter up!
Textbooks
Free at last! I have eliminated textbooks for the coming school year: it’s as if I lost 50 pounds on a crash diet. My dumping textbooks was prompted by several converging factors.
Consider this actual conversation between a teacher and a student during class
- T: who knows how the equipotential lines are are related to the electric field lines from the field mapping lab?
- S: I Googled it and couldn’t find the answer
- T: The answer is in the textbook – did you check?
- S: [silence]
- T: The one you purchased for this class? Remember the assigned reading sections?
- S: Why would I look there? It’s too hard to read.
- T: But you didn’t actually find the answer, did you?
So what am I to make of this scenario? For years I have assigned note-taking from the textbook so that the students would know what is in the textbook. My hope was for them to find the information that was “vetted” by “real” sources and interact with language that elevates the science conversation.
Somewhere along the way students (rightfully?) decided that the content available online was more relevant than that which is printed. While this is certainly a broad generalization it certainly seems more true than 10 years ago and most definitely more true than 20 years ago. I am sure my overall response this year has wavered between quiet frustration and overt frustration. Clearly this is not an effective tactic to accomplish my goal.
So what is my goal? The “out of reach” goal would be for my students to be able to search, find, and verify legitimate science information on the Internet. My job certainly includes coaching how to navigate the vastness of the Internet but that would consume a course in itself. I think a more reasonable goal is to coach, require, push, nudge students towards an online source that has everything I wish yet in digital form.
While this might seem to be an even swap between printed and digital media, the real payoff is seen in the other byproducts of this decision. Paying for textbooks is now gone! Access to the book is instant and everywhere! Embedded visual media flourish throughout these sources! So what do I have to lose? Well, this takes more organization on my part as I can no longer rely on a textbook printed to serve the lazy needs of a high school teacher.
This blog is the result of this effort to create an organized space to coordinate the content of each course.
