Today I covered a biology class. The teacher left three study guide worksheets for them to do. The assignment was due at the end of the period.
Sometimes, teachers leave assignments that the students can't possibly finish, and they make it due at the end of the period. I appreciate the consideration. The teacher wants to make sure that the students don't have time to goof off and make trouble.
Unfortunately, the students haven't figured this out. They seem to think that they have to figure out a way to finish all that work. They seem to think that if they don't finish, they'll be penalized.
So, they figure out a way to get all the work done.
They break into teams. Student one does one worksheet, student two does the second, and a third student does the third. Then they swap and copy.
I know this trick. I was on the lookout.
If they do it in teams, they finish in the amount of time that it takes to do one worksheet, and then they have that time to goof off. The teacher needn't have bothered to put together the extra work.
I tried to tell them that if they didn't finish, it wasn't going to be the end of the world. They just needed to do what they could get done. The honors students didn't finish. Some of the students in the regular classes did.
I did my best to catch the copiers. At least I didn't have the behavior issues (well, I did in one class, but that's another story).
No comments:
Post a Comment
I appreciate your comments.
I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.
*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.