I was officially done with the eighth grade English class. They had taken their finals, their grades had been finalized and input into the system that generates their report cards, and their promotion activities were set for the following Tuesday. It was the weekend, and I only had to focus on the math class I was now covering for the last week of school.
On Saturday, I got an email from a student:
hi are you guys going to input the final into aeries?
(Aeries is the name of the gradebook software.) My reply:
It has been. Your grade for the semester has been finalized.
Shortly thereafter, he asked another question:
but how come i still have the same grade at a 78.4% i thought it would push me to a B at least
This was a valid question. I checked his grade to see what might have gone wrong. I noticed that he had missed a few assignments, and he had only gotten a C on the project that was due the last week I was there. (The co-teacher graded it, and she was grading the projects "easy", so he had to have been missing major elements.)
So, I replied that missing assignments and low scores had pushed his grade down. His grade had probably fallen to a D with the missed work. (He did well on the final.) I reminded him that all his classwork matters. (I hope he takes this lesson with him into high school.)
Then, the following week, he sent me another email:
hi ms a i was emailing you to ask if there is anything i can do to maybe push my grade up a bit?
I can't tell you how often the co-teacher and I reminded the students to do their missing assignments. We kept reminding them that missing assignments impacted their grades. We gave them three weeks' notice of a final due date for all late/missing work. And that date got pushed back when the system crashed.
I thought all of that, but I said none of it.
Something had happened between his previous emails and that last one. Ms. R, his regular teacher, returned from her maternity leave. Even if I wanted to do something, it was no longer my place. And so, I referred him back to Ms. R.
Knowing Ms. R's personality, I have a pretty good idea of how that interaction went.
Hmmm, a little too late to do the missing assignments then...
ReplyDeleteI suppose "Go back in time and do your assignments" isn't the answer he was looking for.
ReplyDeleteOh well, it's his own fault if she won't let him do anything more.
ReplyDeleteThat ship has sailed. Maybe he's learned a valuable lesson.
ReplyDeleteThis would be the perfect time for him to do it, right before he starts high school.
DeleteHopeful a lesson is learn and real life one doesn't get grades. But paycheck and certain task needs to be done, or outdoor you go.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on and stay safe
O, these are like that ... I have had similar experiences, when they asked me why the grade is so less. And when I look back at their work to see what went wrong, it's all too obvious why they didn't get a good grade. And when I tell them, it suddenly dawns on them. I wonder why they don't realise it earlier.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz - I sure hope they have learnt a lesson ... interesting to read though - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteWell, a good lesson for him to learn. Reminds me of clients who did not pay their debts and now the credit score is low. They want a magical change to get rid of the bad debt and it doesn’t work like that at all.
ReplyDeleteSadly some never learn this lesson.
DeleteBetter too late to care than never, I suppose. Let's hope the lesson sticks.
ReplyDeleteAt least it was a high C rather than a D or F. While one might desire an A or B, at least he wasn't failing.
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