Tomorrow morning will be my 31st opening day of school as a math teacher. I am luckily pretty well past the days of nervous anxiety. Luckily I still have the experience of anxious excitement about the task ahead. As I begin a new year, there are three things in particular that I am really excited about. One has to do with school structure, one has to do with classroom policy, and one has to do with my life outside of school. I’ll highlight them in reverse order.
I mentioned over on twitter that I had the great pleasure of taking on a gig as a DJ at a local college radio station this summer. My wife works at a college across the river from where I work and she helped me land this fun gig. I just got the good news that I can keep my slot at least through the fall. I will be on (as DJ Calc – an old in-joke from my past) on Thursdays from 4 – 6 PM ET on wrkc.kings.edu where you can stream and listen online if you are so inclined.
One of the takeaways of the workshop my team did with Henri Picciotto (@hpicciotto) last spring was that we committed to a new policy of test corrections in our department. I teach four different courses this year, three of them are senior and junior heavy while one is freshman and sophomore heavy. They will all receive the statement below with only one tweak. My Geometry kiddos will turn in test corrections on the third class day after receiving their test while the others (Discrete Math, Honors Calculus and AP Calculus BC) will turn theirs in on the second class day. Here is the statement I crafted for a syllabus.
Test Corrections
Beginning in the 2017 – 2018 academic year, the math department is adopting a policy of expecting test corrections on all in-class tests. The policy is described below.
- When grading tests initially each question will get one of three point assignments
- Full credit for reasonable support work and correct answer.
- Half-credit for minor mistakes as long as some reasoning is shown.
- Zero credit (in very rare cases) when there is no reasonable support shown or if the question is simply left blank.
- When grading tests, I will not put comments, I will simply mark one of these three ways.
- You will be allowed to turn in corrections. Corrections will be on separate paper and will have written explanations of errors made in addition to the correct work and answer. This work is to be in the student’s words but can be the result of consultation/help. These corrections will always be due at the beginning of the second class meeting day after the assessment is returned. You will return your original test along with your correction notes. I will remind you of this every time I return a graded test to you.
- It is not required that you turn in test corrections.
- The student can earn up to half of the points they missed on each individual problem.
- This policy does not apply to quizzes, only to in-class tests.
I will definitely be blogging throughout the year about this topic and I’ll be sharing my thoughts and experiences about this change in approach. The baseline message that I hope we will be sending is this : I want you to learn the material at hand and I want you to have an opportunity to show me (and yourself!) that you have learned this material.
The last thing that I am thrilled about is our new schedule. After being here seven years and meeting every class on every school day in the same order for the same amount of time we area adopting a very different new schedule. We are moving to a seven-day rotation schedule. We will meet five classes per day and each class meets five times during a seven day rotation. During that rotation each class meets in each of the time slots AND each class has one 90 minute block and four 50 minute class meetings. I am excited on a number of levels about this initiative. I have taught at two other schools with rotating schedules and I noticed a couple of clear advantages. You know that sleepy kid in your 8 AM class? That kids is not usually so sleepy for an 11 AM or a 2 PM class. You know that athlete who keeps missing your 2 PM class because of travel obligations tot he team? That athlete is rarely traveling at 8 AM or 11 AM. You know that class that wanders in right after lunch with a mixture of twitchiness because they do not want to sit again or lethargy as they digest their lunch? You do not see them in the same state everyday. I have seen that different students emerge as classroom leaders at different times of day. Most importantly, I have noticed that students (many of them, at least) give a more honest commitment to effort on HW when they are getting ready for four academic classes in a day instead of six of them. This, too, will be a regular topic of conversation in my blog this year.
As always, drop me a line here or on twitter where I am @mrdardy
I’d love to hear from those who have experienced a major change in school schedules I want to have some idea of how to anticipate possible problems this year. I’d also appreciate any comments about our test correction policy. Anecdotes from experience will probably help me and my team as we make this transition.