Adam - Reading Notes #5

TT

I should’ve read chapter 34 before writing my teaching philosophy!

Chapter 35 is another good example of the text as a reference manual. With the variety of examples to choose from, there is no excuse to not utilize writing assignments.

“Direct positive comments to the student and negative comments to the paper.” (328) Very practical advice.

“Return papers at the end of class. If you return papers at the beginning of class, students will read your comments rather than pay attention.” (331) I prefer to return papers at the beginning so that I can discuss them with the class. I want their attention to be on my comments.

“Students become accustomed to regular, systematic study and tend to procrastinate less.” (335) Agreed, weekly assignments are preferable to almost-weekly assignments.

“Homework assignments [should] account for 10 to 15 percent of a student’s course grade.” Wow, that’s a very specific range. I wonder what the average weight is in reality. I would think at the college level it varies from 5 to 50 or more.

 OC

An instruction manual is a good idea for an assignment. (133) Software products need good instruction manuals.

“Vague or unclear assignment instructions will not harm the best students in your class, who will succeed no matter what you ask of them.” (134) That’s awesome; but it makes me wonder why they’re in my class then. Couldn’t these students succeed in a more advanced class and save 16 weeks of their lives, not to mention $1000?

“Assignments ‘might be late because [the students] decided to pursue some higher goal for the project or do more work on it.’” (136) That’s ridiculous. Has this “exemplary teacher” ever been a college student?

“Students should measure their learning against the standards you have set for them, not against the performance of their peers.” (140) Unfortunately, the real world often grades us against our peers. I think discussion of grading on a curve would be interesting, regardless of Lang’s view.

“Use a software option like Gradekeeper.” (143) Noted.

“Grade to learn, rather than to justify.” (149) I like these little axioms. This reminds me of the one to teach for learning rather than to (justify) content.