End of marking period woes

[deenierah]

<p>^^ yes! my hardest class last year was APUSH and i consistently did the best in it out of my entire schedule. my teacher was the most organized, logical woman you’ve ever seen.</p>

[wharfrat2]

<p>

In addition to large quantities of regular work that must be completed NOW before the term ends, there are those tests and papers that must be assigned because the teacher realizes s/he doesn’t have enough grades in the book, or because s/he sees that the grades s/he does have are not high enough and s/he needs to give the students another large assignment so the kids have a chance to pull up their grades

</p>

<p>Sometimes it’s just because the end of a unit happens to coincide with the end of the marking period. This happens to me in my AP classes from time to time. My students though do know exactly when tests are going to be. Approximate exam dates are listed on my syllabus and on the first day of each unit they receive a calendar that lists every assignment and reading for the unit as well as dates of quizzes and the unit exam.</p>

<p>As for grades, while I always have more than this I feel as though I can justify any grade as long as I have an average of at least one graded assignment per week.</p>

[doubleplay]

<p>I’m not sure what kind of high school curriculum we’re talking about here… but if you compare AP classes to college classes (which supposedly they are equivalent to), you would find that pulling marathon study sessions and occasional all-nighters is really quite normal. Problem is, in high school kids go to school for most of the day, so they have very little time left over for the grueling reading, writing, and homework assignments. In college, you go to class three times a week, are probably only “in class” for 20 hours a week at most (vs. 35 hours for most hs students), so you have much more time left over to get the work done. Most college students aren’t involved in as many ECs as high school students are, either.</p>

<p>Realistically, AP classes should require the same amount of outside work as typical college classes. Otherwise, they really aren’t comparable. Usually, they don’t. When they do, people complain.</p>

[sly_vt]

<p>I never, never understood why teachers couldn’t have a syllabus, and the behavior described by the OP used to drive me nuts, too. The one year I taught I had a syllabus for every unit, with HW due dates and test dates, and had I taught the same material the next year I would have had a complete year syllabus. Yes things change – there are always unplanned assemblies or days off that mess things up – but that’s no excuse. Many teachers don’t do their prep ahead of time, and seem to wing it. I’m not the spontaneous type, and that never worked for me. </p>

<p>So what would happen if all the students – every single one – said “forget this,” and refused to hand this big term paper?</p>