Preparing Students or Pushing an Agenda?

I graduated high school just a mere 12 years ago.  Thinking back the only acceptable option was to then attended a 4 year college and and spend at least five years getting that four year degree.  Fast forward to now and we are still pushing that same idea.  In the state of Kentucky we spend a lot of time helping students become College and Career Ready (CCR), with the focus on college.  With every student who is CCR we receive "points" from the state.  However, I wonder if we are really doing this for us instead of the students.  Yes there are some students who greatly benefit from our efforts and appreciate it.  The others though dread being pulled form their classes that either they need to graduate or want to be in because it is in a field they enjoy.  There are so many other avenues for students these days to pursue after High School.  Technical or community colleges have become increasing popular and make more sense for students.  For someone who is pursing a trade does it make sense for them the to spend four years at university to then find out they are now lacking the experience to enter the field they want.  They have that fancy degree but more and more it is looking like employers are looking for experience.  Students have more and more options to gain that experience.  With the rising cost of tuition and student loan debt growing at an astronomical rate, what are really doing to prepare our students.  The state forces our hand to do one thing but at who's benefit.  If we are doing our job as teachers then we are presenting our students with all of their options and trying to help them make the best decision for them.  Not trying to "earn a point" from the state.

Homework...To grade or not to grade that is the questions

As a student homework was something that was just a part of school.  The teacher gave the homework and I did it (most of the time).  I never asked why we did the homework or if we really needed to or questioned it really in any way.  Now that I am a teacher I have had the discussion about the importance of homework...is it even important at all?  If a student can pass the test why grade the homework? An even bigger question arose; if a student can past the final do we even need to have quiz and test grades?  I would have thought that teachers who have been around a lot longer than myself would be advocates for giving a lot of homework and grading all of it.  To my surprise it has actually been quite opposite.  They tend to still give a decent amount of homework but grade very little if any of it.  This then puts the responsibility on the students themselves.  As a high school teacher one thing we strive to teach students (besides curriculum of course) is to be responsible for themselves.  When they leave high school there wont always be someone there to hold their hand and push them in the right directions, they will have to make that decision on their own.  However, on the other side of the coin if we are not grading it how can we hold them accountable for the work?  For students grades are like a paycheck.  If they aren't going to get a grade then they most likely wont do the work.  The other thing I have seen as a teacher is that students count on their homework grade to pass the class.  They do the homework but do awful on everything else and still come out okay in the class.  But what is that teaching them? If a student fails every test should they pass the class? And yet that is what is happening in some classrooms today.  This doesn't seem right either.  So then what do we do?  Again as a high school teacher we are supposed to be getting students college and career ready.  If we focus on the career aspect we may come up with something.  In most careers there are times when we have some sort of deadlines for something we have to do (In school terms we call that a test).  Along the way you have to report to your boss how the project or presentation is coming along possibly even turn something in to him(we call this homework in schools).  So maybe the answer to is to have some sort of middle ground.  The students need to do the homework so they can retain the material.  I think we can all agree on this.  However if we don't grade any of it they are more likely to not do the work.  Again though if we grade every single thing they do we are almost giving them a passing and we don't want that either.  Not to mention the extra work that puts on us.  So the question comes down to how you are using the homework.  I think we need to use the grading of homework as a check for students to keep them on the right track for the summative assessment.  My personal homework policy is this:  I have about 3-4 homework assignments per week to the students.  On Fridays the names of each assignment are written down on a piece of paper and one student will draw one out of a hat randomly.  That assignment is then due to be turned in right then.  For me this does two things.  One it keeps the students accountable for doing their work.  By grading only about 1/4 of the assignments they do it allows their grade to be determined by their quizzes and tests.  However if they don't do any of it the zeros will be detrimental to their overall grade.  This also makes them be responsible for their own work.  They don't have to do every assignment I give them.  If they only do one assignment they may be lucky and that end up being the one that is due.  However it may not be and they have no one to blame but themselves for not finishing their work.  For me this teaches the students responsibility while also being able to hold them accountable for the work they are doing.  Is this perfect? No of course not and this wouldn't fit all classes and situations.  The idea is to find that balance that teaches the students to be responsible for their work and yet are held accountable as well.  

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog.  I live with my wife and three kids (hence the name Dad to the Third Power) in northern Kentucky.  I am in my fourth year of teaching high school math and love every minute of it...most of the time.  I have taught several different topics over the years being: Honors Algebra 1.5, Algebra 2, Geometry, Pre-calculus 1, math for business, transitional algebra, and intervention.  I have taught algebra 2 the most and in the state of Kentucky that is a large task all in itself.  For those that are unfamiliar with it the state testing in Kentucky is done by what we call End of Course Assessments (EOC's).  There are four courses that have these EOC's; they are Algebra 2, Biology, US History, and English 2 (sophomores).  Over the next few weeks I will talk more about EOC's and planning for state testing.  I plan on using this blog to discuss the ends and outs I come across while teaching, everything from failures and struggles of teaching to success and the joys of teaching.  I'm looking forward to this and hope you can take a little something away from my little teaching corner of the world.  Happy Reading!!