Grading

Grading

I agree with Lang when he says that grading can be the least appealing aspect of teaching.  I too wish that I could teach without grades.  I often times have students who are too focused on their grade and not focused enough on the material.  These students are not always the over-achievers either.   They are the students who receive a C in my class who would normally get an A or a B in another course.  They want to raise their grade but do not realize that the grade is actually a reflection of their understanding of the material.  They may have a tough time with second language acquisition and thus would benefit from more one on one instruction.  But the student never asks how he/she could better understand the material.  They never ask for study tips or tricks for learning a second language.  And there I sit in my office hours eager to help but no one ever comes to visit.  Instead, the students ask how they can raise their grade without thinking what the grade represents.  The student thinks less of him/herself because they are not receiving the grade they feel they deserve.  What the student does not see is how much they have improved from the first day of class.  Their test scores went from 70 to 77 percent and they certainly know a lot more now than when they started the class.  So, when a student comes to me about their grade, I always try to make them see what it truly means.

                This is why I have, in the past, accepted late work.  I want my students to see that there is value in doing the homework because it gives them a chance to practice the language on their own.  If I did not accept late work, then the student would not do the assignment at all, they would fail the class, and they would not have learned the subject matter. Ultimately, I am there to teach them German, not life lessons.  So, I have accepted their late work.  However, just as Lang points out, this has caused me a bit of a headache.  Grading goes much faster when you sit down and run through a stack of the same assignment all at once.  Students turning assignments in late or making up tests causes a lot of confusion and it ends up taking up much more of my own time.  This is why I am deciding to tighten the reigns.  A former professor once said to me that he expects a lot, but he also gets a lot in return.  If I do not expect much from my students, then I cannot complain when they do not turn in assignments on time.  It makes more sense to me now that doing the assignment later does not give them extra practice, it simply distracts from the new material, thus causing the student to fall further behind in their work.  We will see how my new approach works this coming semester.