Wk 4 - Day 14

today the students in ms. b's first three periods have their take home quizzes (setting up an experiment and running it) due. so far, i want to bang my head against the wall in frustration. less than a third of the students actually turned it in and less than half of what was turned in was graded...the rest were re-do's. students had an example lab report at their fingertips, notes, assistance of adults in the classroom and a week to do it. when i was a student i had the fear of my teacher's wrath and my parents if i didn't complete an assignment let alone not even turn one in. what has changed? why are students so...lazy? junior high grades don't count for college entrance or even for getting into high school...perhaps students, parents, teachers, administration, etc., aren't taking anything very serious. truthfully, i just don't get it. i don't want to be a teacher that fails everyone, but my expectations are going to be really high. i don't need a principal reprimanding me because i have a high failure rate...which could happen very easily. mrs. s stated that only one student here has actually been held back a year... one student failing a grade in eight years. how can teachers hold the students accountable for their work?

i taught 6th/8th period today. we discussed the journal question of the day and introduced fossils. it was an easy day...discussion, played a video clip and discussed the take home quiz. the students in mrs. s's class handed in more per class, but still had just as many re-do's as ms. b's.