How do you grade daily math work?

[klmama]

A friend and I were discussing the pros and cons of this, and I wondered what you all thought. If a child understands the concepts on a math assignment, but misses problems due to lack of attention to details or failure to follow instructions completely, how do you assign grades? I have no idea how to post a poll, so please just respond with the appropriate answer below, or do the "other" thing!

 

A. I assume the understanding is most important, and I give the child an A.

B. I think following the directions is just as important as understanding the concepts, so I mark the problems wrong and give a lower grade.

C. Other. :)

 

ETA: This is for middle school students, not little ones!

Edited January 8, 2010 by klmama

[Ellie]

A friend and I were discussing the pros and cons of this, and I wondered what you all thought. If a child understands the concepts on a math assignment, but misses problems due to lack of attention to details or failure to follow instructions completely, how do you assign grades? I have no idea how to post a poll, so please just respond with the appropriate answer below, or do the "other" thing!

 

A. I assume the understanding is most important, and I give the child an A.

B. I think following the directions is just as important as understanding the concepts, so I mark the problems wrong and give a lower grade.

C. Other. :)

Ok, here's the thing: If I'm correcting a math paper, and the child gets a bad grade because he was inattentive or failed to follow instructions completely, then he deserves the bad grade. It isn't enough to understand the concept; he must also follow instructions and pay attention to details, if for no other reason than to learn that life lesson: it's all about the details and following instructions.

[FO4UR]

My ds is still young...but I circle missed problems and he does them again. If he knows the concept, easypeasy....redoing is a good natural consequence for carelessness. If he doesn't understand, then we figure it out together.

[Jann in TX]

This is just the way it is period. No exceptions.

 

I've had them re-work their problems since the beginning of our homeschool journey and it is automatic for my middle dd who is in Pre-Calc at home this year.

 

Homework is for practice.

 

As a PS teacher I HAD to assign a 'grade' or the students would just not do it!

[Amber in AUS]

If it is just day to day work then we rework the problem with the instruction 'haste makes waste' so do your best effort the first time and also 'try and try again' incase it wasn't a careless error. If it were a test then too bad i would mark it wrong regardless of the kind of error.

[klmama]

I'm going to give it away now, but I am SOOOO glad you think this, too! I want to be supportive of my friend, but I don't think she's doing her dc any favors by not holding them to a higher standard.

 

Okay, so now I'm curious to know if I'm doing it "right." :) Those of you who do grade for quality as well as understanding, when do you have the dc rework the problems - the same day, the next day before covering new material, or the next day on their own time? Also, do you give partial credit back for correcting the answers, or does the original grade stand? If problems are left blank, and you notice right away when the dc hands in the paper, do you give it back and let the dc do those problems for full or partial credit, or do you simply mark them wrong?

 

Jann, I know you've mentioned before that maturity plays a role in the ability to follow the directions well, do all steps correctly without mistake, etc. Is there a point at which you see a developmental jump in that?

 

Thanks, all!

[klmama]

If it is just day to day work then we rework the problem with the instruction 'haste makes waste' so do your best effort the first time and also 'try and try again' incase it wasn't a careless error. If it were a test then too bad i would mark it wrong regardless of the kind of error.

 

With dc as young as yours, I think that's the perfect approach. I guess I didn't clarify that my friend and I were discussing middle school students.

[Tidbits of Learning]

For my 4th grader, I mark them wrong, grade the paper, and record the grade. Then she corrects it. In math one "typo" can mess up a whole problem. It is just better that she start to proofread her work now before the higher math. I am the same with my 1st and 3rd grader with math. The bank isn't going to say, I understand you just miswrote this number when subtracting and you went negative...forget that fee, we will pay the check. They will bounce a check and charge you a fee for a math error. I don't want my dc to get the idea that an incorrect answer is alright in math just b/c they set it up right and maybe wrote it wrong or something along that line.

[klmama]

For my 4th grader, I mark them wrong, grade the paper, and record the grade. Then she corrects it. In math one "typo" can mess up a whole problem. It is just better that she start to proofread her work now before the higher math. I am the same with my 1st and 3rd grader with math. The bank isn't going to say, I understand you just miswrote this number when subtracting and you went negative...forget that fee, we will pay the check. They will bounce a check and charge you a fee for a math error. I don't want my dc to get the idea that an incorrect answer is alright in math just b/c they set it up right and maybe wrote it wrong or something along that line.

 

Awesome example! I'm going to use that one the next time someone has to redo something! Thanks!

[MIch elle]

I have never graded daily work. I check daily work; go over any wrong problems but do not grade it. Quizzes/tests are graded - that's enough. CLE math has a quiz every 5th & 10th day and test every 16th lesson out of a 3 week cycle.

[2cents]

I don't do grades at all. The girls do their work and I check it over. Whatever is wrong is corrected the same day. So basically nothing is finished until it is 100% right. Since they know that they correct whatever is wrong, they just naturally try to minimize the amount of time they spend on corrections. Spending more time at the start and getting more correct is its own reward.

[Whereneverever]

I don't do grades, either. We go over it, discuss any wrong answers, and correct right away.

[kathkath]

With dc as young as yours, I think that's the perfect approach. I guess I didn't clarify that my friend and I were discussing middle school students.

 

 

yes,

and even with an older child I'd use a when, then approach, alternating more interesting with less interesting material/activities.

eg:

WHEN you are finished with all the problems neatly and correctly, THEN you may ______________________.

 

That should speed up accuracy.

[Mom0012]

I do not grade my children's daily work, but I do correct it each evening and have them fix any errors the next morning before they begin their new lessons. I will glance at the work when they first complete it to make sure it is complete and to make sure they seem to know what they are doing, but I don't carefully check it until the evening.

 

When I grade tests and quizzes, I do mark it down for errors and silly mistakes because, in my mind, it doesn't matter if you understand what you are doing if you don't do it correctly.

 

Lisa

Edited January 8, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[MamaT]

I do not give my middle schooler a grade on daily work - other than "completed." I grade the paper immediately when she finishes and any missed problems are reworked until 100% correct. Tests - she gets what she gets. If she misses a problem because of a silly mistake, it still gets marked wrong.

[Vida Winter]

Any problems missed or not done to my satisfaction need to be re-done. I don't grade daily math homework, only tests (with the homework as a % of the final entire grade).

[WeeBeaks]

I don't "grade" but I check it daily. He has to redo anything that is wrong, whether he understands the concept or not. I'm trying to teach that anything worth doing is worth doing carefully and accurately. We don't do a ton of problems each day, so I feel that is reasonable. If he truly doesn't understand we work through a couple together again to review. Generally it is just carelessness/inattention. I have an ADHD child, and he struggles with that. The concept of carefully going through a sheet and making sure to do all problems systematically, carefully and neatly is as much the lesson as is the math for us. He has gotten so much better.

[MrsMe]

Ah....B. Wrong is wrong no matter why. However it I find that it's mostly due to being in a hurry or not reading questions, we go over the importance of doing things right, checking work and quality. Then I say, "It's too bad you didn't take your time. You could of had an A!".

[EKS]

I don't assign grades for daily work. 30% of my son's grade is for "completion of daily work". Of course, what this means is that he corrects any problems he misses and then gets 100%. The majority of the grade is derived from test scores.

 

ETA: What's interesting is that by doing the 30% daily work/70% tests weighting, a kid who has a 90% average on the tests ends up getting a 93% in the class. So being conscientious about doing the problem sets just helps a tiny bit for a kid who is mastering the material.

Edited January 8, 2010 by EKS

[nukeswife]

My son uses TT so at this point (grade 6) it still has automatic grading. He gets 2 chances at a problem (unless it's a true/false kind of question) If he gets it right the 2nd time it counts it as correct (but the grade book lets me know it took him 2 attempts at it) When we were using Saxon I would correct them and mark any wrong whether it was because he skipped it, calculated wrong, whatever the reason. That was the grade that stood, but he did have to go back and redo the problem until it was correct.

 

I'm starting to do this with my dd (she's doing 1st/2nd grade work) If it's wrong I mark it as such and she will redo the problem in red pencil. If she has skipped a whole section or done an entire section wrong (like adding instead of subtracting or vice versa) I'll say "Um I think you didn't read the directions correctly" and she'll usually see it right away, I will allow her to do those over before grading, but only because she's still young and we just started subtraction. Once she hits 5th grade it's a "What you get is what you get, now please correct them" situation.

[TxMama]

I personally don't give grades in middle school but have them rework missed problems until they get the correct answer.

 

Once I give grades I would go with option B if for no other reason than you don't get credit for understanding and an A in college algebra so you better follow the directions and pay attention to details so you have the correct answer!

[Rhonda in TX]

I only take grades for quizzes and tests. For daily work, they re-work any missed problems. I use CLE and it has 10 tests and 18 quizzes for the year.