children checking their own work?

[Amy in CO]

In one of SWB lectures on cds, she says that high schoolers should correct their own work. It is supposed to help the student with a feeling of ownership and responsibility, if I remember right. I am wondering if anyone does this.

 

I have been trying for the last couple of months to have my 9th grader correct any worksheet things that she does. But I have my doubts that it is a good idea.

 

In the past I would mark the mistakes, and she had to go back and find the correct answer. With her having the answer book, she just writes the correct answer down when checking.

 

This particular child has struggled with school in the first place. She thinks she is stupid because she doesn't automatically know these things, that she has to learn them. She compares herself to dh and I, who have studied some of these things for 20 years. It is an unfair comparison, but to her it means that she is stupid and will never learn anything so why bother trying.

 

I know some of this is due to the age, but I really wonder if just handing a child that doesn't care about their education will really help them to care about it, or if it is just the easy way out. And with no effort she now has the correct answers.

 

Any ideas?

[Miss Marple]

My boys check some of their work. My oldest (11th grade) does all of his own checking. The 2 younger ones check certain subjects, but we gradually work toward full independence by 11th grade. My boys move into concurrent courses in 11th grade for at least a few subject and they are completely on their own in those.

[brendafromtenn]

My highschoolers check their DAILY work. And I check Tests and Essay assignments. I have an 11th grade ds and a 9th grade dd.

 

HTH,

 

Brenda, who is about to hit the road:auto:

[outtamyshell]

My 10th grader checked her Saxon assignments and had to re-do any problem that she didn't get right. That class was so tedious.

 

Checking your own work makes more sense with math than something like Biology. I checked Biology work and had DD redo the problems she had missed. You are right... if checking the answer means they've been told the answer, then you don't get a lot of learning opportunity out of checking your work.

[freerange]

For my children, checking their own answers means they're focusing more on what the correct answer should have been, than on how many they got right. I try to be around when they're marking so I can help with questions that come up.

[HollyinNNV]

No, we don't do it. I especially don't agree in subject like chemistry where 95.5 is right, they answer 96 and just figure both answers were correct. But, because of sig digs they were wrong. So, no, I do not have my dd check her own work. (except if I'm super sick-maybe one day a year)

Holly

[FloridaLisa]

Your success with the check-your-own-work method probably depends on your child and the particular subject. I've had a mixed experience. I had a terrible experience with my one of mine when it became too tempting to have the math solutions manual handy. At first, it was checked after the work, then it was used more and more to help *with* the work until the child had really fallen behind. To be honest, I wasn't providing enough oversight at the time, the dc was probably frustrated or stumped by lack of adult help and the solutions manual was becoming the teacher. :001_huh:

 

Another of my children, however, is very conscientious and could use a solution manual easily to check everyday work without having the temptation to rely on it to complete the work. And yet another would honestly use the solutions manual to check work, but wouldn't necessarily spend the time and brainpower to re-work any mistakes! :tongue_smilie:

 

This year, dd1 and ds2 are checking each other's everyday math and I just grade tests. That's working fabulously. I still check all of their other work.

 

HTH,

Lisa

[Amy in CO]

thanks for the comments so far. That is what I have been kind of thinking. We decided to try it because for the most part SWB's advice has been right on the money for us. I am thinking that for at least this child, that we shouldn't continue.

[Julie in CA]

My high schoolers do correct their own work, and yes, they do mark in the correct answer from the TE. Afterwards though, I require them to go through their textbook and mark the page # where the correct answer was found for each incorrect answer. They get triple the reinforcement that way--the first time by reading the right answer in the TE, then by writing it in on their paper where they've missed it, and then lastly, by locating it in their own text.

[lllll]

Our dc worked up to correcting some of their own work. And it definitely depended on the subject and the child for us. I corrected their grammar when they were young; but as they caught on and became comfortable with the books and the subject, and I could see they were absorbing it well - I let them take over their own corrections for grammar.

 

Dh or I still correct their science work. I just corrected 17yod's answers to the end-of-chapter questions for her chemistry. I read their science papers and sometimes pass them on to dh if it's a subject I'm weak in. Dh corrects another dd's Conceptual Physics, gives it to her to look over, and then sits down with her to explain and discuss the errors. Dh also meets weekly with grown ds's to go over their asigned physics (Halliday) and calculus problems.

 

For math, one dd corrects her own. This particular dd is good at math, works fast, and will actually sit and mull over any missed problems until she understands it - or ask dh to explain it. Another dd asked me to correct them as she does them on a small whiteboard. As I ride the exercise bike, she does the problems and calls out the answers to me. I tell her if the answer is correct, and if it's wrong, she works it again. If she can't get it, I begin asking her questions about her work, etc., until she figures it out. This dd seems to need that instant feedback for math.

 

Third dd corrects some on her own and I correct some for her math. I go over any missed problems with her which she can't get after several tries.

 

We also do some group corrections of various things - harder logic books not in WTM, math, Russian circles problems, grammar diagramming. I've found our dc can often explain things to each other faster and more efficiently than I can. And I see them making connections between the various subjects when they work as a group this way.

 

They always corrected their own logic work for the books they did listed in WTM. I'm thinking I should have corrected one ds's logic work in particular, in hindsight, however. I think he rushed through the books and didn't retain as much as our other dc have.

 

So, I guess I'd say that in hindsight, it helps to pay attention to each dc's work and assess constantly when they're making that transition to correcting their own work, to make sure they're actually retaining the material - or rushing through just to say they've done it, etc.

 

HTH

Edited March 27, 2010 by ksva

[Tressa]

My 9th grader checks his own daily work. I think a person can learn a lot this way as long as they go back and figure out why it was wrong.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin checks his own work, but I'm sitting right by him and go over the answers with him straight away. We share a big table.

 

Laura