Shelly in VA Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 What do you do when a high school aged child turns in unfinished work? In this specific instance, ds turned in her math homework from the weekend, which she had 'finished' on Friday before friends from out of town arrived, and 5 of the 36 problems were not finished. Two were completely blank, and three were clearly a marginal effort. While we did have company here for the weekend, they left Monday early afternoon, so there was ample time to do the work. What bothers me is the combination of the lack of effort, and the response when I asked why the work wasn't done (she said well, I just couldn't think of anything for those). This is an attitude issue, not a competence issue, and this is a recurring frustration with this child. She is a junior in high school, and she still wants her schoolwork spelled out for her as opposed to taking any initiative and/or responsibility for her own work. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: I suppose I just dock her the points for the homework, and maybe make homework a larger percentage of her grade - haha - then cross my fingers that the cause/effect will be seen by her sometime. But she is sixteen!!! Shouldn't I start to see some energy? I see it in my 14yo, and a little bit in my 10yo. Frustrated!!! Shelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I would have her make up the unfinished work on her own time, i.e. not during "school hours", TODAY. Before she does fun stuff. I don't grade homework - it has to be done and redone until it is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 I would have her make up the unfinished work on her own time, i.e. not during "school hours", TODAY. Before she does fun stuff. Good suggestion; we do that, after learning the hard way a few years ago that this one child would drag a single subject out ALL DAY LONG if allowed to. So now we operate on a strict, posted schedule, so that any unfinished work becomes 'homework' to be completed on their own personal time. I don't grade homework - it has to be done and redone until it is correct. I like that approach. I generally weight the homework, quizzes, papers, etc. to come up with a final grade, but really, the homework should just be done. After all, there is no credit for homework in college. Thank you for mentioning that. It's early in our year; I may make that change. If not now, certainly starting next semester. Shelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkholland Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Inge Cannon, of Transcript Bootcamp, would say that in high school re-doing work until mastery should end, and you, as the teacher, should record the grade they earn, period! Of course, grace can be extended in some circumstances. I have dealt with this with my ds (who is now graduated.) He did not care about grades and had much of the same attitude as you dd. We just kept reminding him that we were giving him the grade he earned. When he got a terrible grade because of turning a paper in 5 days late....he actually understood and knew he got what he deserved. Sorry to say,he still has some of that attitude in college. I think it is fair to make expectations clear as far as grades and then expect your high schooler to meet them or accept the consequences. That being said, maybe there is a reason she feels ambivalent about her math?? Conversations are good about how things are going and is there anything we could improve on...like how can you come along side of her and encourage her to care more about her GPA. I do think making clear expectations and giving the grade earned will prepare her more for what she will face in college. Deadlines need to be met in any job or career (even us moms!) We only hurt our students by moving deadlines and giving more time to complete assignments. It is hard to give a "C" or lower to my kids, I totally empathize with you! Attitudes of our high-schoolers have been a hard thing to deal with in our house. In reality,sometimes they just don't really care about a class and I can understand that. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 After all, there is no credit for homework in college. Sorry to tell you otherwise - but there actually is. Professors are "strongly encouraged" by the administration to give part of the class grade for homework - because otherwise students won't DO the homework. It is pretty sad - you'd think they are there to LEARN the stuff they are studying, but I have to give reading quizzes to force them to read the textbook and homework grades to force them to do the homework. So, unfortunately, there are homework grades in college. That does not mean, however, that there are homework grades in my homeschool - nobody can force me to :-) I give one final comprehensive exam in math per semester - that's the grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Very good points; thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Silly me; I was assuming colleges all operated the way mine did. ;) It wasn't that long ago... I can still remember the feeling of panic I got as a college freshman when I found out that all of my classes were graded on either a small number of exams plus the final or lab grades plus a final. As a junior/senior, there were a few classes that based the grade strictly on a midterm and final exam. Maybe that's why I still have nightmares where I was late for the test and subsequently failed the class; haha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thinking a bit more about this, I realize that the Inge Cannon approach is similar to what I had to do with dd's Algebra II grade last year. She was borderline A/B all year, and ultimately ended up with a B. I simply recorded the grades and gave the B, and dd was very upset with me because I wouldn't "let" her do extra credit or something else to pull the grade up. Truthfully, I would have considered it had she been extremely close, but at the end of the semester she was ~ 3% points short of the A, so I simply let the B stand. I think I followed some of your philosophy, although I was not recognizing the similarity between that work and today's until you posted. Thanks again! Shelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thinking a bit more about this, I realize that the Inge Cannon approach is similar to what I had to do with dd's Algebra II grade last year. She was borderline A/B all year, and ultimately ended up with a B. I simply recorded the grades and gave the B, and dd was very upset with me because I wouldn't "let" her do extra credit or something else to pull the grade up. Truthfully, I would have considered it had she been extremely close, but at the end of the semester she was ~ 3% points short of the A, so I simply let the B stand. I think I followed some of your philosophy, although I was not recognizing the similarity between that work and today's until you posted. Thanks again! Shelly Your DD's college teachers will thank you too, when it's one fewer student they don't have to convince that magical extra credit just doesn't exist anymore :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I've been mulling this over too. My oldest has terrible handwriting. He had OT when he was young, but it didn't help much and I'm even considering going back in part to prepare for the possibility of needing a handwriting exception for the SAT essay. However, he can write somewhat better and I have on occasion just handed it back to him to redo. I've found this motivates him to do better going forward. While it is true that all colleges are different I can tell you that at least at one top law school my dh was asked to come back in and type up his final exam because they couldn't read it (now you know where my son gets it from). Fortunately it was his first year and he had taken a research internship with a professor on campus instead of summer associate job out of town. Sigh, I see my son's future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in VA Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Your DD's college teachers will thank you too, when it's one fewer student they don't have to convince that magical extra credit just doesn't exist anymore :P Magical extra credit -- your comment reminded me that last year, we met some friends for the day in DC. They have their teen dd enrolled in a private school (very exclusive and very $$$), and they asked if we could stop by one of the art museums to pick up a brochure from the current traveling exhibit. Their daughter needed the extra credit points 'earned' by turning in the brochure. Not viewing the exhibit, or displaying any knowledge or experience from it, just grabbing a brochure and turning it in. Apparently, this happens frequently at that school, so sometimes mom or dad will stop by a museum to pick up whatever marketing their dd needs to get extra credit in various classes. How's that for magical extra credit?! Shelly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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