When I graduate from WOU in 2012 my goal is to be a "provider" of education on the secondary level. Today, as a student at WOU, I am also a parent and a consumer of education with my 10th grader and 8th grader. My wife and I met with my 10th grade son's social studies & language arts teachers to discuss a group project that my son recently completed with three classmates. Our concern was that my son and another boy did 95% of the work and document creation, while the remaining two students were rarely available to contribute to the project or practice their presentations. As a result, the overall presentation suffered and appeared disjointed. Two of the boys had good, well rehearsed presentations while the others didn't know their material or provide smooth presentations. All four of them received a poor grade ("C").
We objected to a group grade as it failed to differentiate between the contributions of each student. The teachers told us that such group projects are common in high schools today, prepare kids for the real world in which they will be expected to collaborate, and that most of their students like such group projects. They suggested that if my son experiences similar issues in future group projects, it would be helpful to enlist the teachers's help earlier on in the process so that they can help encourage the laggard students to pull their weight.
One of the teachers is also the school's basketball coach. I suggested to him that his players are all part of a team that wins or loses together, but that those kids that get the most baskets during a game are also credited with the most points. I further opined that it is not always easy for an experienced teacher to motivate recalcitrant students so that they participate more. Isn't it unfair to expect a 10th grader to be responsible for the performances of the other classmates on his project team? Mastery of the cirriculum material should be the goal for such a student.
This case example provided me with a lot to think about as I continue my preparation to someday be a high school social studies teacher just like the fellow I met with yesterday.
William, when I teach group projects, I give a group grade--but the group members are also to grade one another, and that's a good percentage of the grade. They have a form to fill out about each others' contributions where they circle numbers (1-10)for each thing they were supposed to do and then a comment box at the end. I always tell them to be honest, because more than once, the folks who had done all the work were too nice to those who hadn't, and gave them higher marks than they deserved. Almost every time, the one who didn't do anything was more critical of his teammates, and so wound up with the highest score. After telling that story, the group's evaluations nearly always came out the way they should, and those who did nothing did not wind up with passing grades. However, having said that, in cases such as this, where there was a conflict, I also required the team members to show me, physically, what they had prepared and reserved the right to make adjustments that way. I hardly ever had to do that, though. Usually the students who didn't do much work were fine with admitting that.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had a frustrating experience yesterday.