Spring!
New growth and new hope. My December post had quite a bit of gloom in it, so I thought I would balance it with a more positive attitude that reflects the improvements in student grades. Regarding work load and student performance, I simply changed the expectations in order have grades based more on class time activities and less on homework. The number of F's dwindled and more than half the kids in all my classes moved into the A range. Did they amp up their efforts? Not really. I just made the high grades more attainable. Plus... after the grades were high, I didn't add many 'hard' assignments until the quarter closed. Copout? Maybe. But, I'm also a firm believer that students like to continue to get good grades once they are getting them.
It is now the beginning of fourth quarter and I'm back to pushing hard and challenging the kids with extension activities that are open-ended and are designed to go beyond the "just for the points" level of motivation. Funny thing about things like extra credit, though... the kids that don't need it, do it, and the kids that do need it don't do it. More on that topic next time.