Specific Information for Debra Borkovitz’s Section of Concepts and Processes

Fall 2004

What kind of homework will we have?

There will be several kinds of homework. You will have homework due just about every class meeting. Sometimes your homework will include several short problems, designed to practice a particular skill or to explore a particular concept. Many times your homework will consist of only one or two big problems, which require thinking and creativity. I will often give you time to go over homework in small groups during class time. I will not formally grade most of the homework, but I will look over your math notebooks periodically.

Most of the homework you turn in will fall into one of two types: write-ups and reflections. For “write-ups,” you will explain your solution to a problem or a set of problems, including justifying your reasoning. For “reflections,” you might reflect on your understanding of a concept, reflect on similarities and differences between problems, etc.

How is homework graded?

For most assignments that you turn in, you will get a rubric, or scoring guide, with a scale from 0 to 5. The rubric will explain, sometimes in great detail, what you must do in order to get each score. You might receive separate scores for reasoning, communication, problem solving, and/or conceptual understanding. The general scale is as follows:

5 -- Incredible. Goes beyond the problem that was asked. The kind of work you'd want to show a prospective employer on a job interview.

4 -- Excellent. Does what was asked and more.

3 -- Good. Does most of what was asked.

2 -- Fair. Does some good work.

1 -- Poor. Does a little.

0 -- Unacceptable.

Please don't put a lot of extra time into coloring in elaborate diagrams, making cover pages, and other things that are mostly cosmetic. Many students are quite talented at making things look nice, and this is a skill I value, but it is not the skill we are working on in class. I am especially concerned about this because so many Concepts and Processes students are women, and often, in school, girls are valued for their ability to make things pretty instead of for their ability to think.

What if I do poorly on a homework assignment?

In most cases, you can redo it. The main goal is that you learn. In most real world contexts, when you write something that doesn’t say what it’s supposed to say, you don’t get a bad grade on it, rather, you rewrite it.

What will our tests be like?

There will be two or three tests per semester. Most tests will consist of two parts. The first part will be the “baseline proficiencies,” which will usually be several straightforward questions addressing the most fundamental concepts covered on the test. You will receive more information about the baseline proficiencies soon. For the baseline proficiencies, there is an established level that all students must meet (usually 80%) on each proficiency to pass the class. If you don’t meet this level the first time you take the test, you will submit corrections, and then retake the test either as a written test or as an oral interview with me. The goal is that everyone in the class demonstrate understanding of the most fundamental concepts. You may repeat proficiencies as many times as you need to until you pass. Although the baseline proficiencies may sound scary, they have worked well for us in the past students who come to class regularly and work at them always pass them all eventually, and they leave the class learning more than they would have without the proficiencies.

The rest of the test will generally consist of deeper, more challenging problems that test you on processes as well as on concepts. This part of the test will be a pyramid exam. You will first take it individually as a regular test. When you leave the class, you will get a blank copy of the test that also includes some extra problems. You may work with members of your study group, and no other people, to redo the test. You will have study group time and maybe some class time to complete the test. Your final score for each problem will be the average of your original score and your group score.

The pyramid exams are an excellent learning opportunity. The reform movement in mathematics stresses that assessment and learning should not be completely separate processes. In many traditional classes, the learning stops at test time, and starts up again, on another topic, after a test. In this class, tests are also opportunities to learn.

For the second part of most tests, you can bring in a sheet of notes. Preparing the sheet will help you study. I prefer this to open-book tests, because in open-book tests students often panic and spend a huge amount of time flipping randomly through their notes.

How are the tests graded?

On more involved problems, there will be a brief scoring guide that goes with each question. It will use the same scale as the homework, and will tell you what you need to do to achieve each level. For shorter problems, the scoring guide will combine several problems together.

Do you grade on a curve?

No. There is one standard for everyone for the question, and I decide it in advance. You are not competing with one another. I would be willing to give everyone in the class A's and I'd also be willing to give everyone in the class F's.

Will we have quizzes?

We might do some of the baseline proficiencies as quizzes. In general, the quizzes will not count toward your final grade: if you do well on a quiz, then you will pass a baseline proficiency; if you do poorly, then both you and I will be aware of areas that you still need to work on. In some cases, however, quizzes will count.

Will we have a final exam?

Yes. Please do not buy airplane tickets, schedule work time, etc. during the final exam period. School is still in session, and you will be expected to be there.

How do you calculate final grades?

The general scale will be as follows:

Write-ups and Reflections 30%

Notebook 20%

Tests 30%

In Class Work 20%

The write-ups, reflections, and tests will generally include rubrics, so you will have a good idea of your scores in these areas. I will look for evidence of what you can do, and take improvement into account. I don't translate the numerical grades directly into letters, but for a rough guide, a 5 is like an A+, a 4 is like an A, a 3 is like a B, and so on.

For your notebook, here is a general guide:

Satisfactory (B or C): In Class Work: Organized to keep track of your own thoughts, solutions and experiments. Includes all assigned entries. Records representations and examples to support your thinking. Post-class activity and reflections: Comments thoughtfully on class activities, ideas, experiences.

Exceptional (A): Includes the above, plus the following. In Class Work: a clear record of thinking, work, solution of your classmates. Annotations and reflections on aspects of teaching and learning that go on in the class itself. Organized for easy access to topics (e.g. includes an index, headings, or color coding of topics for easy access). Post class activity and reflections: comments connect to others’ experiences, aware of own progress, comparing own thoughts over time, reflection on both learning as a student and insight as a beginning teacher, pursues a new insight or puzzles about a question or new idea in a new way.

Needs to Improve (D or F): Insufficiently organized, difficult to read or understand, missing assignments and reflections.

Your in-class work includes attendance, participation (in both small and large groups this is not designed to only reward students who like to talk a lot), and general engagement in the course. I pay attention to your willingness to grapple with challenging material. Some students demonstrate their understanding better in the classroom setting than they do on tests or homework, and this grade can help recognize that.

Truthfully, I dislike giving final grades, and would prefer to focus on learning without grades; however, I don’t have a choice right now. I know that you are probably concerned about your grade, as you should be, and I respect this concern. I try to give you as much information as possible about my grading systems, but the reality is that there is some subjectivity involved. Even in systems that seem highly “objective,” with points for everything, etc., there is a great deal of subjectivity involved (what goes on a test, how partial credit is awarded etc.) As a teacher, you will confront your own dilemmas with grading and assessment. Feel free to ask me at any time how you are doing in the class. I will try to give midterm evaluations each semester.

Grades are often about ranking people, and there is too much ranking of people in this culture. I have a great quote on my office wall about the difference between evaluation and grading; come in some time and look at it.

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