Kontan.

Assignment: 63 terms and people of the Progressive Era.
Due: two days after it was assigned
Reaction? I am apparently evil.

The assignment was given to both classes. One does what it always does, they complained with shock at the amount of work then got started. The other class? One individual begins scheming. The Princess I wrote about a while back: “OK guys, we can get this done quick by dividing the work. Everyone can take 4 or 5, type it up and email it to me, then I will email it to everyone.” *Skeptical looks at each other and to me*

Me: Guys, you know I don’t care how you get the work done, as long as you know it. However, you need to know that I think this is a bad idea. If you only do a part of the work you will not learn the rest or retain the information as well.

Two students refused to participate in the scheme. The rest jumped on board. Some were still skeptical but the easy factor won out.

Understand that students knew they would be held accountable for the material. Sometimes they are allowed to use notes on the quizzes. Usually hand-written notes only. I don’t want students to do poorly, but I also don’t want them to get a free ride by not doing their own work or copy/paste material for their identifications.

Day before quiz…

Student in less lazy class: Are we going to get to use our notes?
Me: Yes.
Student: Even if they’re typed?
Me: No.

*shock*

By the end of the day word had spread. I made it home by 9 PM, turned on my computer for a little surfing and spent the next 45 minutes calming panicked students. If you do YOUR work, typed or hand-written, you SHOULD remember enough to complete a simple accountability quiz. If you failed to do YOUR work or simply copy/paste all the answers from the ‘net then you will probably do poorly! How are you being accountable for the information if you are not doing YOUR work? Why should you be allowed to use the work completed by someone else to receive accountability credit? Why do I end up looking like a bad guy because my students are too lazy to do their own work? I understand it is a lot. I understand that they want to divide it up. I truly don’t have too much of a problem with it. My problem is them expecting a group effort to be acceptable for personal accountability. It is not acceptable. If you complete the work as a group then you need to individually prepare!

When I gave them the quiz on Friday 5th period, the less lazy of the two AP classes, did fine. Of course, they did most of their work individually. Half of fourth period was furious with me. Princess tried to negotiate a deal and I informed her that her classmates were probably not interested in any more of her plans. She replies with shock, “What? Me? What do you mean me? This is my fault? Huh?” A few classmates informed her that it was her idea to split up the work. She made a very wise choice and decided to keep her mouth shut. I was shocked.

New policy: No notes…period. Problem solved.