Many teachers I know take attendance, mostly as a fallback when students are unsuccessful, as only rare courses in my school give marks for attendance. This fallback typically demonstrates a student's lack of class attendance, and thus provides additional evidence beyond an unsuccessful grade.
I do happen to teach one such rare class where attendance is still given a mark - Physical Fitness and Wellness. The major part of this course is physical preparation for their fitness and lifting evaluations and job competitions. I started to wonder this semester though, why am I giving away free marks to those that can roll out of bed and arrive in the gym on time, to then participate with a complete lack of effort, barely going through the motions. It's the participation that matters, not the attendance. So this thought rolled around a bit more in my brain, would this not apply to my theory classes too? Currently, there are no attendance or participation marks, but should there be? If I want students to care more than just about a number at the end of the course, should I not demonstrate what I preach by praising active participation and preparation? I want the focus to be on the material and its application, and promoting the metacognitive skills to become better learners, but a final grade based completely on tests seems contrary to this philosophy. As the teacher I have the freedom and control to change my course outline and evaluation scheme, and I think change is in the wind. I enter my third year of full-time teaching next fall, and though I have made minor changes in both content and evaluation, it's time to stop doing what was done previously, just because it was already in place and worked. Below is an example of a rubric I found that is an example of how one might evaluate participation, and this can be done by both the teacher, and the student. Some comments on the rubric stated that it was too complex and unnecessary to track participation this way, just put a plus or minus next to a students name each day. I however like this rubric, or something based off of this concept, as the other important aspect is the self-evaluation and reflection, promoting that metacognition and self-regulated learning I want my students to develop. http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/participation-points-making-student-engagement-visible/
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AuthorI teach Paramedicine at Cambrian College, in Sudbury, Ontario. I also continue to work as a paramedic, and ride bikes. This is my third semester in the PME program, and I look forward to learning with everyone! Archives
March 2017
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