How much should a test be worth?
A final exam?
And homework– what about that?
Is it splitting hairs to make tests, papers and in-class essays be worth 35% compared to the then 25% given for quizzes?
How are they going to perceive this, these students whom I have not yet met, whose names are only a list, constructions of vowel and consonant that I lift to God for blessing, and know nothing else of them? Will these percentages strike them as fair? And will they be fair– the grades, I mean? I mean them to be fair. I will try my best to make them fair. Fairness matters a great deal in scenarios like these….
I think of them, these students, unknown to me in face and mood and disposition. In a few weeks’ time they will be enfleshed and vividly real, and I will be standing before them explaining how their grade is broken down into various components of performance and it will make sense to them or not and it will matter to them or not and then we will be cracking the spines of our brand-new books and we’ll be off, I guess.
August 29th.
So, it’s 20% for the semester exam, and 20% for the daily grade. It’s 20% for in-class quizzes, and 40% for tests, papers, and in-class essays.
Sounds about right to me.
And bless them, Lord. No matter what.
