Test Retake Day (Day 79)

Just like the seventh graders, the eighth graders don't have a Unit 5 Final this week. But the older students already took their Unit 4a Test last week, as originally scheduled. Instead of a final, this week is reserved for Unit 3 and 4a retakes and making up other missing assignments.

With the second quarter coming to an end, grades are becoming prominent again -- and with grades comes the annoying grade weighting in Canvas. Recall that in both Math 8 classes, APEX quizzes are 30%. In first period, APEX tests are 30% and "Assignments" are 40%, while it's vice versa in fourth period. On the other hand, so-called "Imported Assignments" are 0% of the grade/

I mentioned last month that the two Edpuzzles are considered to be Assignments. As it turns out, these are the only two Assignments in fourth period. For some reason, first period has one more Assignment -- the Unit 4 Practice Test in Go Formative. Thus each of these three Assignments is worth 10% of the grade in first period -- that is, one full letter grade. And each of the two Edpuzzles is worth a whopping 20% of the grade in fourth period -- that is, two letter grades.

(You may be wondering, why is this little word "Imported" so important, anyway? "Imported" basically means that they were imported into Canvas from another source, such as the other Math 8 teachers. Still, I'm not sure why the Edpuzzles, which were set up by the lead Math 8 teacher, aren't "Imported," nor why the Unit 4 Practice is "Imported" in one period and a red-blooded "Assignment" in the other.)

What this does mean is that a fourth period student who skipped the Edpuzzles but has a near-perfect 99% in everything else will wind up with a grade of 59%, an F. And a first period student who does the same and omits Go Formative will wind up with a D+. That's why I don't like grade weighting -- assignments that students skip because they think don't matter much suddenly make huge differences in the grade.

The lead Math 8 teacher has set up this week's test retakes so that students should write a paragraph explaining what they did wrong on the test before being granted the retake. They also need to have 100% on the corresponding Go Formative Practice Test. I don't make my students write a paragraph, but I do make them get 100% in Go Formative.

So here's what happened with one particular guy in the Friday cohort of fourth period (that met Monday this week instead): He earned a D on last week's Unit 4 Test. So I told him that he should keep repeating the Go Formative Practice Test, which he eventually does. Then I let him retake the Unit 4 Test -- only to get the very same D the second time around. And all along, this student never did the Edpuzzles -- so in other words, he spent the 100-minute block working on 0% of his grade instead of working on 40%, and so he winds up with an F for the quarter.

After this, for both the Tuesday and Wednesday cohorts, I tell the students that they must complete Edpuzzles as well as Go Formative before granting the retake. And for tomorrow's fourth period cohort (where Go Formative is "Imported"), I'm considering making them do only Edpuzzles to get the retake.