End of the year anxieties

[via this week’s Carnival of Education]

High school teacher Ms. Cornelius is irritated:

Like my new haircut?

I got it from the whirling blades of the latest helicopter parents to hover over my head now that the semester is inexorably subsiding like a California mudslide into the onslaught of finality which is known as “end of semester” time.

The question before us, ladies and gentlemen, is if it possible for Sugarplum to increase his semester average 8 percentage points in the next six school days. Never mind that Sugarplum has never come within sniffing distance of the grade that this parent has suddenly just plucked out of the ether as their “dream grade.”

The end of the year is a tough time, especially for new teachers. It takes practice to stand your ground with parents and students who have switched into desperation mode far too late in the game. It also takes experience to have worked out a grading system that you feel confident defending.  (Maybe those check-pluses should be worth 15 points instead of 10...Maybe participation should be 25% instead of 20%, and maybe I’m measuring it wrong anyway… Repeat variations endlessly in your head until you can’t sleep.  I may be speaking from experience here.)

Heading into the end of the year, I wonder if TEN readers have any suggestions for both these issues: dealing with desperate parents/students, and making sure you’re confident with your grading system.

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