Teaching Ideas.....

I am still in a funk about my grades. I assigned an assessment project that was due last Thursday, for the end of our Islam Unit. The project was to complete a 6+6, 10+10, poster or booklet about the "Contributions of Islamic Culture and Civilization", which is one of our California State Social Studies Standards. And, just like THESE students have been over the past several months, not many of them bothered to do this project. So, I had an alternative assessment lined up for them. Those that did not turn in a project received a regular test to take in class. It is worth less than the project was worth. But, at least there will be something to go in the grade book and they have the opportunity to demonstrate to me that they learned SOMETHING. This alternative assessment will be put in the gradebook as an alternative assessment, and should an parent conferences be held, I can point out to the parents that their child did not do their project. And the students at least get some points. What about those who did turn in their project? They have the opportunity to earn more points (aka a higher grade) than those who took the alternative assessment. Those that turned in their project also got class time to either quietly work on their biography project (due next Friday), or read their AR book.

What do you other teachers do when students do not turn in projects ? I'd be very interested in hearing how you deal with this.

Thanks for reading my blog ! As always, I welcome your comments !