Sunday, November 2, 2008

Mid-semester grades

Grades for the first marking period (first nine weeks of the semester) have been released. For those students doing well in biology, there are no worries; they just need to keep up the good work. However, for those students not doing well in biology, things are starting to look discouraging. I gravitate towards these students and try to encourage; their first semester in biology is not lost. Just because they didn't earn a "C" or better doesn't mean that they are going to fail; it just means that they are going to have to work harder than they have been to improve their grade during the second marking period (second nine weeks of the semester) and do well on the final. I know it can be done, but I must convince them that it can be done. They have to believe that they can improve their overall grade by put more time and effort into their school work this point forward.

There is also a new extra credit opportunity every week, and I will walk students over to the board to try it. Some of students will tell me that they can't get the extra credit, but they haven't even read it yet; for these students I say lets try it and once they read it (I may have to re-state it) and think about it, they get it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great post. Hopefully, with your assistance, students can become aware of the opportunity to make pivotal changes in their academic performance. Please keep us updated on the results, especially students who make significant academic improvements.