Student always is finished first with an assignment because they have not done the complete assignment. They are in such a rush to be done that they miss the lesson. I stress the use of the finish button. They want to be done and just jump from level to level. I start out showing them what they have missed, as time goes on, I just ask them if they used the finished button or skipped bubbles. They then go back and finish what they skipped over. Answers some of the questions and lack of understanding the advanced work when they complete the work that came before.
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I know it’s time consuming but I actually look at each of my students’ progress in each lesson in Unit 3. I click on Run in each level/puzzle to see if it works correctly or as should and if not I take off points. I give 100 points for completing each Lesson in Unit 3 correctly. I assign one Lesson a day and sometimes have a “catch up day” for those behind to catch up to those on the current lesson. Those ahead get a study hall for that class. Once I started announcing grades for each lesson out loud in class and students saw they lost points for not completing a lesson correctly, I had less of that happening. I would give a grade as low as a D if they missed more puzzles than did them correctly. I did let them go back and correct the puzzles to make up the points if they wanted to. Also I require them to do the free play levels at the end of each lesson and they have to complete those showing knowledge of the new commands in that lesson and they have to show creativity. If not, again I take off quite a few points. I have about 50 8th graders working in unit 3 so it may not be as many as you have so I don’t know how time consuming it would be for you to do the same and look at their completed lessons. But this has worked very well for me in keeping my students doing what they are supposed to.
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Great idea! Unfortunately I have 150 students each day so don’t have time for that. I monitor the students in class and then will spot check students online. I also give grades for completing the lessons. At the beginning of the unit I warned the students that they needed to actually work through each puzzle.
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I have the same issues. Students want to fly through and say they are done without actually learning anything. I’ll echo @michelle_johnson about the spot check idea. I pick a puzzle which requires the students using knowledge they have learned in the lesson and tell them that they must complete that one for a grade. This lets me make sure they can actually apply the content without taking more time than I have.
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Agreed! Spot checks really helped me when I was running short on time. I would also call out certain things I noticed without naming the students I was talking about. They got the message and spent more time completing the bubbles.
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I pick 2 bubbles to check from each lesson. I do not tell the kids which ones I am going to look at, I do that on my own. Anyhow, by doing that, the kids have no idea which 2 bubbles I am going to grade so in order for them to get credit they have to complete them. If they do not have those bubbles completed, they get a zero, even if they have all of the others completed. If they do something wrong on the puzzle, I write a comment in the online gradebook and allow them to fix the problem. When they do, they have to resubmit (on Google Classroom) and I go back to give credit. I know it sounds like tons of work, but my students have learned so much this way. It allows them to see what they did wrong and correct it so that when they get to the final project they can actually create the game.
In addition to this, on the Free Plays at the end, I give a separate grade for. I give them specific criteria that I want to see in their free play. I always use some of the code from that lesson, but I also give criteria from previous lessons so they get more practice. I have found (now that I am at lesson 21 of unit 3) that the students really know what is going on. I think if I didn’t do that, they would not understand how to write the code as well.
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I use a similar approach. I have 100 students and it would take forever to grade so after every lesson, I have everyone login pull up and click on each of the puzzles. I grade during class time, students complete all assignments because they know I am checking and grades go in the same day we finish the unit. I do have to update some grades if students haven’t completed the work but they at least have a partial grade while they continue.
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For units such as you describe, I use a combination of Waypoints and Quality checks. Waypoints are grades for having completed all parts of a lesson. My students are quite talented at completing just enough of part of a lesson to fill the little green circle and thus get system credit without actually completing it per instructions. I identify specific tasks that I consider important concepts, generally one or two per lesson. I check these individually for quality. The Waypoints I easily check on the student progress chart. My preference for Quality Checks is to grade over the shoulder of the student so we may discuss any misunderstanding, however, in time crunch, I can grade off the progress chart and followup with the student at the next class period.
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I just finished my first during the year training, and an idea I’m taking away to solve this problem is to create or grade a finished product at the end of the lessons. That way, they still need to do the levels in order to learn, but it saves me time on grading. For example in Unit 3, lesson 17, I would grade their “finished” game. Another teacher suggested giving them a rubric and telling them to create a new project that they could submit the link to.
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I have used spot checking and too am going to get something put together where it’s a rubric that has the spot checks as well as the “final” project piece too.
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I have them either do the challenge exercises.
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Students who skip through activities and do not know how to complete tasks are instructed to go back to the lessons to review the skills leading up to the “project”. Most of the time they are just trying to finish quickly and are not really working the lesson and understanding the concept. Rather than just explain what to do, students are held accountable for their own learning by having them go back through the lesson.
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Could you elaborate on how you have students resubmit their work through the Google Classroom? I use Google Classroom to post an announcement each day about what lesson students will be completing and what they’ll be learning, as well as attach any relevant notes, but I’m unclear how to post the Code lessons as assignments there.
Sorry I’m late to this conversation, but I’m looking for better methods for grading than I used last year. Thanks!
My students need more practice. I am planning to have them complete additional assignments in the free play area at the end, as you’ve described. Do you have some examples you would be willing to share? I can start from scratch and will be happy to share what I come up with, but if you’ve got something that has worked, it would sure be appreciated! I’m on U3L7 with my 7th graders.
I’m not 100% sure about what would be helpful here, but I thought I’d point out the following link to a previous forum post: http://forum.code.org/t/unit-3-lessons-1-7-knowledge-check/12300
Maybe it’ll help?
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Yes! Thank you very much for this.