Homework And Remembering Grade 5 Unit 2

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Considerthe case when a teacher has thirty students in the class. The noun "homework" is uncountable so he cannot say "I have thirty homeworks to grade every week." My question is that if there is any unit of homework so that the sentence "I have thirty (units) of homework to grade every week" can be valid?

However, in my experience, it's more common to use the type of assignment instead of homework. I think the most broad term is assignment, but you could be more specific:

I have 30 ______ to grade every week.

I was very briefly a grader (or, "reader") in a related field. I can't remember exactly how I talked about it, but if someone asked me, "How much homework do you need to grade?", I would probably reply

I don't think I would have responded in the form you supplied, "I need to grade thirty (units) homework every week." But, that's just my personal feeling of it. You can still use pieces, as mentioned earlier. It may or may not sound slightly strange to the listener, but you will be understood.

The dictionaries don't seem to have caught up yet but, as somebody who regularly sets and marks homework in a university in the UK, I would quite happily refer to "marking 30 homeworks". A comment on another answer says that this is also used in the US.

So, at least for informal use, I think it's fine to use homework as a countable noun and pluralize it. If you wanted to be more formal, I'd go with my usual cowardly solution of rewording to avoid the problem: "I have to grade 30 students' homework" or "I have to grade homework for 30 students."

What will students do in math class?

There are 8 units of study at each grade level. Each unit includes 20 lessons and takes approximately 4 weeks to complete. Each lesson takes a single class period. In addition to the main lesson of the day, students also work on their skills in 15- to 20-minute Number Corner exercises, many of which are games.

How often should we expect homework?

Home Connections, Bridges homework assignments, are provided with increasing frequency as students progress from kindergarten through fifth grade. In the lower grades, assignments are provided about once a week; by fifth grade, assignments are provided two or three times a week. In addition, teachers may send home supplemental practice pages if students need more practice with a particular skill or if there is a desire for more frequent homework.

Does each student get a workbook?

Each student uses a Bridges Student Book and a Number Corner Student Book in class to solve problems and record their work. Students may also receive their own Home Connections book for homework assignments. Some schools choose to provide these assignments as handouts rather than as bound books.

Why is it a good idea to learn multiple strategies? Why not have students memorize basic facts and algorithms?

As students develop their ability to recall basic facts, it makes good sense to address both mastery of the skill (quick recall of facts) and understanding of the concept (the properties of the operation and the relationships between facts). Bridges teaches basic facts by first having students explore the operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division) in the context of story problems or situations, which ensures students understand what it means to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. Students then learn strategies for solving basic problems; these strategies illustrate properties of the operation and can be used for mental math with larger numbers (as well as to help recall facts when needed). Finally, students practice the facts until they can recall them from memory.

Bridges teaches students to compute with larger numbers by first establishing conceptual understanding of the operation, then using visual models to learn different ways of calculating, and finally helping them become proficient with efficient algorithms. When computing with larger numbers, students are frequently encouraged to make an estimate first. Estimation promotes number sense, helps students evaluate whether their final answers are reasonable, and encourages them to develop mental math skills that are useful in so many real-world situations.

I have a student in my course that does well on the exams, and his answers to the exam questions show a deep understanding of the material. However, this student has not been handing in the assigned homeworks and has a missed a few lab assignments, as well. I've been told by other faculty that he has a job which keeps him up late, and have noticed that he struggles to stay awake at times during the class.

Depending on how he fares on a project worth a large portion of his grade, and the final exam, the missed homeworks/labs could cause his grade to be below a C, which is the required grade that a student must receive if they are to advance to the second, more advanced course [and, a C grade is also needed to get credit for the course; otherwise, the student will need to retake it again on the next offering, which isn't until two semesters from now]. Further, this student is a senior, so a D grade would be a major setback for him.

During that private meeting, I will discuss his/her current performance in the class, and point out the likely consequences if he/she does not submit the required work. I will advise the student as to what he/she must do to achieve the grade he/she needs.

I strongly recommend you start with whatever the policy is in your syllabus. Most syllabi contain details about grading, points allocation, etc. By starting here, you can avoid any claims of "unique treatment", given that everyone received the same instructions.

That said, it sounds as though your student has a unique personal situation causing him to have difficulty completing all the material. In that case, I would follow the advice of ff524 and meet with the student privately to discuss. Simply bring the issue up and see what the student says. A comment of "I don't need to do your stupid homework, I'm good enough at the material without it" may deserve a different reaction than "I would love to do it but I simply don't have time with my other responsibilities".

But if some student did markedly better or worse on one aspect of the course, the professor would re-weight the grades 40% for the best aspect, 25% for the worst aspect, and 35% for the middle one. That way, each part of the course would have a minimum weight of 25% and a maximum weight of 40%, but students with skewed grades were given a benefit compared to the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3.

If possible you should communicate to the student exactly the precarious position they are in. Presumably this student is capable of completing the assignments and labs just like other students in the course. From the sounds of it, even doing an average to below-average job on these would substantially reduce the odds of a very negative outcome.

At that point the burden is on the student. You cannot make changes to the weighting of grades because of the external circumstances: this would really not be fair to other students. Presumably you have some notion of the percentage weights the various graded assignments are worth. Explain this, and make it clear that excellent performance on exams is simply not enough.

Of course, I would feel bad giving a D or lower to a student in this situation, but the grade must reflect the student's performance in the course as a whole. It is unethical to give a student a grade other than the one their coursework has earned.

What is the right measure of whether the student is mastering the material in a way that supports the follow-on classes? Ideally, you will design your syllabus so that the student's grade will appropriately reflect their level of mastery. In some courses, there is no real mastery without lab mastery. In others, textbook-based conceptual mastery would suffice. They are many reasons why the grade contract on your syllabus might be incorrectly formulated. E.g., you might be weighting homework heavily because that is the only reasonable way to get pass rates appropriate to your institution. That is, sadly enough, sometimes it is unavoidable to reward effort instead of mastery. You say the student shows "deep understanding", and if by that you mean that he will be well prepared for the follow-on courses, you might propose a fair replacement for the grade contract on your syllabus. Make sure you would be comfortable offering every other student the same option. Then consider whether the grade contract on the syllabus should be altered to include this option. If yes, then you have probably found a good solution.

One strategy I use in courses where the final exam provides a comprehensive test of appropriate mastery is to give an A grade to anyone who gets an A on the final. (Of course, this is inappropriate in many courses.) Perhaps this offers a helpful starting point for dealing with this student.

First, Universities usually have special attendance waivers for students who work aside their studies. Students have to declare this early to make university able to accommodate them, but it is always a good thing to let them know they should disclose their situation to the person in charge. Note that some otherwise mandatory requirement can be waived (e.g. some homework, some in-class evaluations) but that some cannot (e.g. practical work in experimental sciences are usually too important a part of the curriculum to be waived).

Second, the grading system is often only loosely defined, which makes one able to adapt it to the case. One should of course always be as fair and as precise as possible, to make the grade really reflect what it should measure.

Third, even if the grading scheme has been precisely established and cannot be changed at all, the end-of-year jury has complete power of changing grades. Be sure to attend it so that the student's case is treated appropriately. Short of that, make sure the case is known to all colleagues.

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