Why are there so many graded assignments in MCPS HS?

[Anonymous]

Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you should go back to your private, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

[Anonymous]

Public school kids can't be trusted to study or practice unless everything is graded, and they can't do substantial projects so every assignment is tiny and there are lots of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

One assignment per week is normal for college.

[Anonymous]

Canvas being a trashfire is a separate issue from what work is assigned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

One assignment per week is normal for college.

Is it? I may be dating myself, but when I was in college (majored political science), almost of my classes had a midterm, a final, and a paper. That was it. There was required reading every week, but you just read it-- or didn't-- but there was nothing to turn in to ensure that you did.

[Anonymous]

Check MCPS policy. I teach in a different district, and we are required to give two grades a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Canvas being a trashfire is a separate issue from what work is assigned.

It seems fine to me. What's the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

Seriously. One assignment per week for a college-prep level course is absurd.

OP, go back to private. I have lots of criticism for MCPS but this isn’t one of them. If anything, MCPS high school rigor is insufficient to prepare most kids for college level assignments.

One assignment per week is normal for college.

Is it? I may be dating myself, but when I was in college (majored political science), almost of my classes had a midterm, a final, and a paper. That was it. There was required reading every week, but you just read it-- or didn't-- but there was nothing to turn in to ensure that you did.

I graduated in 2017 so maybe I'm dating myself too but that was so far from my experience. Sociology major at a state flagship, one assignment/quiz/test per class per week seems about right, sometimes more but rarely less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

I think DD's AP teachers did a great job with all the assignments and yes there were a lot of them. The assignments for one other class were okay too but the others did actually have a lot of useless busy work.
I don't know if it's this way now but I went to private and there was actually just as much or more work on a weekly basis as I am seeing with my MCPS kid but a lot of it wasn't graded. The teacher would just go around the room and see if kids had been doing their work or not and they'd get a 10-15% homework/participation grade. Nearly everyone got 100% for that. But this is probably more difficult to implement in public because the classes are so big so a teacher can't just keep it in her head whether a child is doing their class work or homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canvas being a trashfire is a separate issue from what work is assigned.

It seems fine to me. What's the problem?

Buggy as heck, doesn't sync automatically with grading book, teachers spend a lot of time troubleshooting grades for individual students or formatting assignments instead of actually having time to think about the content and how to teach it. No way to specify if an assignment is categorized as practice or an assessment when you assign it. It should be a field that shows up automatically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

I'm a high school AP teacher and there is no way that one graded assignment per week (basically what you are suggesting) is enough to keep kids practicing skills or memorizing content. My assignments aren't "useless." They are meant to make sure that kids read, write the content that they need to memorize (because this is what forms memories) and then synthesize/use the ideas and content in a new way. That takes a lot of practice.

I teach AP in a private school. I have one graded assignment a week. Many of my assignments aren’t graded; there is an expectation that students complete them so they are prepared for the one graded assignment.

It works very well. Students still complete 2-3 assignments a week, but they are assessed on one. This aligns to what my own daughter experiences in college, where a lot of her work is not graded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Every teacher seems to have several dozen each quarter whereas our DC in private might have 10 total. A lot of it is busy work but it's difficult for teachers to grade and impossible for kids to keep track of. The Canvas system is so stupid that when the assignments are created it's unclear whether they are PP or AT until they show up as grades in the grades section which creates confusion for kids.

Are teachers incentivized to give more useless assignments?

No it’s called learning and given public’s teach better than privates in HS what the hell are you talking about?

No your private isn’t superior. And no you aren’t either because you spend money on private sup par education

College admissions I rest my case