Teach 180: 6 of 13 (Day 30)

6 out of 13 or 46%.  What do you think that number represents?  The percent of students who turned in their homework.  Nope.  The percent of students who were late to class due to traffic on Route 22.  Guess again.  If you said, the percent of students who took the Probability and Statistics test that was scheduled on Friday, you would be a winner!

Why were about half of my students not taking the test?  There were 3 reasons.

Reason #1: Three students were required to be downtown at the lower school campus to sing for Chamber Singers at the Alumni Chapel service.  There was no time for them to take the test prior to getting on the bus around 1 PM.  Even if they were prepared to take the test, they need to wait until Monday or Tuesday and take it when they have a free class period.

Reason #2: Two students had missed the previous two days of class due to golf tournaments and weren't prepared for the test.  Technically, I could have required them to take the test, but I did not.  I would rather that they have a chance to learn and review the material first.

Reason #3: One student was on a college visit and had a pre-arranged absence.  This will happen with each of my seniors about twice this year.  That is about 47 seniors x 2 absences/senior or 94 absences.

If I tried to plan my testing around all of these different events, I would only be giving the final exam and midterm exam or testing on the first or second day of school.  At the end of the day, I looked at the post-it note on my desk and realized that I had somehow over the past two days got the students to commit to a make-up time.  Unfortunately, I need to be available for 5 different make-up times for the 7 students.