My daughter's school defines a C grade as from 76-84, a B from 85-93. She's currently got about an 88, which is a decent, not outstanding B. In this, her biology instructor says, she's doing somewhat better than average, because average in the class is a C. (Obvous astonishment on my face). Hey, he said, it's a bell curve, with a C in the middle.
He then goes on to say some useful things, and some not-so.
Useful: Knowing the vocabulary and the concepts solidly will get you to the low B range. Being able to apply those and build upon them will get you into the high B and low A range. Much of the material is in the handouts. About 10% is not.
Not so: None of the 'this is how you build upon it, this is what it should look and smell and feel like', is in the notes. That comes from participating in the class, extracting the sense of the methods and procedures and results and how you get there. You can't study for that. If you didn't write down information about how to do it, you're screwed. As least as far as a high B, low A are concerned.
Overall, he seemed surprised that we were concerned. Our feeling was, this guy isn't one of those who believes that every student can be excellent. My wife said he believes in the bell curve.
Hmm...
2 comments:
Gag. I strongly dislike teachers who won't tell their students exactly what they're going to test over... blah blah blah.
He says he does. Even my daughter says he does. What he doesn't do is document all of it. Some, you just gotta be there, be in the moment, and be a fast writer. I have a small problem with that.
Post a Comment