Uh Oh. Here comes that feeling that says "Damn... I should have read the stupid directions." Last week I had written a blog post for my English class that I thought would give me an easy five points. Right after I finnished my post I thought to myself, "Does this comply with the directions for this assignment?" Then I said Oh well and did nothing about it.
End Result: Zero Points
Elementry Schools should put more emphasis on students reading the directions of the assignments handed down to them. I can't tell you how many times I ve written, or read a good paper that ended up recieving a terrible grade because it does not answer "the directions".
I believe the most effective way to build a students "Directions Learning". Is the test that some teachers give in High School. The test consists of about twenty short answer questions. On the top of the page, it is very clearly stated to read all the questions on the test before answering any of them. When you reach the last question the test states " Put your name on top of the page and do not answer any questions." However, if you answer any of the questions you get graded on all the question given during the test. The only flaw with this method is that this test is given in High School. This test should be given at a younger age where it remains engraved in the students head.
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5 comments:
I know what you mean. Recently I have been having problems with reading the question in math. Luckily for me, all my reading errors have not cost me any points, but they sure did in middle school.
I personally had one of those tests in fifth grade. Since it was for kids, it was an active version involving things like shaking hands with the teacher and turning off the lights if you didn't follow the directions. Only one person did follow the directions and she had already been given a similar test before. For some reason "read all before doing" didn't register.
Even though I had one of those tests in fifth grade, it still didn't stick. I think they need to start in second grade and give the test once a year for the rest of your life just as a reminder!
I like your perspective on this and how you turned your mistake into a learning opportunity. You seem to be good at that.
Sarah
way to turn yur mistake into a topic for yur next blog posting! bravo very much.
I had that High School test.
I answered two questions before I realized the other people weren't answering....
Then I felt stupid.
I had this test as well in middle school! I actually did follow the directions EXCEPT I, thinking I was the good student, wrote my name and date at the top like I always do.
There's this new program at Foothill called Math My Way for students in Math 200 and 250 (prealgebra and lower) and one of the rules in the class is that you must write the directions of each question on your homework. Obviously, in math it's really helpful to follow the directions of a problem!!
But then again, as Scott said sometimes you don't want students who just follow the directions because then what's the point?
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