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| Student Work with Quality Bonus |
I copied the idea of the “Quality Bonus” fromTeaching Smarter by Sandy LaBelle (1999). It is only one of the many useful procedures described in detail in her book. I received the book a couple of years ago at a workshop, and like a lot of my books, it sat on the bookshelf unopened for a long time. In preparation for beginning this school year, I returned to my bookshelf to brush up on basics.
The “Quality Bonus is a really effective way to encourage students to put effort into turning in neat work, which in turn means I can read and grade the work easily and quickly.
How it Works:
In my class, I apply the bonus to the students' bell work. The students complete bell work each day during the first five minutes of class while I take attendance and attend to other business. They turn in five days of bell work on one page on Fridays. They receive a grade for correctness and completeness just like any other assignment, but in addition, they can receive a five point extra credit "Quality Bonus" for fulfilling very stringent neatness and organization requirements.
I copied the idea of the “Quality Bonus” from Teaching Smarter by Sandy LaBelle (1999). It is only one of the many useful procedures described in detail in her book. I received the book a couple of years ago at a workshop, and like a lot of my books, it sat on the bookshelf unopened for a long time. In preparation for beginning this school year, I returned to my bookshelf to brush up on basics.
The “Quality Bonus is a really effective way to encourage students to put effort into turning in neat work, which in turn means I can read and grade the work easily and quickly.
I use it for the student’s bell work. The students complete bell work each day during the first five minutes of class while I take attendance and attend to other business. They turn in five days of bell work on one sheet on Fridays. They receive a grade for correctness and completeness just like any other assignment, but in addition they can receive a five point extra
To receive the “Quality Bonus” in my class, the heading in the upper right corner must include first and last name, the class and the period, and the dates of the work. The title on the page must read “Early Work Week 7” (or 8 or whatever week of the school year we are in), each day of the week must be labeled and underlined (Monday, Tuesday,…), bell work questions must be copied completely, all work shown, and answers circled.
I use a stamp that I found in the children’s section of Wal-Mart to quickly stamp all the papers that should receive the bonus.
Some warnings:
First: If I forget to post the Quality Bonus requirements (with an example) every single week and verbally remind the students, a lot fewer of the papers turned in get the bonus. I want most of them to get the bonus since it reinforces the good habit, so it is important to keep reminding them that the extra credit is available.
Second: Sandy LaBelle did not include correctness in her bonus requirements. The students received the neatness bonus whether or not all of their answers were correct. In my class, I go over the answers each day after the students finish, so in essence, I give them the answers. Even though they were instructed to, students were not following along and correcting their work, so I added correctness to the bonus requirements. I also told the students that if I saw them not working on the early work during the time given that I would make a note of it and they would not receive their full credit.
The Effect on Grades:
Overall grade category weights are set by my department, so I needed to fit the early work into preset categories.
In my Algebra classes, the bell work is recorded in “Participation,” which is weighted at only ten percent of the student’s overall grade. The bonus on their bell work is 5 points on an assignment that is normally worth 25 points, so a full 20% extra credit, but since the whole category is limited to 10% of the grade, the effect on their overall grade remains reasonable.
In my Geometry classes, the weekly bell work paper is worth 100 points (the same as a daily homework assignment) and goes into the homework category (40% of the overall grade). They also receive the 5 point bonus, which in this case is only 5% of the assignment, so the effect of the bonus is also not that large.
The differences in the way the grade is recorded makes no difference to the effectiveness of the system. The students are motivated by the added five points no matter what portion of their grade it represents.
