Relativity

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Salt Lake City grading third-quarter diagnostics for my students. I'm here for the annual Council for Exceptional Children conference. I'm growing more and more disappointed as the scores seem to get lower and lower. One student made 8 correct punctuation marks on an assignment that had 62 possible points.

But then I compared the scores to his second-quarter results. His punctuation skills had spiked by about 60% apparently. He had gone from 8% correct to 12.9%. Thankyouverymuch. Significant gains are relative. Good work, kid.

Comments

[Phil Nash]

The glass is indeed half full.

And, yes, you are making a difference.

My first grade teacher, Marjorie Cummings, just passed away on April 4 at age 98. She was my teacher 44 years ago. And I never forgot the sense of being part of the group that she gave me even though I was the only minority in my school.

Teachers do count. And good ones make a lifetime of difference.

On behalf of your students 44 years from now, I say thank you.

[CaliforniaTeacherGuy]

"Significant gains are relative." Thank you for that pithy reminder that we need to keep our eyes open so we can see the little things, rather than being blinded by the big ones. :-)