Class dynamics and statistics

I have three sections of Intro to Psyc, each one with 35 students registered. This is my norm for each semester. Each class has a different dynamic, and it makes each one a joy to go to because I never know what to expect!

Well...mostly it's a joy.

I handed back the first test in my MWF class yesterday, and I had the weirdest situation in my 10 years of teaching. Typically, when I look at the class grades, I'll get something that looks like a normal curve where a score of 80% is the midpoint (at the 70% line I have my 80-20 split with approximately 20% of the class getting d's and f's---not that I fix it there...it's just how it happens...there have been classes and tests where the line flexes greatly). I don't curve my tests, but I do make a statistical adjustment that I learned from one of my profs in grad school...it allows for a bit of fairness in that I'll never be a perfect test maker ('cuz I am human, right?)

Yesterday, I scored the exams, entered the grades, and looked at the distrubition of the scores...and I got what's called a camalback curve--and it was a dromedary. I had two peaks...one at about 62% and another at 86%...meaning I had a lot of high B's and A's and almost as many D's and F's. Out of 35 students, 4 got C's. That's typically how many A's I see in that course for that material (it's the toughest set of material--after this, the students have a better idea of how to study, too).

That class also has a group of students that are very dedicated to being in class and freak when they eed to miss a class. I like that. There is also a group of students and get up and leave during lecture--if they come at all. Hey...it's their loss, not mine...

Then, there's class two...I haven't entered their test grades yet--I don't meet with them until Tuesday--but I have read 1/3 of their papers so far. Out of the 10 I've read, I have two cases of possible plagiarism, three papers not read because they didn't meet the basic guidelines of the paper--they didn't put the effort out to follow the guidelines, why should I have to put out an effort to grade them?--two papers that were not satisfactory (one of those was based on a blog entry he made a month ago--what does that have to do with psychology--trust me, I checked the blog, and it has nothing to do with psychology!)--and three papers that were are very rough yet original work!

So...

On Tuesday, I'll hand back the first portfolio to that class. I'll hand back their first test. And we'll have a discussion about expectations. Consequences. And changes in perception. I'll be setting up appointments with the plagiarizers (sp?). I'll be setting up appointments with the ones that turned in papers that weren't read or did not come up to the basic level of expectation. And, I'll be speaking with the students that actually did the work--though its really rough, which is what I expect of their writing this early in the semester.

I just hope that I don't see a camalback distribution again