Finally came up with a system for classroom essays

[Hyperion]

I realize our education system teaches students that each subject is departmentalized, but it's been a real pain in the arse convincing students that completing the minimum sentence or length requirement does not necessarily constitute a good performance. I'm bombarded with questions about why they should write in a science class.

I have developed a new system that so far has worked spectacularly: I specify a minimal length (10-16) sentences but it is all contingent on the standard deviation for the class. You won't fail length requirements with 10 sentences, but if it's outside the standard deviation you're not getting anything else. Sometimes if people write above the standard deviation AND the rest of their rubric is a passing grade, I'll provide bonus points. Most of the time the first range exists slightly above the mean. In the aforementioned 10-16 sentence paper, I would have received about an average of 11 hours compared to now where I'd typically find 14.

[Professor]

What grade(s) are you teaching?

I can attest to the fact that I was FAR more interested in subjects when I realized how they were interconnected.

For instance, I didn't much like math for most of grade or high school. Yes, I was fairly good at it (mostly As, few Bs). But, it was simply boring. Then, I started calculus. When we started using algebra, geometry, and the other disciplines, then mixing in some physics and geography, it got a lot more fun. I specifically remember having to figure out a classic train word problem. You have 2 trains. One is a freight train leaving Lisbon, Spain and one leaving Paris, France, bound for each other's origin. The one leaving Lisbon is a freight train with a top speed of 40mph, and a rate of acceleration of 1mph^3. The train leaving Paris is a passenger train and has a top speed of 70mph and a rate of acceleration of 5mph^3. The passenger train should not ever slow down, but the freight train can slow (at a rate of deceleration of 10mph^3). They are travelling in a straight line. At 50 mile intervals, there are waypoints along the track where the single track splits into 2 tracks so that trains can pass. At what waypoint should they cross so that both make the best time?

I loved that problem!

I also remember that I hated Accounting through college, until I got to grad school. In grad school, you learned how accounting melded with all the other subjects in business and why it was important to understand, even for a non-accountant.

[Winchester]

How can anybody hate accounting.

[Professor]

[eric]

Here's a system. Don't require lengths. Require content.

If I can write something in 3 sentences that takes somebody else 11 sentences, I'm a better writer.

If you can't get people to write enough, you're not asking good enough questions, or you're not inspiring them.

[The Comrade]

length requirements always encourage fluff. there's nothing wrong with saying "it should probably be around two to four pages otherwise you're probably not providing enough examples/evidence/whatever" but when you say "it has to be four to six pages" you've just told every kid in there that they need to slightly decrease the margins, bump up the font by .5, and start going on useless diatribes.

[Professor]

[The Comrade]

that's not fluff, and the first sentence would never be considered valid to begin with.

[eric]

[Professor]

I guess my point is that I doubt that anyone will say, "You must write 16 sentences. It doesn't matter what those sentences are, so long as there are 16 subjects, 16 verbs and 16 ending punctuation marks." The 16 sentences are meant to be germane the subject, and therefore would not be fluff. It's meant to teach them to think beyond the obvious, and actually put thought into the project.