I'm Only the Trombone Player

"she is so gonna lose!"

A previous blog entry talks about the Regents/Final Exam for a class I teach "So before I embark on Andre's Cruise ---" 

The Pertinent Excerpt;

"Then, there's the Regents Exam. Every year my Music Theory 2 section has to take a Regents instead of a final exam. For this, they get Regents Credit in Music and can claim that's their quasi High School Major Sequence. The Regents offered by the state do not cover nearly all that my kids have learned, so every year I have to create and submit my own Regents for approval. It always consists of seventy true/false, multiple-choice questions, and a thirty-point creative question.

This year the reviewer thought my thirty-pointer was "too hard" and would result in too many kids failing. Aside from the fact that she doesn't know the kids, does she really think I'd set them up to fail? We arrived at a compromise — I created another much easier thirty-pointer, but I am allowed to include both on the final. We have a bet on which option my kids are going to take, she is so gonna lose!"

The results are in and somebody owes me an ice cream sundae the next time she's on Long Island for a NYSSMA Solo Festival!

         21 of 23 students chose the harder, more creative option
         10 of the 21 students received full credit (30 Points)
         6 of the 21 students received 28 points for a minor error
         5 of the 21 students received 25 points for multiple minor errors

Just to be fair I faxed all of the results of the question (minus student names) to her so she could check the results.

Her reply; "Yes you win — but you grade too tough."

"Newbie Contest Challenge!!" 

...I'm only the trombone player!

Janus on WdC SuperPower Reviewers Group