Biased teacher. (1 Viewer)

[zmccu3]

Hi guys, I'm really stuck at the moment and need some advice. For Ancient History, my teacher is pretty much marking test papers and assignments with the most biased view I've ever seen in my life. There's a particular student who does extremely well due to their excellent recollection of information. I've had no issue with this up until now. Our class as a whole did pretty poorly in our last exam, I thought I did much better than I was marked, I was pretty confident coming out of the exam but regardless I did OKAY. To show us how perfect our #1 student is, the teacher (and the student) offered to hand out a copy of her 25 mark question on establishing Greek Colonies (800-500 BC). My eyes nearly popped out of my freaking head when I read the student's answer. This answer pretty much consists of the relevant information, in that it had the necessary content (technically), however it was no where near sophisticated enough to received 100%! I'm going to post the answer on here, simply because the student has verbally given permission to use the answer as a learning guide.

I need opinions on her paper and whether or not it's worth 25/25 marks. Its insanely frustrating because I believe this person will be absolutely slammed in the HSC and I REALLY do not think we should be using this as an exemplar response. What are my options here? I'm planning on talking to the teacher tomorrow but I'm not sure what I can really say to her 'hey start marking properly from now on'? Need some ideas.

I'll post the answer, unless you do/did Ancient the content will be drivel but you can see her level of writing is extremely basic and the fact she wrote 311 words for a 25 mark question out of 65 total marks. If there's anything wrong with what I'm doing let me know and I'll take it down or PM it to interested people.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/132384978/Fur-Ner-Ancient?secret_password=6ceb3zs1keixs2rtm56

 

[Dan895]

Firstly I know nothing about Acient History. But if my experience confronting the teacher on their marking will never end up in you benefiting so as difficult as it may be for you the smartest option would probably be to just accept it and move on. This holds especially true with subjects that involve subjective marking.

 

[Tasteless]

If it met the criteria then the sophistication of the language is utterly unimportant, it's the meaning that matters not authors vocab.

 

[zmccu3]

Firstly I know nothing about Acient History. But if my experience confronting the teacher on their marking will never end up in you benefiting so as difficult as it may be for you the smartest option would probably be to just accept it and move on. This holds especially true with subjects that involve subjective marking.

So I'm expected to allow this teacher to mark everything wrong for the rest of the year?

 

[Dan895]

So I'm expected to allow this teacher to mark everything wrong for the rest of the year?

Well you are assuming that the teacher is marking wrong. It's very unlikely that the teacher is wrong and even if the teacher is wrong you're assuming if the teacher was marking 'properly'. I'm assuming that you're coming second in the class but unless you can prove based on evidence that you are better than the girl thats coming first the marking is really unimportant because the HSC scaling will sort her out. From what i've seen you may just need to accept that the girl is better than you at Acient History and just accept that instead of saying "I'm not coming first therefore the teacher is wrong". But hey mabye i'm too cynical prove me wrong and I'll happily admit you're right!

 

[lolwot]

So I'm expected to allow this teacher to mark everything wrong for the rest of the year?

What was your answer and what was your mark?

 

[zmccu3]

Well you are assuming that the teacher is marking wrong. It's very unlikely that the teacher is wrong and even if the teacher is wrong you're assuming if the teacher was marking 'properly'. I'm assuming that you're coming second in the class but unless you can prove based on evidence that you are better than the girl thats coming first the marking is really unimportant because the HSC scaling will sort her out. From what i've seen you may just need to accept that the girl is better than you at Acient History and just accept that instead of saying "I'm not coming first therefore the teacher is wrong". But hey mabye i'm too cynical prove me wrong and I'll happily admit you're right!

I'm coming third at the moment, it's not me trying to overtake her, nor is it me claiming to be superior, its more so the fact that I'm doubting my teacher's ability to prepare us for the HSC and questioning her motives in marking this paper.

If it met the criteria then the sophistication of the language is utterly unimportant, it's the meaning that matters not authors vocab.

Let me explain a little better. The author writes it as if the reader knows Ancient History in and out, which is the opposite of what an essay is for, its written to inform the reader. Let me copy an exert to show you what I mean:

"Firstly, an Oikstes would have to consult an oracle." Second paragraph. That's the first step in forming a colony, HOWEVER the author does not explain to the reader what an Oikistes is nor what an oracle is or what the point of this entire process is. There's absolutely no depth. Second exert:

"After gaining a promising fortune (same thing, why do you need a promising fortune?) the Oikistes would begin preparing to set out to found the new colony. Two important items (key word here) must be taken to the new colony, the sacred flame from the hearth and the government."

First of all, neither a flame nor a government are 'items' and a government isn't a tangible object that can be taken to a newly formed colony. Secondly, "the Oikistes takes with him the sacred hearth of the mother city and establishes religious and political institutions" is the correct answer.

Sorry to seem like I'm over analysing this but if a student can poke holes in this essay so easily how can it possibly be a 25/25? The author has pretty much ignored some of the most basic rules of essay construction and stepped past important points without being marked down....


to lolwot: my mark was 19/25 which I was happy with, however she literally ticked every paragraph and at the bottom said 'Excellent essay, needs more examples.' Probably true, I didn't question her even though I thought this was a pretty vague reason for losing 6 marks, she wrote nothing further on my paper.

 

[D94]

The mark value is clearly wrong for a question with the verb "explain", since explain is a mid order verb - you are merely recalling information and providing a reasonably objective interpretation. Plus, in the HSC, 25 marks would correlate to around 4-6 A4 pages (average sized handwriting) or about 3 booklets. That would around 1000+ words, so clearly the mark value of the question isn't accurate. The main issue here is that it gives students a false sense of quantity and achievement. The HSC is just as much about quantity as it is about quality, despite the overly used phrase "quality over quantity". It's almost always impossible to deliver a 22+/25 response with less than 600 words, so when it comes to the HSC, the student may think 300 words is sufficient to achieve 100% for a 25 mark question.


The marking criteria is also important. I can't imagine there would be too much involved for an "explain" question. It would really come down to the level of detail and accuracy, IMO. "Explain" is fairly objective, whereas "evaluate" can be more open to opinion, interpretation and more flexibility.

So IMO, this response should not have achieved 100%, based on the lack of detail for a 25 mark question. From my experience, a response of this length and it being a 25 mark question, the response would not have achieved more than 15/25. But this is hard to judge because this question is worth 25 marks. Had it been say 10 marks (which I think is a reasonable mark value for "explain"), it would have been a different story.

(I did Modern, in case you were wondering how I can make a judgment call)

 

[-may-cat-]

That's an essay??

It was little over 300 words long, lol.

The response is nice and clear, if a little on the simplistic side. I agree with the above; if it had been a 5-10 marker it would warrant a high (though not perfect) result.

For a 25 mark essay question however, it's a bit of a miserable effort.

 

[zmccu3]

Thanks to D94 and -may-cat for your insight. I'm going to take it to the teacher tomorrow and discuss it with her. It's too late to change the mark but I at least need to get an explanation for it.

 

[enoilgam]

The mark value is clearly wrong for a question with the verb "explain", since explain is a mid order verb - you are merely recalling information and providing a reasonably objective interpretation. Plus, in the HSC, 25 marks would correlate to around 4-6 A4 pages (average sized handwriting) or about 3 booklets. That would around 1000+ words, so clearly the mark value of the question isn't accurate. The main issue here is that it gives students a false sense of quantity and achievement. The HSC is just as much about quantity as it is about quality, despite the overly used phrase "quality over quantity". It's almost always impossible to deliver a 22+/25 response with less than 600 words, so when it comes to the HSC, the student may think 300 words is sufficient to achieve 100% for a 25 mark question.


The marking criteria is also important. I can't imagine there would be too much involved for an "explain" question. It would really come down to the level of detail and accuracy, IMO. "Explain" is fairly objective, whereas "evaluate" can be more open to opinion, interpretation and more flexibility.

So IMO, this response should not have achieved 100%, based on the lack of detail for a 25 mark question. From my experience, a response of this length and it being a 25 mark question, the response would not have achieved more than 15/25. But this is hard to judge because this question is worth 25 marks. Had it been say 10 marks (which I think is a reasonable mark value for "explain"), it would have been a different story.

(I did Modern, in case you were wondering how I can make a judgment call)

This pretty much. I dont think this question is at a HSC standard - it is very rare to encounter an "Explain" question for a 25 mark essay and usually when they do it is a fairly in depth question. The question realistically should have only been worth 10 marks at best. Even if we ignore that, at only 300 words, there is no way that this question is worth 25/25. You are recommended to write 1,000 words for the HSC and usually you will need at the very least 700 words in my view to be able to gain a band 6. There is just no where near enough detail there to justify a band 6 let alone a 25/25.

From the looks of things, your teacher knows little about HSC marking or question design, because the question itself is unlike anything you would face at a HSC level and she has clearly been far too lenient on this person.

 

[LoveHateSchool]

There's no way that is anywhere the length required for a 25 marker.

I wouldn't even give it full marks as a 10 marker, it seems a little simplistic for me to deem it a model answer imho.

 

[Praer]

That isn't an essay. It would more be suitable for a short answer.
The dominant portion of the essays are mostly the quality and it's sophistication in presenting the ideas.
But in this case, with the little quantity (311words) she is missing out information, and further explanation, which is required in the HSC. As most suggested for an essay around 900 words is the very minimum, to achieve a full mark.
I definitely wouldn't give it a 25/25. Heck I would give it a fail.

 

[Praer]

On a side note, are you sure that the student who wrote that essay is in any way related to the teacher?
It seems like the marking was way too biased, maybe a bribe?

 

[townie]

On a side note, are you sure that the student who wrote that essay is in any way related to the teacher?
It seems like the marking was way too biased, maybe a bribe?

I think that's highly unlikely

 

[Leffife]

I never did Ancient History, but are you serious? That definitely isn't an appropriate model and definitely not a 25/25 answer. I think you may need to speak with the Dean.

 

[someth1ng]

Wow, this is worse than my school's science faculty...everything that I wanted to say has been said (should be a 6 marker and still not full marks).

 

[zmccu3]

Thanks so much for the replies guys, its really helped me a lot. I'm going in this morning to talk to her about it. I'll post back the results. Wish me luck!

 

[cem]

Just a note - in Ancient 'Explain' essay questions for 25 marks are reasonably common as are 'describe' 'how' 'why' etc.

 

[-may-cat-]

I would be interested to know how you would grade this response, cem .