A (brief) farewell to the Memory Enhnacer

RIP Memory Enhancer - February 14, 2015

I laid to rest recently an assessment I have been using in some form or another throughout my teaching career. Memory Enhancers I called them because a desired outcome was that students enhanced their memory of mathematical ideas of days past. They were known as Review Sheets once upon a time and were derivations of the Friday Sheets that were used by all teachers at my first school. The department chair at that school developed Friday Sheets as part of his masters degree and decreed that all teachers under his purview would use them.

I liked the Friday Sheets primarily as an alternative to tests. Some teachers base grades solely on tests and quizzes. But what are quizzes other than mini-tests? Friday Sheets were take-home assignments that reviewed previously learned material and students could work on them over a week. Handed out on Friday and due the following Friday. My department chair had designed them to be sequential in his courses, so they built off one another and were another way for students to improve their understanding.

I did not like having one every week. It was a lot of grading and it was on top of the work the students were already doing. Students usually waited until Thursday nights to do them and cheating happened. When I changed schools, I renamed them Review Sheets and made them less frequent. I started using Review Sheets also as a place to ask longer problems, problems that were not really fair in a timed test setting. They were also a place for me to experiment with different types of problems and ones where students could work on graphing skills.

When I changed schools next, Review Sheets were reborn as Memory Enhancers. I started to use them as another way to present new ideas. Students were asked to deal with ideas that had not been discussed in class. I wrote open-ended problems where answers would not all be the same.

I carried the Memory Enhancer with me to my current school and started focusing anew on them. I tried to make them sequential so that students would learn one idea in Memory Enhancer #1 and that idea would be further developed in subsequent Enhancers. I even started having students do them in pairs. I was able to write some problems I really liked and students had usually 10 days or so to complete them. They were encouraged to see me for help and I highlighted time when I was available.

Some students have loved these assignments. Some have recognized that here were assessments where test anxiety need not be a factor. They could work on them over multiple nights. They could spend 20 minutes on a problem, figure out that they had traveled down the wrong path and then go back and start over and not worry about running out of time. They could use their books, their notes, and old homework.

But, here and there, students would succumb to temptation and cheat. The inevitable awkward and uncomfortable confrontation between teacher and student would ensue and often lying was used a means to cover up plagiarism. Due to the nature of the assignment, administrators were unwilling to respond too severely; they believed we could not prove the cheating if students did not admit to it. Me? We are not a court of law. We are a school. We are here to educate. Part of that education in my mind is teaching a student to be honorable. I tried different tactics, including having them write an honor pledge (based on the Davidson College Honor Code).

This year was rough. With each Memory Enhancer, I found myself doubting the originality of the work of multiple students. By the time I got to #5, I was questioning more than 10% of the papers turned in. This is after having confronted multiple students. Some of the questioned papers were repeat offenders.

The frustration this was causing me was too much. Enough, I said, and I made the decision to not assign them again this semester. I was sad over this decision because I knew there were students who saw them as a saving grace in contrast to the big bad tests. I do think my students are missing out on their education by not having these to do. Most students probably don't appreciate this. Most are probably happy about this decision.

I am planning on re-introducing them in the fall. This was by far the worst of the copying I have encountered, so I am expecting it is an extreme example and not a sign of things to come. I will do things somewhat differently and maybe that will help. I want to help students learn about honor and trust and ethics and I think these assignments can be a means of doing that. But I won't wait until February next time if they start frustrating me. It's just not worth my health.