Endgame
One week to go before spring vacation. I've just charted out what I'm doing, day-by-day, in each of my classes. And then, after vacation, it's just coasting to summer. With the distractions of prom, graduation, field trips and the sundry other activities, the last quarter of the year is only about two-thirds the length of any other quarter
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By 3rd quarter, I tell students who have failed first and second quarter that because I do letter grade averaging, they can still pass the course, but they need to pass the last two quarters to make that happen. (While this isn't technically true, for all practical purposes most of them who don't turn it around during 3rd quarter usually end up too far behind to pull it off in 4th quarter.) In 4th quarter, I point out to the students who are still failing that their last hope for passing the course is to earn at least a C- for the quarter, and I make sure they understand what that entails. This becomes the carrot I dangle at every assignment and test. Each year one or two of them manage to pull it off.
Every year, I have a few kids who end up failing for the year, but I've never had any of them claim that it was unfair or that I never gave them a chance. (In fact, when I tell them that I'm sorry that they weren't able to pass the course, most of them comment that they were fully aware that I was bending over backwards to help them pass, and they failed to take advantage of it.)
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