Hi We too get student that are quite disappointed with getting lower scores than they are used to....we sometimes need to console them...... when student get 60% on the iRAT....they are sometimes quite disappointed since they got some ridiculously high grade in high school. We expect about 60-65% average on iRAT's.... We remind the tiny grade component that this of their overall grade We often have a slightly easier first RAP....to not overwhelm the students Some people will do "I will use your best 3 of 4" to take the stress out of one poor result With the student who spent 10-15 hours studying...there might be a problem with how the "study" re-read till is sinks in is often the failed strategy that these students use to prepare....they should be directed to some study skills sessions cheers jim ________________________________ From: Team-Based Learning [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Neil Haave [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 8:05 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: first RAT of the term First the context: this is a first year course for majors and non-majors in biological function. Most of the students are either majoring in biology or intending to enter a professional program in the health sciences. My question: How have people on this list handled the huge disappointment that happens with the first RAT of the first term in freshman courses? This is typically students' very first university quiz as I start right after the first week of setting up the course structure with the first TBL module. This past weekend I gave students their reading assignment complete with reading guide (key objectives and keywords matched to the pages and figure numbers in the text book). Then they wrote their first RAT yesterday. I received fairly typical results I think except that the iRAT score were lower then I had hoped. [Inline images 1] [Inline images 2] It breaks my heart when I hear stories from students during the tRAT and after class that they studied 10-15 hrs and made 10-15 pages of notes over the long weekend only to receive an iRAT mark of 2/10. They had such energy at the start of the term last week. Now I think I have killed it. How do the rest of you manage this sort of disappointment and help students regain their spirit for learning (and mine for teaching!)? I suspect the issue is that many of these excellent students (and I have no doubt they achieved excellence in high school) simply were able to excel in high school without developing good study, reading, and note-taking skills. I have a couple of excellent senior students who will be coming into class tomorrow to explain how they read and take notes. I hope that helps. I would love to hear the collective wisdom of the TBLC. Thanks very much. Neil Neil Haave, PhD Associate Professor, Biology Managing Editor, CELT<http://celt.uwindsor.ca/ojs/leddy/index.php/CELT/index> Vice-President, AIBA<http://www2.mtroyal.ca/~tnickle/AIBA/AIBA_website/AIBA.html> Faculty Affiliate, CTL<http://uofa.ualberta.ca/centre-for-teaching-and-learning/about-ctl/people/faculty-affiliates> McCalla Professor<http://uofa.ualberta.ca/centre-for-teaching-and-learning/awards/mccalla-professorships> University of Alberta, Augustana Faculty Rm C155, Science Wing, Classroom Building, Augustana Campus 4901 - 46 Avenue, Camrose, AB, CANADA T4V 2R3 email<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | Augustana dossier<http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/profs/nhaave/> | Google+<https://www.google.com/+NeilHaave> | blog<http://activelylearning2teach.blogspot.ca/> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/nhaave> | LinkedIn<https://ca.linkedin.com/in/neilhaave> "We do not learn from experience . . . we learn from reflecting on experience" - John Dewey ________________________________ To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click here.<https://lists.ubc.ca/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=TEAMLEARNING-L&A=1> Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website. ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the TEAMLEARNING-L list, please click the following link: https://lists.ubc.ca/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=TEAMLEARNING-L&A=1 Further information about the UBC Mailing Lists service can be found on the UBC IT website.