Ask any one of my former students and they would readily interpret Stars and Crowns and Smileys for you. I cannot recall exactly when I started using symbols instead of numbers for quiz scores, but they have been going around for years now. Even youngsters (lower-year-level Ss) aka non-students of mine have learned about the infamous symbols.
It was mind-boggling at first. The stars, crowns and smileys gained instant fans, and haters as well! Imagine many confused faces not being able to decipher how they fared in the test. Nah, not that my students were uber grade conscious that they only have their scores to watch out for. Maybe, they just found something that fed up their curious nature. They were willing to find out on their own, but that early into the school year (as early as the very first quiz) did not give them enough data to support their hypotheses. :D
It was fun watching them interpret the symbols by keen observation and/or investigation, for I was not one to give away answers as easily as my students pose their questions. Without previous knowledge, it took two to four quizzes on the average before they finally got conclusive results about the symbol-score equation. I can still feel the excitement and the satisfaction associated with finally getting it right: star for perfect 10, a smiley with a crown for committing half-a-mistake(?) and a smiley for committing one, big mistake.
You might be wondering how I arrived at those equivalents. You might even be tempted to ask, just like most of my students, as to why only the first three scores have their corresponding symbols. It may be not-so-easy to believe, but I also do not know. Interpretations came in later, and only when I have finished checking more than a few papers that I was able to establish such equivalents.
This has raised a lot of queries as time went by. Aside from what were mentioned already, the symbol set also initiated arguments, pleas (as in requests for other scores to be given corresponding symbols) and even paved the way for memorable anecdotes and quotable quotations. Below are some of them, and maybe, if my students could read this, they surely have some sharing based on their own encounter with the symbols.
SCENE 1
Student: Teacher, I want a star.
Me: Why, are you perfect?
Student: No, I have a 0.5 deduction. I forgot a unit in one of my final answers.
Me: Hmm, a 9.5 then.
Student: Yes, 'Cher. Bakit prince lang? Konting mali lang naman eh.
Me: That is why. A prince is almost perfect. But he's human. And humans are never perfect.
SCENE 2 (slightly edited)
Student: Teacher, I hate this! I always get a smiley with a crown. Why can't I get a star?
Me: Study harder. Reach for the stars.
Student: Haynaku Teacher! I do not want to see smileys anymore!
(Next quiz, student gets 9.5/10, another smiley with a crown...)
Student: Teacher, why is there a bag drawn on my paper? What is my score?
Me: I hid the smiley in the bag. You said you don't want to see smileys anymore.
Student: **frowns.faints.goes wild.the classroom erupts**
There are other stories. But I have committed them deep into memory that I cannot get them out to be part of this post. Haha! (escuses :P). But yes, maybe the youngbloods can help. Though there were clamors on adding more symbols to cater to all the other scores, or on using symbol set for other graded requirements where students can easily get high scores, the set symbol remained exclusively for official quizzes. Limited chances, yes, but I saw how my students determined to reach for the stars and excitedly happy upon getting the reward, how disappointed they were for every smiley with a crown, and how the simple smiley encouraged them to do better next time.
One day, on PTC, a mother approached me and told about her daughter's experience with prince. I thought I was going to be scolded/reprimanded (not that parents do). But no, we just had loud-out-laughter instead. The mom told me how inspired her daughter was...how her daughter is working so hard to get a star. Haay! Who would have thought that the lowly symbols could spark up such interest eh? ;-)
Long live stars...lead us to our dreams!
Long live princes...remind us to be accepting of our imperfections!
Long live smileys...we know we can always do much better next time!
It was mind-boggling at first. The stars, crowns and smileys gained instant fans, and haters as well! Imagine many confused faces not being able to decipher how they fared in the test. Nah, not that my students were uber grade conscious that they only have their scores to watch out for. Maybe, they just found something that fed up their curious nature. They were willing to find out on their own, but that early into the school year (as early as the very first quiz) did not give them enough data to support their hypotheses. :D
It was fun watching them interpret the symbols by keen observation and/or investigation, for I was not one to give away answers as easily as my students pose their questions. Without previous knowledge, it took two to four quizzes on the average before they finally got conclusive results about the symbol-score equation. I can still feel the excitement and the satisfaction associated with finally getting it right: star for perfect 10, a smiley with a crown for committing half-a-mistake(?) and a smiley for committing one, big mistake.
You might be wondering how I arrived at those equivalents. You might even be tempted to ask, just like most of my students, as to why only the first three scores have their corresponding symbols. It may be not-so-easy to believe, but I also do not know. Interpretations came in later, and only when I have finished checking more than a few papers that I was able to establish such equivalents.
This has raised a lot of queries as time went by. Aside from what were mentioned already, the symbol set also initiated arguments, pleas (as in requests for other scores to be given corresponding symbols) and even paved the way for memorable anecdotes and quotable quotations. Below are some of them, and maybe, if my students could read this, they surely have some sharing based on their own encounter with the symbols.
SCENE 1
Student: Teacher, I want a star.
Me: Why, are you perfect?
Student: No, I have a 0.5 deduction. I forgot a unit in one of my final answers.
Me: Hmm, a 9.5 then.
Student: Yes, 'Cher. Bakit prince lang? Konting mali lang naman eh.
Me: That is why. A prince is almost perfect. But he's human. And humans are never perfect.
SCENE 2 (slightly edited)
Student: Teacher, I hate this! I always get a smiley with a crown. Why can't I get a star?
Me: Study harder. Reach for the stars.
Student: Haynaku Teacher! I do not want to see smileys anymore!
(Next quiz, student gets 9.5/10, another smiley with a crown...)
Student: Teacher, why is there a bag drawn on my paper? What is my score?
Me: I hid the smiley in the bag. You said you don't want to see smileys anymore.
Student: **frowns.faints.goes wild.the classroom erupts**
There are other stories. But I have committed them deep into memory that I cannot get them out to be part of this post. Haha! (escuses :P). But yes, maybe the youngbloods can help. Though there were clamors on adding more symbols to cater to all the other scores, or on using symbol set for other graded requirements where students can easily get high scores, the set symbol remained exclusively for official quizzes. Limited chances, yes, but I saw how my students determined to reach for the stars and excitedly happy upon getting the reward, how disappointed they were for every smiley with a crown, and how the simple smiley encouraged them to do better next time.
One day, on PTC, a mother approached me and told about her daughter's experience with prince. I thought I was going to be scolded/reprimanded (not that parents do). But no, we just had loud-out-laughter instead. The mom told me how inspired her daughter was...how her daughter is working so hard to get a star. Haay! Who would have thought that the lowly symbols could spark up such interest eh? ;-)
Long live stars...lead us to our dreams!
Long live princes...remind us to be accepting of our imperfections!
Long live smileys...we know we can always do much better next time!
