Original thread made on debate.org I'm 20 years old. I've gone through 12 years of grade school and over 2 years of college. I am an individual who was and still is (to a lesser extent) hardly impressed with academia but is someone who understands that doing well in school is important for your future success in society (for the majority of us), whether you like it or not. I feel like I know what students need in order to succeed and even in order to create student interest in the subject(s). I've got the feeling that I know some important methods to run the most productive classroom in terms of leaving the student with the most retention of knowledge. My idea focuses on getting the most out of a class, not necessarily the grade one comes out with; however, I do believe that my ideas work together to encourage higher scores and better retention of knowledge. I think i'll just bullet point. If you question one or more points, i'll be able to give explanations. * Always cumulative exams. Decrease cumulative value of exams. * Increase cumulative value of participation. * On EVERY assignment that involves reading and retention of concepts and/or facts, provide a quiz the following day to test the students on what was covered. Provide time prior to quiz for students to ask questions related to the reading(s). Adjust difficulty of quiz (or scoring) according to student performance. * Increase cumulative value for quizzes (equal to exams, for example) * Provide incentive to come to class on time: credit system. No penalties for being 1-9 minutes late. If on time, provide a credit. 1 percentage point to quiz grade every x times student is on-time. (Variable "x" is dependent on frequency of quizzes and thus the amount of reading assignments). * written assignments graded on accuracy but on a partial credit system. For example, student must demonstrate competency in concepts A, B, and C. If C is incorrect or partially incorrect, reduce points only for however much was missed. e.g, all of C = 30% off and half of C = 15% off whole assignment ==> 70% or 85% on assignment. * Provide optional extra-credit assignment/quizzes individually tailored to address student weakness (for instance, concept C) after exams, written assignments, and other things of this caliber. All or nothing. If all, provide student with half credit of whatever was missed in the grade. e.g, if Student lost 15% off from concept C, allow student to gain 7.5% back if student perfects the extra-credit. If imperfect, no extra credit is given. * Provide bonus questions to each exam. Can be relevant to exam material or irrelevant. * Provide application wherever and whenever possible. Assignments that would require students to make use of the information learned and apply to the real-world will entail projects, research essays, lab studies, etc. * Real world application will be used in daily teaching routines to provide relevancy for the students. Videos, labs, current events (news), etc I think I had more ideas but I can't remember them. In a typical class subject, I would apply all of these. In non-typical classes, I'd apply all when applicable. The point is to release tension from the student and encourage the student to want to learn. The grading system I propose is radically different than the typical grading system used in most schools (of those that i'm aware of); the grading scale is spread out to apply consistent - but reasonable - pressure on the student. What do you think? Give your ideas, too!