We have an epidemic of NHIs in the eighth grade. NHI is the code we enter for a graded assignment the student failed to turn in. Not Handed In.
I had a talk with my classes about the issue. On Thursday, I had students in each class guess the number of NHIs in their class for English. There were three options:
- Fewer than 15
- Between 15 and 25
- More than 25
The two English I classes were certain they had between 15 and 25 per class. The two English 8 classes were certain they had fewer than 15.
The results for all classes were the exact opposite of what they expected.
The English 8 students refer to the English I (high school English) classes as “the smart kids’ class.”
“They’re not the smart kids class,” I always reply, but Friday, when I revealed the results, I added, “They’re simply the do-the-work kids class.”