A little (welcome) trouble with the grading system

Hi Gang,

You know, last year, I was pretty tight with my grading system: My Work Ethic score started each grading period and went down. Students got a fresh start every six weeks. It was prettty hard on some kids, especially the ones who challenged authority. They'd wipe out and then check out.

So we changed it this year to meet the demands of the entire staff, but haven't we found it to be too easy, with students getting a fresh start every week? Also, I've always used Work Ethic as 50% of the entire grade, but again, it's too easy, especially since my kids are generally so nice this year!

So, any thoughts? I look forward to getting some advice.

Ideas:

Make the Work Ethic component less than 50% (some of you are probably already doing that).

Make the Work Ethic score reset every progress report period or every month or some other alternative.