Sad results

I have been marking the Ancient Greece tests that my 11s wrote recently and, to say the least, I am very disappointed in the results. My disappointment is compounded by the fact that 2 out of 3 classes overwhelmingly failed to do the homework I assigned (deep in my heart I knew they wouldn't do it). My biggest issue is that kids complain that they "don't have enough notes to study from" and yet when they are given a reading and some questions to answer or definitions to complete, they don't do them. I can't help but think that we spoonfeed them too much these days, as evidenced by the non-stop photocopying that takes place every day all day all across the board/province/country (including Quebec!)/North America. Note-taking is dead. Just look at a student's notebook. If they are asked to write down anything more than 2 sentences, it is just too overwhelming for them. I guess that is where the authentic performance task comes to the rescue. Using them circumvents the disappointing test results and seemingly meaningless homework checks. I know that the stuff kids learn the best is the stuff they do/create. Okay, I can pick out the error in my recent practice...just have to correct things now. Hmmmm.