Grading is KILLING me! I've said it and I am sure you have said it. This chapter has made me think that our students must be saying it too.
What do you think about the following:
Points for... attempt and completion, growth and improvement, mastery and understanding?
What is your grading philosophy? What beliefs drive your grading practices? What do you define as rigor? What new thoughts or ideas do you have after reading this chapter?
This chapter really addresses some of my biggest issues in teaching. One of the first things is whether my grades reflect what it is that I want students to learn. Sometimes I truly feel that it does not address specific things in my subject area but it does address things that I value such as personal responsibility and motivation. In my subject area, though, I want to make sure that I am assessing the standards, which is often easier said than done. Writing test questions that test the standards at the appropriate Bloom’s level takes a ton of time. It also takes analysis. Sometimes it is an overwhelming task.
ReplyDeleteThe scenario on page 131 over summer reading makes my blood boil and is one of the reasons that I hate summer reading assignments. I also hate summer reading assignments because students who were too lazy to do it will just tell their parents that their teacher didn’t tell them (I’m so sure) and then Jennifer will get a phone call and it’ll be a big deal over something I didn’t want to deal with to start with. Frustrating.
I like the idea of calibration (page 132), but we have tried that and I find it also frustrating and time-consuming.
I also like the idea that she is talking about on page 136 about giving feedback along the way. Once again, if I had the time and didn’t have other standards to work with, I could really see how I could improve my students. Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot of extra time and while I do try to do this when I can, it is not very often.
I totally disagree with her stance on late work, though. Generally, those students who have the lives that are the most full, are not the ones who are turning in their work late. While I feel strongly that learning is the be-all-end-all goal, we do students no favors when they leave this building and go into the real world believing that they will get lots of chances to get their work done correctly and that it is fine to give excuses rather than production on the job. The reality is that over at Wal-Mart if you aren’t on time, hitting your quotas, and being respectful to your boss, you won’t be working for Wal-Mart for very long. I do think that there are always circumstances that should be taken under consideration, but it is not an every assignment thing.
More and more we must consider our policies on late work. I follow the policy our English I department agreed upon several years ago for the most part. I do make exceptions when I know they need to be made. However, I realize that I don't always know. This is a concern for me. I am anxious to learn more about exactly how a 3 2 1 grading scale will work in my classroom. I have some apprehension about how we will communicate the meaning of the grades to our students and parents. However, I understand the need to try something different. I like the four basic beliefs stated in this chapter.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking matters more than factual recall.
Risk, struggle, practice, and success are essential to learning.
Smart is something you become.
The world is an interesting. The more my classroom mirros the world, the more engaged the students will be.
The last one I think is the most difficult. It is a real challenge to remain current relevant because often we have to find your own sources for materials and vet them for appropriate use. Hopefully, more common planning in the future will help this part of it.