The juggling act begins each year: a new grading program (Infinite Campus) in one hand, tossing curriculum and standards while retrieving a depth of student knowledge. How can I possible add more? Community of learners, team meetings within departments, district meetings, mentor/mentee obligations, student organizations, and coaching just to name other "hats" we pull from our teaching closet. But now to add another, districts including ours, are discussing the implication of grades. What are assessments? What do they measure? What do they indicate? Can a student who has a "D" really know more than an "A" student in the same class?
Interesting discussions many of us in the district are having regarding grades. Do they honestly reflect their knowledge of economics, English, or algebra...or are they simply a compliance grade? Students who care about their grades realize that if they turn in an organized paper, an assignment, on time, they can earn at least a "C" even if the content is weak. We have students scoring poorly on tests that demand student's ability in a subject, but still are able to pull off an "A." This was a question raised by one of LPS teachers, Tony Winger; he was rethinking his grades as he realized that many, if not most of his "A" students do not have a strong grasp of micro-economics or macro-economics...or both. He sought research to support his questioning and to see what others in the field were already doing to remedy this result. He was thrilled with the forerunners challenging educators to rethink what these iconic letters symbolize.
In the Curriculum Innovation Team, members raised many questions such as the value of teaching
responsibility. Tony challenged himself, and us, to then label it a work ethic/responsibility grade... or at least a portion of it to that and then apply what is really content-focused to a separate category. The challenge is to weight these categories so they accurately show a student's work and knowledge of content, plus a teacher's value on responsibility.
I think this fits well with the HUSL's committee goal: improving students' effectiveness through teacher strategies. Tony challenged us to consider instead of offering extra-credit to increase low scores, or simply compliance--turning in assignments on time--ask students to
learn more. Re-do a paper, re-learn a chapter, re-calculate an assignment--simply
learn more. I was intrigued as so many other AHS colleagues were.
Add your comments (even if they are short!) and let's start the grading discussion. We don't have to jump on the unicycle donning a cheerful grin, but discourse among colleagues often creates continued professionalism.
As you think about your students in each class, we know many of them struggle with reading our textbooks and content information. I know many teachers even wonder if they read the textbook at all! I went to a conference this summer that discussed the following site. It has online field trips, resources for teachers on content, strategies, classroom managment, technology tutorials--you name it, and they have thought of it.
