Blogging.... I'm back!
I feel sometimes like I am running a whole new adventure in life when I take a new class. Every time I read a new education book it makes me stop and think about what else is in store for our education system. I haven't been here in the education system for a long time (not as long as some others anyway) but I am considered a veteran because I have hit double digits. So consider me wise and educated and always dumbfounded at the latest, newest, best way to do things!!
Now when I looked at some of the fixes in this book some of them were very obvious; at the third grade level I don't do extra credit. They get a bonus word on their spelling test and that is the only extra points I give. I don't grade based on attendance. That's an easy no brainer for me... but what if it were participation points in an upper level class? How do you not grade them based on their attendance??
One thing I have really been tossing around since I first took a class from Mr. McNeff was how to display the disciple/behavior/compliance piece separately from what these students really know. I haven't found a great solution yet, but what I have done is a basic student assessment on their behavior in the classroom. I did it the week before conferences and the kids I found were very honest with their answers. I did however really like the rubric on page 19 in the book. This could eliminate the problems so many teachers have letting parents know more often where students might need some extra help.
I am really having a hard time with Fix #6: Don't include group scores in grades, use only individual achievement evidence. We do some great group work in third grade. Every year we do an ecosystem project they do as a group. Each student is responsible for a different part of the ecosystem and they put it together into a poster. Now I can grade each individual on their part, but then I look at maybe we just eliminate the project all together???? I NEED third graders to learn how to work in groups. To me that is something I want them to improve on before they leave my room. I mean look at our every day lives. I had to sit by someone at class (I won't mention names KL!) and his first words were... not you again! or something like that! :) We all need to learn to work together, we are faced with people every day! How do we not expect kids to do group work. They need to know how to deal with the person who doesn't "do their part". Yes, I know it doesn't say to NOT do group work, but when they know there is a grade attached to their end product they work a little harder. The peer pressure alone sometimes is enough to make the "slacker" do a little more then they would have.
My ramblings could keep going on. I am excited to look more at the grading aspect of school. How can it make my life easier... or more difficult?!?!? There are some big changes we need to make, especially at the elementary level. There needs to be more standards based grading, we are really behind many schools that have been doing this for a few years. Its time to start looking long and hard at how to get this implemented. Its going to be a tough journey though and there aren't many easy ways to do. This will hopefully get us going in that right direction and only cause a minor headache to us.
Blogging... I'm done for now!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Friday, March 1, 2013
Grading
How do you start a blog that is so broad? It should be the easiest one to write, but this whole grading debate and how you approach grading has made me stop and think about how I grade.
Feedback..... that's the biggest area I see is the most important. How you give the feedback is definitely the most useful. I love listening to the high school teachers talk about grading. It makes me realize maybe I'm not the only one who struggles with what and how you give the feedback. I would love to sit down and have this debate though with more people at the elementary school. We definitely have different ways, based on our age level, of how we give the feedback. Sometimes my feed back is as simple as check the vocab word again and copy it correctly. Most often my feedback is a reminder to capitalize and punctuate a sentence correctly.
Grading is probably the hardest part of teaching sometimes. Its the amount of time we put into it that is the hardest. I would love to see the statistics on the amount of time teachers spend grading. What I get the most frustrated with at my level is the lack of time during the day to get some of this done. We get our half hour blocks of time, but I seem to get into my "groove" and am flying along grading when all of the sudden the students need to be picked up. So I seem to set them aside and then in a few days I look at the pile and try to figure out how it grew! By that time then my "mood" has changed when it come to grading. The first half of the kids papers were graded with one "mood" the other gets another "mood". That's when we get into the fairness debate.
Its such a long debate it will be never ending. I don't know if there is one miracle way of grading. Will there ever be? I doubt it. The best things we all need to look at is our personal goals as a teacher. Each week they are different. Since my class has finished most of their cursive letters, I look at that now when it comes to grading some assignments. Are they forming the letters correctly, that might be how one whole assignment is based. They think I might be looking for more, but that might be the only thing that day or week. I really harp on it for a while and then lay off to see if they can carry it through without reminders. Then the next week might be really watching their reading assignments for complete sentences. Are they using all the basics they know in their sentence writing? Capital letters? Punctuation?
I think we could spend so much time discussing everything we have read about it. Like I said, I would love to sit down and have this debate with more elementary teachers and find my self bringing these subjects up with them more then I used to. I love having this class to really talk about pressing issues we are facing. We all have something to learn. Even if its to just step back and look at how we are currently doing things in our classroom. I know through this discussion and class many things have changed how I look at the flow of my room.
Feedback..... that's the biggest area I see is the most important. How you give the feedback is definitely the most useful. I love listening to the high school teachers talk about grading. It makes me realize maybe I'm not the only one who struggles with what and how you give the feedback. I would love to sit down and have this debate though with more people at the elementary school. We definitely have different ways, based on our age level, of how we give the feedback. Sometimes my feed back is as simple as check the vocab word again and copy it correctly. Most often my feedback is a reminder to capitalize and punctuate a sentence correctly.
Grading is probably the hardest part of teaching sometimes. Its the amount of time we put into it that is the hardest. I would love to see the statistics on the amount of time teachers spend grading. What I get the most frustrated with at my level is the lack of time during the day to get some of this done. We get our half hour blocks of time, but I seem to get into my "groove" and am flying along grading when all of the sudden the students need to be picked up. So I seem to set them aside and then in a few days I look at the pile and try to figure out how it grew! By that time then my "mood" has changed when it come to grading. The first half of the kids papers were graded with one "mood" the other gets another "mood". That's when we get into the fairness debate.
Its such a long debate it will be never ending. I don't know if there is one miracle way of grading. Will there ever be? I doubt it. The best things we all need to look at is our personal goals as a teacher. Each week they are different. Since my class has finished most of their cursive letters, I look at that now when it comes to grading some assignments. Are they forming the letters correctly, that might be how one whole assignment is based. They think I might be looking for more, but that might be the only thing that day or week. I really harp on it for a while and then lay off to see if they can carry it through without reminders. Then the next week might be really watching their reading assignments for complete sentences. Are they using all the basics they know in their sentence writing? Capital letters? Punctuation?
I think we could spend so much time discussing everything we have read about it. Like I said, I would love to sit down and have this debate with more elementary teachers and find my self bringing these subjects up with them more then I used to. I love having this class to really talk about pressing issues we are facing. We all have something to learn. Even if its to just step back and look at how we are currently doing things in our classroom. I know through this discussion and class many things have changed how I look at the flow of my room.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Grading.... How? When? Where? Why?
Every teacher LOVES to grade, right? It's the whole reason we became teachers! When else do you get to hold that beloved RED pen and have control over every students current mood.... Little Johnny made me mad last week when he wasn't listen... Insert evil laugh..... Okay, Leah please don't grade me on this blog!
I always thought total points was the way to go. I don't weigh grades, use a curve, or anything fun. I do the occasional completion points for an assignment, and I usually grade every paper that comes on my desk. Why is the question though, what am I checking for? To see who can regurgitate the information I just spent time discussing? I never really considered that when grading. I'm making it a goal to look at other methods of assessing the students to see if they truly know what I need them to know.
zero.......
Is it necessary? What does it mean? Usually it means the student didn't turn it in. I am already making a very conscious effort to avoid all zeros by harping non stop on the late papers. Obviously though we know they will be there. I really don't see how one missing assignment should determine their overall achievement. Which is why I am in huge favor of standards based grading its not so much what they did or didn't do but what they actually know. I think we start small with this process. One or two classes at a time implement it. How about K-1 year one, they add 2-3, they next year and so on. Or if we just start it slowly maybe even a subject a year, we can tackle the task more effectively.
Feedback...
This is where I am really bad. I am very much in the informal give it as you go feedback person, but not so much the formal write it down on the paper for them. I am making an effort on every assignment to give them something to look at if they got it wrong. Maybe restate the question they were having problems with. This is going to be long journey I would imagine and I really hope I can have the patience to see it through.
I have really tried to work on the 2x10 method with a student at a time. I had heard about this from Carol Braaten earlier in the year. I try to find that short time in the day to hopefully just ask them about their night, what they did, and have the conversation be nothing about school. Show them that I truly care about them.
Each student is a gift, we were given these students to help us grow as educators (Yes, even the Little Johnny that made us mad last week!) . We need to remember they are why we are here, what keeps us going and what we really need them to know. That's why my grading does need to be evaluated and rethought.
I always thought total points was the way to go. I don't weigh grades, use a curve, or anything fun. I do the occasional completion points for an assignment, and I usually grade every paper that comes on my desk. Why is the question though, what am I checking for? To see who can regurgitate the information I just spent time discussing? I never really considered that when grading. I'm making it a goal to look at other methods of assessing the students to see if they truly know what I need them to know.
zero.......
Is it necessary? What does it mean? Usually it means the student didn't turn it in. I am already making a very conscious effort to avoid all zeros by harping non stop on the late papers. Obviously though we know they will be there. I really don't see how one missing assignment should determine their overall achievement. Which is why I am in huge favor of standards based grading its not so much what they did or didn't do but what they actually know. I think we start small with this process. One or two classes at a time implement it. How about K-1 year one, they add 2-3, they next year and so on. Or if we just start it slowly maybe even a subject a year, we can tackle the task more effectively.
Feedback...
This is where I am really bad. I am very much in the informal give it as you go feedback person, but not so much the formal write it down on the paper for them. I am making an effort on every assignment to give them something to look at if they got it wrong. Maybe restate the question they were having problems with. This is going to be long journey I would imagine and I really hope I can have the patience to see it through.
I have really tried to work on the 2x10 method with a student at a time. I had heard about this from Carol Braaten earlier in the year. I try to find that short time in the day to hopefully just ask them about their night, what they did, and have the conversation be nothing about school. Show them that I truly care about them.
Each student is a gift, we were given these students to help us grow as educators (Yes, even the Little Johnny that made us mad last week!) . We need to remember they are why we are here, what keeps us going and what we really need them to know. That's why my grading does need to be evaluated and rethought.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)