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.
Friday, March 1, 2013
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.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Why I think the way I do..... or something like that...
When I look back at my whopping 10 years here in the Education field, I think so far my job has been fun. I think of the times I get the most frustrated and it is usually when the beloved homework doesn't get turned in! It is usually a repeat offender. The occasional student who missed one assignment the whole year will usually make it unscathed in my room. The real question is always, why did "Johnny" or "Sally" forget their homework for the 3rd time in 2 weeks? Well, when as a teacher you stop seeing the big red F on their paper (yes, some still love to put the F in BIG RED LETTERS!) and look at the real reason they are not getting their work in we see some of the other factors going on in that students life. One of my first years of teaching I had one of those students, rarely did the work get in and if it did, it was because of some serious bribes. After some "much needed" lounge talk, a veteran looked at me and said, be happy you even got that student to do it. They never do their work outside of school. Well the new "I'm going to CHANGE THE WORLD!" teacher in me had just been hit blindsided. Why wouldn't someone turn in their 4th Grade Math homework? Its the most important thing they are doing! Why else do they have to do? hmm..... maybe worry about where their next meal was coming from, worry about the crying little sister at home, and the older siblings on top of everything else.
I look back and think, was the work that important? Why did they need to do 30 problems of lattice multiplication? I was then told only 40 minutes of homework a night MAX!!! Oh and don't forget our school has a mandatory 20 minutes of Reading every night. So that cut everything I thought was important into a short 20 minute time slot each night, well we can't forget about their Spelling words (yes, in my eyes they study EVERY NIGHT! hahaha) so that takes at least 10 minutes. So in all reality I'm down to about 10 minutes of homework I can assign a night. Well throw in a Science Test and a Social Studies test for the week and you can count Math and English out for that week.
It was during those times I looked at how much time I spent lecturing and thought about how long it takes to loose a student during the lecture. The longer you talk, the better chance you have of losing them, the less time they have for work, the less time they have for work the better chance I wasn't seeing that paper again!
Now remember, I am an Elementary Teacher! I can control how much work they get from each class and I know the work they get from me better be meaningful and worthwhile. I have never give a ton of homework, unless they deserved it! (ha ha another teacher joke!)
I have always probably been labeled the easy teacher, but I look at the life lessons they learn. I really hope that they learn a little about themselves when they leave my room and how to live a good life too. Now of course, we can't forget about the Common Core! They need that too!! Yes, my room might be too noisy for some, but when you look around, there is a love of learning going on, a love of reading, and hopefully a lot of trust too. I give them enough work to get done in class, but enough to keep them busy when they are working hard. I have cut Math assignments some, because I can tell if they understand it in one worksheet instead of two. I also have really looked at some of the worksheets I give and ask myself if it is worth while and going to actually teach them what it is they need to learn. I am looking forward (yes a little) to the deeper thinking our Common Core is going to bring to us, it won't be about the quantity but about the quality.
I worked in a Reading program called Success For All once and it was a lot of work for me, don't get me wrong here, but it was one of the better ways to teach some of the deeper thinking. Each Reading day consisted of some team work building (group work) along with a short reading passage and usually only about 5 questions for the day. Those questions could ONLY be answered with a sentence and had to restate the question. Yes, it was fun to teach that, but hard to grade. They had to really think and agree on questions with their group. There was a lot more to our 90 minute reading block, but the majority had to do with quality not quantity! It was wonderful to see those kids deep thinking.
So I guess you could say as I read the book I understood a lot of what they were talking about and I'm really looking at using some of the parent surveys, and in my level, the cute little smiley faces if I need to assign some homework and hopefully get some good feed back from each parent. I know everyone is different and I sometimes look back at my education career and I know why each assignment was important no matter how much I hated doing those Anatomy Coloring sheets! :) I learned and I think as long as we all remember how important it is to make sure our work is of value to these students we will make a student more successful regardless of the amount of work that goes home. Each of us has our own philosophy and that's what builds a stronger school. We help the students learn that each person in life is different, no matter what your job is when you are an adult you have to learn to work with (or for) anyone.
I look back and think, was the work that important? Why did they need to do 30 problems of lattice multiplication? I was then told only 40 minutes of homework a night MAX!!! Oh and don't forget our school has a mandatory 20 minutes of Reading every night. So that cut everything I thought was important into a short 20 minute time slot each night, well we can't forget about their Spelling words (yes, in my eyes they study EVERY NIGHT! hahaha) so that takes at least 10 minutes. So in all reality I'm down to about 10 minutes of homework I can assign a night. Well throw in a Science Test and a Social Studies test for the week and you can count Math and English out for that week.
It was during those times I looked at how much time I spent lecturing and thought about how long it takes to loose a student during the lecture. The longer you talk, the better chance you have of losing them, the less time they have for work, the less time they have for work the better chance I wasn't seeing that paper again!
Now remember, I am an Elementary Teacher! I can control how much work they get from each class and I know the work they get from me better be meaningful and worthwhile. I have never give a ton of homework, unless they deserved it! (ha ha another teacher joke!)
I have always probably been labeled the easy teacher, but I look at the life lessons they learn. I really hope that they learn a little about themselves when they leave my room and how to live a good life too. Now of course, we can't forget about the Common Core! They need that too!! Yes, my room might be too noisy for some, but when you look around, there is a love of learning going on, a love of reading, and hopefully a lot of trust too. I give them enough work to get done in class, but enough to keep them busy when they are working hard. I have cut Math assignments some, because I can tell if they understand it in one worksheet instead of two. I also have really looked at some of the worksheets I give and ask myself if it is worth while and going to actually teach them what it is they need to learn. I am looking forward (yes a little) to the deeper thinking our Common Core is going to bring to us, it won't be about the quantity but about the quality.
I worked in a Reading program called Success For All once and it was a lot of work for me, don't get me wrong here, but it was one of the better ways to teach some of the deeper thinking. Each Reading day consisted of some team work building (group work) along with a short reading passage and usually only about 5 questions for the day. Those questions could ONLY be answered with a sentence and had to restate the question. Yes, it was fun to teach that, but hard to grade. They had to really think and agree on questions with their group. There was a lot more to our 90 minute reading block, but the majority had to do with quality not quantity! It was wonderful to see those kids deep thinking.
So I guess you could say as I read the book I understood a lot of what they were talking about and I'm really looking at using some of the parent surveys, and in my level, the cute little smiley faces if I need to assign some homework and hopefully get some good feed back from each parent. I know everyone is different and I sometimes look back at my education career and I know why each assignment was important no matter how much I hated doing those Anatomy Coloring sheets! :) I learned and I think as long as we all remember how important it is to make sure our work is of value to these students we will make a student more successful regardless of the amount of work that goes home. Each of us has our own philosophy and that's what builds a stronger school. We help the students learn that each person in life is different, no matter what your job is when you are an adult you have to learn to work with (or for) anyone.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
To give homework or not to give homework?
Being a first time blogger this whole homework thing seems like a great idea! Really why am I doing this blog? Well I'm doing this for homework! Kind of ironic isn't it? When I first signed up for this class I thought long and hard about how I currently assign work before I even started reading our book. I immediately cut some math papers in half. For two reasons really number one grading papers is for the birds, and number two if they can master the concept in 20 questions, why am I giving them 40???
I was raised with the idea that homework helps you learn! If you want to do well in school, you need to do your homework! Well, that was 15+ years ago! Unfortunately times have changed. Homework, school, and our whole society has changed, or at least the ideas of society have changed and everyone in the school world is trying to figure out how keep up! As teachers whether we are in the elementary classroom or the high school classroom we feel homework extends learning beyond the classroom and we believe it sparks learning at home....... Heck my 8 year old just asked me what I was doing for my homework and when I told him writing a paper on why I think homework is important. He told me what I should write, "I think homework is good because it helps me learn at home". Isn't this why we HOPE kids do homework? In my little dream world every night I give homework the whole family sits around and helps with homework and the little kids in the family are sitting at the table too pretending to do homework like big brother or sister. While the whole time both parents can help with their assignments and the Internet is working for their research paper they need to finish finding information on, the poster they need to glue pictures on isn't wrinkled from the ride home in the backpack, and mom brings a snack to the table while the student is doing their homework and gives them a kiss on the head! Isn't that what we all see happening? Oh wait, let's bring this back to 2012, mom just got done with a long day at work, supper is burning, the dog just spilled his water bowl while chasing the cat around the kitchen, the younger child is screaming because he slipped and fell in the water, the phone is ringing, the Internet is down, and the one you want to being doing their homework snuck away from the table in tears because its too noisy and he just wants to play his DS. This hasn't exactly happened at my house because we don't have a dog, but its pretty close to the norm in most homes.
How do we expect kids to finish their work successfully when everyday they have a new challenge? I have become a firm believer that I give my students enough time to finish their assignments in class, if they don't finish it's because they were messing around during class. The only homework my students get is their spelling words and the occasional few problems to finish at home. I also have them study for tests at home, but only after some brief studying in class. I can do this though because of the huge difference between "lower and upper" elementary and the high school classrooms.
I know I will look at how things will start to change in my classroom. Yes, I feel homework teaches responsiblity, but I also know there are many other ways to teach it too. I hope I am not the "easy teacher" but I also know I want all the kids to learn in their own way. There are more and more students each year who don't extend their learning at home the way we "think" they should. Is it their fault? I don't see it that way. I see it as I am going to help them while I can the few short hours a day I get them and hopefully teach them to love learning and know that it isn't bad if you have homework, it is just suppose to be an extension of learning at home.
I was raised with the idea that homework helps you learn! If you want to do well in school, you need to do your homework! Well, that was 15+ years ago! Unfortunately times have changed. Homework, school, and our whole society has changed, or at least the ideas of society have changed and everyone in the school world is trying to figure out how keep up! As teachers whether we are in the elementary classroom or the high school classroom we feel homework extends learning beyond the classroom and we believe it sparks learning at home....... Heck my 8 year old just asked me what I was doing for my homework and when I told him writing a paper on why I think homework is important. He told me what I should write, "I think homework is good because it helps me learn at home". Isn't this why we HOPE kids do homework? In my little dream world every night I give homework the whole family sits around and helps with homework and the little kids in the family are sitting at the table too pretending to do homework like big brother or sister. While the whole time both parents can help with their assignments and the Internet is working for their research paper they need to finish finding information on, the poster they need to glue pictures on isn't wrinkled from the ride home in the backpack, and mom brings a snack to the table while the student is doing their homework and gives them a kiss on the head! Isn't that what we all see happening? Oh wait, let's bring this back to 2012, mom just got done with a long day at work, supper is burning, the dog just spilled his water bowl while chasing the cat around the kitchen, the younger child is screaming because he slipped and fell in the water, the phone is ringing, the Internet is down, and the one you want to being doing their homework snuck away from the table in tears because its too noisy and he just wants to play his DS. This hasn't exactly happened at my house because we don't have a dog, but its pretty close to the norm in most homes.
How do we expect kids to finish their work successfully when everyday they have a new challenge? I have become a firm believer that I give my students enough time to finish their assignments in class, if they don't finish it's because they were messing around during class. The only homework my students get is their spelling words and the occasional few problems to finish at home. I also have them study for tests at home, but only after some brief studying in class. I can do this though because of the huge difference between "lower and upper" elementary and the high school classrooms.
I know I will look at how things will start to change in my classroom. Yes, I feel homework teaches responsiblity, but I also know there are many other ways to teach it too. I hope I am not the "easy teacher" but I also know I want all the kids to learn in their own way. There are more and more students each year who don't extend their learning at home the way we "think" they should. Is it their fault? I don't see it that way. I see it as I am going to help them while I can the few short hours a day I get them and hopefully teach them to love learning and know that it isn't bad if you have homework, it is just suppose to be an extension of learning at home.
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