1. Generate a list of descriptors for how you feel grades should be used. How can you get closer to that in your classroom? What do you feel the effects would be if you were able to achieve your ideal?
2. How can you help students take ownership in the record keeping process?
I have always contemplated grades. I know we have talked a lot about them in meetings, especially when you think how subjective grades can be. I worry that I am grading too easy and then the 5th grade teachers will get blasted from parents wondering why their students are doing poorly. I know our parents want to know letter grades. I'm not sure how many of them look at the +/- we put on report cards. I know we have talked about student led conferences in the past and I think these conf. could be helpful in showing student growth. I also think it might be nice for students to have access to computers to check grades online at school. I am not sure how many parents are checking grades on-line. I think students keeping portfolios that get discussed at conferences would be an easy way to show individual student growth and would enhance out traditional report cards.
ReplyDeleteThe eternal question: do the grades reflect growth of mastery? Do they predict success on the OAA? Is it long term learning or stuff memorized for a test and forgotten? I think a student who gets good grades on the materials in our curriculum should do well on the OAA (well, except the sick kid who fell asleep, or the suicidal one, or the one who was moving and thought his score wouldn't count, or...). But grades and standardized test results just aren't the same thing. It seems to get more and more confusing.
ReplyDeleteHey, LeAnne: Will you give us a certificate of completion to put in our documentation folder? :)
ReplyDeleteGrdes,grades, grades...that is the question. I am wondering how do you have students take accountability when it comes to grades? I am not sure what that answer is to be honest. I have done the data folders and the ones who care or whose parents care seem to take it seriously. I finally took two boys aside the other day after they were found to be passing notes during class. I opened up the grade book and showed them that neither one had passed a selection test yet this nine weeks. I told them that there needed to be change and I expected it of them as they were not "stupid". It is interesting the they took a Fresh Reads several days later and scored a 100%. It was a SI Fresh Reads, but they made sure to show me! I have also done student led conferences in the past with goal setting. I can't say that the students gained much from it. I still had kids saying they made their goal and showed their parents the proof and others who did not make their goal. What do you do next for those students? I think it needs to be a school/home partnership. I think this is the only way that students will take accountablity and that is if it is enforced at home just as strongly as we all want them to achieve in the classroom. I think of my own son, Nicholas, and how we studied for two days for his government test and he got a 100%...then he pulls out a science test that I know nothing about and pulled a 100%! My reaction to his grades were, I am so proud of you, look what you did. However, he has also brought home a C on a test that we studied for and I told him that we would just have to work on it more for next time. I think these conversations need to take place at home, and they don't always. Dennine
ReplyDeleteMichele, I totally agree with the computers being accesible to our students. I think they need to log in weekly and see their grades....maybe even write them down and have them do some goal setting for the next week. Set a goal, tell how they will attain it, and then what proof they will have in attaining their goal. Dennine
ReplyDeleteHow can you help students take ownership in the record keeping process?
ReplyDeleteI am currently implementing a strategy in which students in grades 3 and 4 are able to take ownership of their record keeping process in reading fluency. The students have one minute reads each week. The students ‘scores are recorded after every timed reading. The students are excited to see if they surpassed the previous week’s scores or dropped a little. What I am noticing is when there is a deficit in their score, the student is mindful of the time and how fast they flow through the passage. They want to beat the previous week’s scores. Comprehension is another piece involved in the one minute read. The students are paying more attention to what they are reading while increasing their scores because they know that the expectation. The first is to read fluently and the second is to comprehend what they read. They are making gains in my eyes. There are times when they are disappointed because they did not read as fluently as another student, but generally, the fluent reader does not comprehend as well as the struggling reader. I also take into account the Dibels DORF and conference with the students on their successes. They are eager to see how well they performed when completing the progress monitoring section, which I also perform once a week. I have to create room in my room to chart their progress on that assessment, but Dibels does the charting and the students are able to see their charts individually when I conference with them.
To all of the ladies who posted on the topic pertaining to grades...I use to work at sites where grades were not given. I know you all think this idea is farfetch, but the parents were provided mastery of skills for their child through other means. One such way was through portfolios that showed the students gradual progression until the child reached mastery. The other site I was employed did not have homework or grades. The OAA performance of the students was sub-par. Gee, wonder why. Teachers were held accountable the following year to show growth in their students. A great assessment tool was used called Scantron to give teachers and parents a true idea of where their students were performing in every subject. The program also allowed teachers to create lessons based on the needs of the students in their class. I like the idea of grades because students should have a level of expectation to meet. I do not like students receiving a grade when they do not understand the concept, but can go through the motions and pass.
ReplyDeleteWow, what great ideas and conversations! Yes, I'm glad you said something, Sarah. I can make sure everyone gets a certificate of completion for your documentation folder. Student led conferences and portfolios can be great opportunities for students to take ownership in demonstrating what they have learned. One of the intervention specialists at Clarendon is doing student led IEP conferences, and these have been amazing! Talk about helping students be self-advocates! I also think any time students can set a goal for themselves based on previous performance, such as the reading fluency, can be very motivating. Thanks for your great ideas! Lee Ann
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