Grading Fixes Post 2

Happy New Year and Happy New Grading Fixes to one and all. As I once again sit down to reflect on Mr. Ken O'Conner and his ideas, I think to myself, in 2013 I have probably thought more about my grading process than in all 6 prior years of teaching combined. That is probably a good thing.

As we move more towards standards based grading and this final project for this class, I still have far more questions than happy comforting feelings. I do not know if standards based grading is the way to go for all subjects. I still have a very difficult time seeing how it necessarily works and works effectively in a social studies classroom, but that is something to hash out at a different time. Lets get to the FIXES!

Fix 13 Use summative grades only and not practice
This may be the biggest change in my overall grading policy after reading this book. Once upon a time I would tell students "if I have you do it I'm going to grade it." I also once received a stern talking to from my principal at another school for "not having enough grades in your gradebook." It is strange to me how the tide of education has turned and now we are saying you really don't need that many grades in the grade book and that we should use homework and sometimes even quizzes as practice rather than a big portion of the grade. I now have some classes with 12 total grades for the entire semester when I used to have probably 18 in a quarter.

Fix 15 Let students have a say in their grading process
While I do not think that it is practical in required classes such as US History to have a "menu" as a I saw in one book, I do think that students should have some say in the grading process. I also believe this is easier to do with older students, though not all of them of course, and in certain subject areas. I often wonder how effective letting students do peer reviews of papers really is. Do students take it seriously and are their critiques taken seriously. I think these can be difficult to measure, but I do believe their is merit in giving students a say, in the educational process.

I would say my biggest takeaways were: Don't grade students practice and the difficult task of separating attitude and behaviors from grades. I feel like both of these for me are a work in progress in my classroom, because at times I feel like why am I having them do work if they are not getting a grade for it. I also find it difficult not to want to just "punish" grade wise students who have poor attitudes toward school and the academic process. Probably the biggest take away from this whole book is just the fact that I am now thinking more about what I do in my classroom as terms of what and how I am grading. It is easy to get set in our ways and being challenged to assess ourselves as teachers is a good thing.