Keeping the saws sharp... (72)

The best educators don't just keep one saw sharpened. The best educators keep an entire shed full of saws sharpened. The best educators are also never hesitant to add new saws to their collection. In fact, the best educators go looking for new saws and find great satisfaction in keeping them all sharp... enjoy stretching your mind by reading a couple blog posts below that interest you.

The real problem with multiple choice questions 

Does student-student discussion really matter? 

How many readers have I hurt? 

Nurturing the innovator's mindset in your classroom 

How does physical activity affect student performance? 

Imagery may be the key to students understanding math

How video games can instill the values our children need for success 

Why girls tend to get better grades than boys do 

10 team-building games that promote critical thinking 

How looking at student work keeps teachers and kids on track

Is your gradebook supportive of learning? ... (71)

When was the last time you looked at your gradebook?

Not just look at your gradebook because you are recording grades, but to actually look at your gradebook and evaluate its purpose and the reasoning behind its existence.

What is the purpose of a gradebook?

The logical answers would be...

To record and document the grades of students in a particular class.

To document how well a student did on worksheet 1.7 and record how well a student did on the chapter 4 test.

To sort and categorize our students into A, B, C, D & F grade rankings.

These answers are widely accepted and widely practiced by educators all across the globe.

But...

What if the gradebook was more?

What if the gradebook was viewed as another tool in the student's belt for learning?

What if the gradebook gave specific and detailed feedback to students about their learning progression?

So, the challenge is, how can we use the gradebook as a formative tool in the learning process rather than a summative 'end of learning' tool that has very little if any effect on student learning?

When a student sees they received 12/20 points on worksheet 1.7, does the student really know specifically where he/she is struggling? Does the student know specifically where he/she needs to focus to master the skills/content from those 8 missed points?

When a student sees they received a 72% on the chapter 4 test, do they know specifically where and why they lost points?

What if instead of seeing worksheet 1.7, the gradebook said something like, 'determining the central idea of a text - RI.6.2?'

What if instead of seeing chapter 4 test, the gradebook chunked the test and said something like, 'finding the area of right triangles - 6.G.A.1, represent three dimensional figures - 6.G.A.4, & finding the volume of a right rectangular prism - 6.G.A.2?'

If you are an educator, a student, or even a parent wanting to help, which gradebook is going to provide you specific information on where a student is in the learning process? Which gradebook is going to encourage future learning? Which gradebook is going to lead toward an authentic and valuable conversation about how to help that student with their learning?

So, ask yourself, is your gradebook supportive of learning...?

Is it time to eliminate extra credit? ... (70)

'Is there anything I can do to get some extra credit?'

If you've worked in education for more than 20 minutes, you've probably heard a student ask this question.

Extra credit has been and continues to be a common staple in classrooms all across the globe...

Here is a personal story from Justin Tarte...

I was a teacher who awarded extra credit to my HS German students when they brought in Kleenexes, markers, and even on quizzes when they could answer random questions correctly knowing full well the questions had nothing to do with German. I even one time gave extra credit to students who brought in my favorite candy.

I saw nothing wrong with what I was doing.

Oh how wrong I was...

For the record, I openly and publicly apologize for committing a crime against assessments and a crime against my students because what I was doing was wrong on so many levels.

For one, I was reinforcing socio-economic differences and discriminating against those students who didn't have the means to buy Kleenexes, markers, and my favorite candy. Those who had the means whether it was financial or just a simple car ride, were able to capitalize on these extra credit opportunities while others weren't.

Also, a majority of the extra credit that occurred in my classroom had nothing to do with students and their learning of German. Heck, most of my extra credit opportunities didn't have any educational value at any level for that matter.

Lastly, and possibly most importantly, the extra credit I was giving was completely distorting and destroying any accuracy that I'd hope to achieve with my grading structure. I would work so hard to ensure my assessments were properly aligned and equitable for students based on their preferred method of mastery demonstration. Then, in one fell swoop, I would destroy it all by giving extra credit for stuff that didn't have any relation or connection at all to German.

What I thought was perfectly fine was anything but fine.

It was not until several years later that I recognized the error of my ways.

Here's the deal, if we want our grades to be accurate and a true reflection of student mastery and learning, then we can't muddy the waters by giving extra credit.

Also, I would urge you to avoid giving extra credit for doing 'more' of something as well. For example, a kid who does 100 math problems poorly hasn't demonstrated the same level of mastery as a kid who does 20 perfectly.

More doesn't always equal a mastery of learning...

So, are you ready to take the plunge and eliminate extra credit from your classroom?

Late work and grade reduction... (69)

A battle that continues to rage in schools all across the globe is the battle about what to do when students turn their work in late.

One camp is going to make comments like this: 

What about student ACCOUNTABILITY? What are we teaching them? What are they learning? Just turn it in whenever they decide. Deadlines really don’t matter. We are suppose to be educating them, not just on subject content.

Why shouldn’t students be penalized if they can’t meet a deadline? What incentive is there for a student to turn work in on time if there is no penalty?

The IRS doesn’t care about deadlines, right? Your boss doesn’t care about deadlines, either. Work at McDonald’s? There is no deadline for making that Big Mac, right? You can take 4 hours to make it if you want.

Do you think a college professor is going to accept a paper WHENEVER IT’S CONVENIENT for the student? How are we preparing students for the “real world?"

Why don’t the little darlings just do what they’re supposed to and turn the work in on time? Enough of this pandering to spoiled brats.

The other camp is going to make comments like this: 

What’s the point of a letter grade students get at the end of the term? Shouldn’t it indicate the mastery of the subject matter? If so, why shouldn’t teachers accept late work?

Penalties for late work distort the accuracy of the grade which has the sole purpose of communicating academic progress and mastery toward a particular standard.

It’s a false assumption that students build moral fiber and respect for deadlines by slapping them with an “F” or a 0” for work not done. This teaches nothing but resentment and cheating. 

Teachers turn things in late all the time, as do workers in every profession. The idea that you can't get away with turning work in late in the real-world isn't true.

To say it must all be done at the same level of quality as everyone else by this one particular day of this particular week flies in the face of all we know about how humans learn. We all learn at different rates and at different times.

As you can see, there are great points being made on both sides. 

But if in the end, we expect and want our grades to accurately and precisely reflect what a student is able to do when it comes to a particular standard or learning objective, then we can't and shouldn't reduce a student's grade based on when the student turns the work in. Obviously we have quarters and semesters when we eventually have to finish out our grades, but until that date students should receive some sort of 'incomplete' or 'not yet assessed' to ensure overall grade accuracy.

As educators, we should teach responsibility and accountability, but those need to be separate and not tied to a student's academic mastery grade. Academic indicators must be kept separate from non-academic indicators to ensure the accuracy and fidelity of both.

Check out Rick Wormeli's thoughts on late work below:

  

Cheating: poor choice vs. academic mastery... (68)

Happy new school year!

Hopefully the school year is off to a great start for everyone.

For these next several weeks, we plan to use the Monday Morning Memo to talk about our beliefs on learning and how our grading/assessing procedures/practices ultimately impact student learning. So, each week we will try and tackle a different topic that impacts and affects student learning.

As you may know, we've done a book study at the MS, we've sent folks to conferences, and we are fortunate enough to be having Rick Wormeli come and speak to our district in October in a two-day event on the topic of standards based and mastery learning.

A topic that people are very passionate about and a topic that always seems to come up when talking about grading is 'what do you do when students cheat?' 

The traditional approach would have any student who cheats receive a zero on the assignment and possibly some kind of additional behavioral punishment.

As a district we are moving toward ensuring that a grade actually represents what a student knows and is able to do and not their ability to make moral and ethical decisions. To stand behind this belief, we had to do more than just talk about it... we had to put pen to paper when it comes to our district policies.

Now make no mistake, we aren't saying that cheating and these types of behaviors are acceptable, but we do believe that the behavior needs to be separate from the academic side of things if we want a grade to truly represent and reflect what a student knows.

We will still focus on helping students to make moral and ethical decisions, but that progress and monitoring won't be included in a student's academic discussion.

So, since some of you may not be aware, below are our new district policies in regard to student cheating. You will notice that it is now no longer an option to reduce a student's grade due to cheating. The student will receive a behavioral punishment, but they will be given the opportunity to complete an alternate assignment for full-credit so they can demonstrate their level of mastery.

Remember, if it's worth assigning then it is worth doing which in turn means it's worth providing feedback and input to our students. An assignment where there is no actionable feedback/input available for students isn't worth doing. Also, feedback/input doesn't always need to and shouldn't always come in the form of a grade...