Ay, ay, ay I guess I have to agree to disagree!
So once again as my 21c cohert is meeting to discuss the book Understanding by Design, my frustration about grades comes into play again!!! I consider my self an idealist yes, but I am also a realist (that is if it is possible to be both). I allow students to edit, re-submit, re-take, etc. I truly believe that if a student is willing to put in the work and learn, or re-learn to show me they can understand or apply language, I am here to guide that process. I also believe that not all students do or can learn the same content within the same time frame.
HOWEVER...
What about teaching deadlines? What about enabling instead of empowering? And, what about the comments that an "A" in Mrs. Kitch's class is easier because you have these procedures (of correcting) in place? Also many believe that if a student fails a test that they should go back an relearn the material for the sake of learning, even if no points are given back. (Are we talking about the same 16 year olds?) Teachers constantly say it should be about the learning and not the grade. Therefore they don't give points back for re-doing, re-assessing, or re-learning. However, I would have to argue the other way. If it is about learning, why wouldn't you give points back for a student doing just that...LEARNING?!
The bottom line is I have to just agree to disagree with many on grading practices. I guess there are worse things that being called an "easy teacher" although students constantly comment about how challenging their homework or assignements are in my class. I think maybe "easy" is being misused as their choice of vocabulary word.
And after all it could be worse, I could be known as the "smelly" teacher :)
Labels: ay, I guess I have to agree to disagre...
posted by bkitch @ 11:00 AM
2 Comments:
Ms. Kitch,
As a student of yours for two years, I know a lot about this very issue you are talking about. I can see exactly your dilemma; does giving points back for assignments make your class easy or does it allow for more opportunity to learn. I agree more with the second statement. As a student of yours, I honestly did not need to retake or make up assignments often; however I knew many who did. Giving students the choice to retake assignments and gain back points, in my mind, only encourages more learning. Everyone says that they wish it were not about the grade but about the learning, and while this would be great, I, as a student, cannot just ignore the grade. The grade is very important to me and many other students. If a student knows that he can receive a better grade on an assignment by redoing it, then he will. Now, you don't give points back for incorrect corrections which means that the student has to go back, study, and learn the material before they receive those points back. In the end, the student has actually learned the material.
If a teacher does not allow for this, then the student, I believe, actually learns less. In a perfect world, if a student did poorly on a test or assignment, they would go back on their own and take the time to learn the material they missed. This simply does not happen. I can honestly say that when I have done poorly on a test, if I know I cannot do anything to change the grade, I do not go back and learn what I missed. This is because I have no motivation, I can't change my grade. Because grades are so important to students, allowing for points back will motivate them to go back and learn the material.
One way to maybe solve this problem is to allow for partial credit back. Students will still be motivated to learn the material for this. Even in my AP classes, partial credit is rewarded back on tests because it motivates students to go back and learn the material.
I don't feel that because you allow this your class is "easy". It’s easy to blow off bad grades and never learn the material you miss. It’s hard to motivate yourself to go back and learn it. I never felt your class was easy, and I felt I learned many things throughout the two years I was in your class. You were a great teacher and when you left last year many students struggled. This just proves how great of a teacher you are. When you were there, people did well, but when you were gone people struggled. I think you should continue doing what you are doing, if anything maybe only allow partial credit.
Great feedback Brian. Thank you again for your extremely thoughtful response. I think partial credit very well may be the exact happy medium I am looking for. I also wish the grade didn't matter so much, but I agree with you, it does. And to many students I think it is the only thing that matters to them (right or wrong).
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