Why is it I always plan to do so much work over the break, but never actually accomplish it? I have grand plans of how I will spend the time, for which I pack up the necessary materials from my classroom and haul them to my car. My husband watches as I drag it all into the house, filling the formerly empty spaces of my small dining room-turned office. My once easy to move about work space becomes a maze of books, binders, bags and crates holding all the materials I could possibly need (but never realistically get to in the time I will have at home).
This is the curse of the teacher. We roll our boulders uphill, planning (or preparing to plan), only to see the end of the break arrive and watch as our good intentions roll down hill.
I am alone, in my plight? I doubt it... although I think others may get more done than I do. Generally hard working teachers see these breaks as a time to catch up, get ahead, plan better, and improve our craft. It is a small window of opportunity when we do not have to teach, grade, make parent phone calls, address student concerns, or attend meetings. We can focus on the one singular goal of preparation uninterrupted by normal workday demands.
Unfortunately, this is when I tend to get lost in the high-level ideas and get little of the practical day-to-day work done. I think to myself "Now I have the time to rethink things, improve or change since I do not have a lesson to teach tomorrow." So instead of focusing and getting things done that will get me ahead for the semester, I think of how I can make changes to the fundamental methods of my teaching practices.
Perfection is one of my character defects. I fear to begin a task until I have all the details settled. This is particularly true of teaching. I know there are things I could be doing better, so instead of wasting time preparing lessons in accordance with my previous (lesser) methods, it seems better to decide how I would like to change and plan to that end. The issue is, there is always something to be improved... and there are so many ways to approach the task how can I be sure I have chosen the one right way?
As I read the above paragraph I realize how silly it sounds. There cannot possibly be one right way because the variety of students we serve changes not only from year to year, but from class to class during the day. All I can do is strive to be the best I can with the information I have at the moment. So I find myself at the end of winter break. Second semester starts tomorrow, and with it the papers to grade, lessons to teach and school business to handle. That being said, I guess I'd better get to work!
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thinking Outloud
I have been combing a vast amount of information related to SBG (standards-based grading), mostly from blogs I follow, and have decided to try to put my thoughts on "paper" to see if I can generate some amalgam of the information I've gathered into my own uniquely plagiarized system. (BTW, this is what I love about teachers... we are equally willing to share what we are doing and let others use it, and plagiarize others work and make it our own). So here are some things I've come up with:
4-Point Grading Scale
I have used a 4-point grading scale for years, but have never been completely satisfied with the descriptions associated with each level. I pulled the main idea from misscalcul8, who not only has great descriptions from a teacher perspective but also descriptions of what the student is likely thinking at each level. I also found Kate Nowak's descriptions really helpful although, I will admit, I don't know if the descriptions are what she uses with her students or what she keeps in mind while grading. Finally, I found Always Formative to be helpful. All three of these posts were useful for the specific topic at hand, but I encourage you to browse around their other posts for more information on grading, instruction and assessment... I have found them extremely useful.
Here is what I've come up with:
I will admit, it feels wordy... I considered eliminating the right column to solve the problem. But I realized I couldn't part with it because I think this is the one part of the chart that will resonate most strongly with the students. I may post the above table with the first to columns only in class but offer the complete table on my web page for parents and students.
Retests
I absolutely love misscalcul8's retest form, which can be found on her post discussing SBG. It appears my experience with retests is very similar to hers, and probably countless other math teachers out there, so the idea of requiring them to show evidence of reviewing their errors, watching online videos for additional instruction, and showing evidence of this two days before coming in for the retest is genius! I will probably adjust the form somewhat, because that's just the kind of girl I am, but the ideas behind it will remain intact.
I have played around with the deadlines for completing a retest, most recently having allowed students to retest on any quiz all the way up to the end of the semester. The philosophy behind this I still agree with, students do not learn according to the schedule I dictate, so affording them the maximum time possible to learn a concept seems like the right thing to do. However, for reasons both of practicality and reality, I have decided to set each 5-week grading period as a cut off for retests.
The reality is that students will often perform to the deadline given... so if I allow them until the end of the semester, they will put it off until then. In terms of practicality, there are only so many retests I can grade in the final days before semester's end. For this reason, I must cut things off so my workload is reduced to a more manageable size.
Grading
Ugh! This is the part I struggle with the most. Many posts I've read talk of percents and points. Again I am confronted with reality: I must enter my grades into an online system visible to students and parents. Initially my grading system wasn't as confusing to students and parents because I was the wizard making the grade program do what I needed it to without having to worry anyone would be peeking behind the curtain. Now, there is no curtain. Let me explain with specifics.
I use a 4-point rubric to grade assessments and projects. Every graded assessment is given a score of 0-4. All scores earned are averaged together to produce a GPA. The benefits of this are students are fully aware of how GPA's work, therefore additional explanation is often unnecessary. The downside is I have yet to find a grade program that allows me to average instead of calculate a percentage.
My initial solution was to determine a GPA-percentage conversion. I did not need to reveal this conversion to anyone except my administrator as part of my official gradebook submitted at the end of the semester. So I never got the question "What percentage do I have?". I even had a great score sheet that allowed students to do a quick "visual average", so I could deflect questions about grades and required students to calculate them for themselves (what a relief!).
Now that my grade program is visible to the students and parents, the percentage is visible as well. Can I just advertise the percentages I've used all along? Sure. But I worry that the appearance is I'm giving away grades (compared to a traditional percentage scale). Here's a chart that shows the conversion:
To me, the GPA's look fair... but in a percentage world all but the A breaks the norm. Don't get me wrong, one of the main reasons I switched to a GPA system was because the grade distribution seemed so much more reasonable than a percent system in which almost 60% of the scores you can earn give you a fail. But when non-believers look at this it may seem like I'm an "easy" grader.
An Afterthought to Grading
As I write this, I realize I don't care what they think. Traditional graders are who they are, and I am who I am. I have researched, read, attended conferences and workshops, discussed, and thought long and hard about how I grade. I will not apologize for developing a system that breaks the mold, but that I feel is a better reflection of student learning than the way I did it when I first started teaching.
It will be an adjustment to get students, parents and my peers to see the value in the system I've developed. As far as I know, no other teacher at my school uses a system like mine. However, change begins with one. So, here I am!
What Now?
Now that I have sorted that out, it is time for me to spend some time developing my topics and pacing for 2nd semester. I am behind the 8-ball already, but am feeling energized and enthused. I will keep you posted (pun intended) on how this develops!
4-Point Grading Scale
I have used a 4-point grading scale for years, but have never been completely satisfied with the descriptions associated with each level. I pulled the main idea from misscalcul8, who not only has great descriptions from a teacher perspective but also descriptions of what the student is likely thinking at each level. I also found Kate Nowak's descriptions really helpful although, I will admit, I don't know if the descriptions are what she uses with her students or what she keeps in mind while grading. Finally, I found Always Formative to be helpful. All three of these posts were useful for the specific topic at hand, but I encourage you to browse around their other posts for more information on grading, instruction and assessment... I have found them extremely useful.
Here is what I've come up with:
Retests
I absolutely love misscalcul8's retest form, which can be found on her post discussing SBG. It appears my experience with retests is very similar to hers, and probably countless other math teachers out there, so the idea of requiring them to show evidence of reviewing their errors, watching online videos for additional instruction, and showing evidence of this two days before coming in for the retest is genius! I will probably adjust the form somewhat, because that's just the kind of girl I am, but the ideas behind it will remain intact.
I have played around with the deadlines for completing a retest, most recently having allowed students to retest on any quiz all the way up to the end of the semester. The philosophy behind this I still agree with, students do not learn according to the schedule I dictate, so affording them the maximum time possible to learn a concept seems like the right thing to do. However, for reasons both of practicality and reality, I have decided to set each 5-week grading period as a cut off for retests.
The reality is that students will often perform to the deadline given... so if I allow them until the end of the semester, they will put it off until then. In terms of practicality, there are only so many retests I can grade in the final days before semester's end. For this reason, I must cut things off so my workload is reduced to a more manageable size.
Grading
Ugh! This is the part I struggle with the most. Many posts I've read talk of percents and points. Again I am confronted with reality: I must enter my grades into an online system visible to students and parents. Initially my grading system wasn't as confusing to students and parents because I was the wizard making the grade program do what I needed it to without having to worry anyone would be peeking behind the curtain. Now, there is no curtain. Let me explain with specifics.
I use a 4-point rubric to grade assessments and projects. Every graded assessment is given a score of 0-4. All scores earned are averaged together to produce a GPA. The benefits of this are students are fully aware of how GPA's work, therefore additional explanation is often unnecessary. The downside is I have yet to find a grade program that allows me to average instead of calculate a percentage.
My initial solution was to determine a GPA-percentage conversion. I did not need to reveal this conversion to anyone except my administrator as part of my official gradebook submitted at the end of the semester. So I never got the question "What percentage do I have?". I even had a great score sheet that allowed students to do a quick "visual average", so I could deflect questions about grades and required students to calculate them for themselves (what a relief!).
Now that my grade program is visible to the students and parents, the percentage is visible as well. Can I just advertise the percentages I've used all along? Sure. But I worry that the appearance is I'm giving away grades (compared to a traditional percentage scale). Here's a chart that shows the conversion:
An Afterthought to Grading
As I write this, I realize I don't care what they think. Traditional graders are who they are, and I am who I am. I have researched, read, attended conferences and workshops, discussed, and thought long and hard about how I grade. I will not apologize for developing a system that breaks the mold, but that I feel is a better reflection of student learning than the way I did it when I first started teaching.
It will be an adjustment to get students, parents and my peers to see the value in the system I've developed. As far as I know, no other teacher at my school uses a system like mine. However, change begins with one. So, here I am!
What Now?
Now that I have sorted that out, it is time for me to spend some time developing my topics and pacing for 2nd semester. I am behind the 8-ball already, but am feeling energized and enthused. I will keep you posted (pun intended) on how this develops!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Weakest Link
I just came across a concept that was foreign to me, but has totally rocked my world... conjunctive grading. The idea is a student cannot compensate for the lack of one skill by doing really well in another skill (basically, preventing a student from averaging an F and A to earn a final grade of C). The logic behind this is based on the idea that grades communicate content mastery, and averaging scores in the traditional way masks the student's true level of mastery.
To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about this yet. There is part of me that says, "Wow, that's awesome!" and there's part of me that says, "Um, is that reasonable?" The part that appeals to me the most is the idea that each major concept is considered separately. If I am working toward proficiency in a subject, say geometry, I want to ensure each student has proficiency in every major concept within geometry. I also appreciate the idea that a student cannot hide failure in one area by being proficient in another. Each main idea or concept is viewed independently, which gives a much more complete view of a student's true content mastery.
The part I struggle with is what happens to conjunctive grading when you use it within our current system of grading. We work in an education system that requires a student's content mastery to be boiled down to a single letter grade (not a system I totally agree with, but not one that is not likely to change any time soon). Because of this, conjunctive grading still must be consolidated into a single mark, the weakest link. In order to determine a student's overall grade in the course, the concept on which he/she performs the worst is the one that dictates his/her overall grade. In other words, your overall grade is only as strong as your weakest concept grade. Something about that doesn't sit well with me.
In an attempt to reconcile this uneasy feeling, I tried to think of real-world examples that either supported or refuted this type of evaluation. For example, if I am a painter (as in artist, not house) do I fail in painting if I can do everything well except mix colors? Does this ruin the overall painting? Possibly. But maybe that's not a good example. Maybe it is more along the lines of being able to paint in the style of the impressionists but not as a surrealist. Does this mean I have no talent as an artist? I would think not. Let's forget art and consider a different example, such as carpentry. If I can use a screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, etc. but not a level, do I fail as a carpenter? I would think so, for who wants a crooked house? Examples from both sides come to mind, leaving me no clearer on the conclusion.
After all that I am no closer to reconciling my feelings about conjunctive grading. However, I would contend this issue is not with the conjunctive grading itself, but the system in which it is being utilized. If we were allowed to keep our concept grades separate, never having to combine them into a single overall letter grade, I would be much more at ease with the idea. But until then, I am not sure I can wholeheartedly endorse a conjunctive grading system.
Alternatives in the Meanwhile
To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about this yet. There is part of me that says, "Wow, that's awesome!" and there's part of me that says, "Um, is that reasonable?" The part that appeals to me the most is the idea that each major concept is considered separately. If I am working toward proficiency in a subject, say geometry, I want to ensure each student has proficiency in every major concept within geometry. I also appreciate the idea that a student cannot hide failure in one area by being proficient in another. Each main idea or concept is viewed independently, which gives a much more complete view of a student's true content mastery.
The part I struggle with is what happens to conjunctive grading when you use it within our current system of grading. We work in an education system that requires a student's content mastery to be boiled down to a single letter grade (not a system I totally agree with, but not one that is not likely to change any time soon). Because of this, conjunctive grading still must be consolidated into a single mark, the weakest link. In order to determine a student's overall grade in the course, the concept on which he/she performs the worst is the one that dictates his/her overall grade. In other words, your overall grade is only as strong as your weakest concept grade. Something about that doesn't sit well with me.
In an attempt to reconcile this uneasy feeling, I tried to think of real-world examples that either supported or refuted this type of evaluation. For example, if I am a painter (as in artist, not house) do I fail in painting if I can do everything well except mix colors? Does this ruin the overall painting? Possibly. But maybe that's not a good example. Maybe it is more along the lines of being able to paint in the style of the impressionists but not as a surrealist. Does this mean I have no talent as an artist? I would think not. Let's forget art and consider a different example, such as carpentry. If I can use a screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, etc. but not a level, do I fail as a carpenter? I would think so, for who wants a crooked house? Examples from both sides come to mind, leaving me no clearer on the conclusion.
After all that I am no closer to reconciling my feelings about conjunctive grading. However, I would contend this issue is not with the conjunctive grading itself, but the system in which it is being utilized. If we were allowed to keep our concept grades separate, never having to combine them into a single overall letter grade, I would be much more at ease with the idea. But until then, I am not sure I can wholeheartedly endorse a conjunctive grading system.
Alternatives in the Meanwhile
- Break my subject into major concepts, providing each concept an overall grade. Check out this blog for some more about this idea.
- Average the concept grades to produce a final grade, thereby giving each concept equal weight and showing students and parents areas that need more work and areas in which the student is excelling.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Grade Robots
I have spent many, many hours trying to develop the perfect grading system. In all my research I have broken the issue down to a few key questions. I have wrestled with these questions, losing some rounds and winning others, for years. I cannot say I have successfully addressed them, nor have I come up with the perfect solution to my dilemma, but I am choosing to share them with you now so that we may ponder together as a community of math educators in a world of math-phobes.
What should be "counted" toward a student's letter grade?
This covers a number of issues commonly discussed by teachers such as whether to give points for participation/attendance, grading homework for correctness vs. effort/completion, and whether to give points for homework at all. Before addressing this issue, I have decided it is most important to address the larger issue of the letter grade itself.
What does your letter grade represent?
Most teachers, I assume, would quickly respond with something along the lines of "the student's degree of content mastery" (and might even add the flippant, "duh") . But when you consider the types of extras that are added into a student's grade that are not reflective of content mastery (participation, attendance, effort, etc.) it begs the question, what is your letter grade really saying? Does it say the goal is learning? Or does it simply say if it looks like you're trying hard enough, that's good enough for me?
The Cynic vs. the Optimist
We all have that story of the student who tried with all his/her might to pass, and just barely squeaked by. Maybe this student received effort points because their determination was so strong it was hard to see them fail in spite of it all. Is it fair this student fail after having given it 110%? What will it do to the child? Will they give up because no amount of trying produced success? Feeling responsible for the future success (or lack thereof) of a student is a huge burden to bear... then multiply that by five or ten per semester (just to be conservative). I have an ulcer just thinking about it.
On the flip side, there are those students who make the hair on the backs of our necks stand up at the mere idea they will not only pass, but get a C when they did "nothing" all semester long. For some, the issue is the student clearly is not living up to his/her full potential... but for others it is the fact that we have had to put up with the obnoxious and rude behaviors of the intelli-lazy (brilliant but lazy, in case my word play was distasteful). These behaviors include talking or sleeping during class, using electronics, not taking notes or doing homework, and doodling/drawing, among others. Does this student deserve a C when they put no effort into earning that grade?
"Please, sir, may I have some extra credit?"
Most students fall somewhere in between the above extremes. We all know the way students try to game the system. It's only natural. We humans are built to constantly conduct cost-benefit analyses all the time. Why would I retake that test if I could simply turn in some missing homework I copied off my friend? They understand enough about the points and percentage system to know when to try more and when we have created the mathematical necessity for them to give up (but that is a topic for another post). By the time I see them in high school, they have had 10+ years of training to become the grade robots I meet. You know what I'm talking about. For example, [using your best robot voice, read the following questions] "Will that be on the test?", "How many points is it worth?", "What grade do I have?", "Can I turn that in late?", "Is there any extra credit?".... and on and on.
A Grading Manifesto
With as much time, energy and discussion as I have invested in the topic, I have decided it is time to write a grading manifesto. I must take a stand on how I feel about each of these issues and what I plan to do about them. But where do I stand? For now, I have one simple philosophy: Your grade reflects how much you know. Notice I did not say how much you learned. That was intentional. How, when and where you acquired that knowledge is irrelevant to me. Your letter grade should tell everyone that sees it how much _______ (fill in Algebra II, Geometry, Algebra I, etc.) you know. If you don't know it, I cannot give you a grade that says you do. If you don't need me to teach it to you, that gives me time to go help someone else. And why don't you help someone, too! If you are somewhere in between, I will not negotiate your grade for Kleenex (I have been offered this before). However, I also understand you may not be able to demonstrate your learning at the time I give the assessment, so I will let you show me in your own time.
So what does this look like? Here are my rules:
- You may retest any quiz to improve your grade.
- I do not offer extra credit. (see #1)
- Homework is practice, which is helpful for learning. It doesn't count toward your grade. If you do not see the need or benefit of doing it, it may show itself on your next quiz.
- Grades are calculated as a GPA. Graded work (quizzes and projects, if I give any) are given a 0-4 score. These are averaged to produce your letter grade just like the GPA on their transcripts is, with a slight variation in the scale.
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