Before I even read the article, I just looked at the title (above) and thought, "Yeah right! How can you not provide grades?" Well after reading the article, I was able to answer my own question. Grading gives the students and parents satisfaction that an assignment was completed. What it doesn't provide is valuable feedback by the teacher. Yes, the teacher may make comments and let the student make those corrections to improve their grade, but overall the student is just trying to improve their grade, not their work. I like the idea of a no grades classroom, as it allows for a grading system based on observation, feedback, iteration, and student self-evaluation. Ultimately, students will begin completing all assignments, be more engaged, and allow for true learning to take place. With a no grades classroom, I can see why the number one struggle is getting assignments completed. I think if deadlines are applied to the assignments, more students will complete in a timely manner and will want to receive teacher feedback, so they can monitor their improvement and achieve their learning goals. Moreover through, I want to read more about this idea and learn all the ins and outs, so I can try to implement this technique as a future educator.
4 Steps for creating a no grades classroom (from Mark Barnes):
1. Be accountable first to students. We owe students the best chance to learn, regardless of any overarching mandates we receive about grading.
2. Tell parents exactly why you want to eliminate grades. When you explain that you want to provide detailed feedback on all activities and give kids a chance for real mastery learning, how can parents argue? Address their concerns and be transparent about how this will help students.
3. Team up with school and community leaders. Approach the decisionmakers with details about your plan to eliminate number and letter grades. Remind them that you're not eliminating the evaluation of learning. Outline the benefits of making assessment an ongoing, meaningful conversation that leads to mastery learning.
4. Bring students into the report-card conversation. If your district mandates report cards, you might not be able to escape assigning a number altogether. Sit down with your students at the end of each marking period and discuss: What work did they complete, and what skills did they acquire over time? How did students handle your feedback? Then, simply ask them to grade themselves.
"Teaching without grades" Movement People to follow:
Check out Starr Sackstein's Video on Throwing Out Grades:
No comments:
Post a Comment