“Please submit this as soon as you can.”

Reported the first numerical indicators in the learning record yesterday.

Translation. I put the first scores in the grade book yesterday.

I am trying to make the latter a long-lost language in my classroom, words that will eventually need translation, but for now it is still the language that my students and parents speak. Scores. Grades.

Seems it might not be worth the effort. I only have them for a year. Every other class speaks fluent grading. And the system seems steadfast on sticking with “Grade Speak,” so what’s the point?

Better. Always. Only. Ever. Better.

But is it better? I don’t know. Better’s a way not an end. And on my current path, I am trying to find a better way to see and communicate learning in my room.

0 = Missing. This is true. And I even say as much. But yesterday, as I plugged this particular numerical indicator into the record, I felt compelled to comment, “Please submit this as soon as you can.”

Of course, when kids and parents see it, they likely won’t see beyond the 0 and the corresponding percentage (0’s have long been triggers), but I want to believe that adding the comment, which is an invitation, might begin to change the frame a bit if I say it enough.

It’s missing. It’s not cause for undue alarm. It won’t stay a zero. It’s just communication. And I want that message to be translated as, “Please submit this as soon as you can.” Less formally, and to my kids, I will simply ask them to put some learning in their learning tanks.

Semantics? Silly words? Maybe. But I believe better has to be different, which means it has to sound different, too. Learning is too often lost in language. Just ask a learner.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.