Choices. Choices not only promote independence, but they also require responsibility, taking ownership of one’s self-selected actions. And while life, for young and old, is full of choices, this week for students and teachers, choice gets pushed to the forefront, taking center stage. It’s grading time, which means a variety of dramatic situations will play out this week as semester one comes to a close, one of two times a year, that everyone takes a greater interest in the game. The game of grades.
For students, choice will mostly involve their willingness to muster the strength to make a final push to get ready for finals and–if possible–get make-up/late work turned in to boost their final grades. The latter generally plays out the most dramatically, for anxiety-filled students must approach stress-filled teachers asking what they can do to improve their grades. And for many kids, this presents a not-so-easy choice, for not all teachers welcome this final scene of the play, some being unwilling to even have the conversation, much less giving kids a chance, a choice. The traditional narrative, here, generally goes, “Kids have had a chance all semester long to make choices, and it’s too late now. They should have made better choices all along.” Of course, this notion is not bereft of wisdom; kids have made choices and there are consequences. But teachers make choices, too. And sometimes, often times, the consequences of our choices don’t always benefit kids.
You see, no one tells teachers what their grading policies are. There is no uniform, vetted standard that we follow to ensure fairness and equity for all students. Teachers alone decide. They have a choice; they have independence. And though one might hope that these independent choices by teachers would always have kids’ best interests in mind, it is not always so. Kids know this. Parents know this. Many parents learn this in their interactions with teachers, especially at conferences where they move from one autonomous ruler to another, discovering six different sets of rules in six different communities, six different–often starkly different–worlds, where what is and isn’t possible truly seems galaxies apart. I wonder how parents process this, what conclusions they come to. I have to guess that the whole thing seems a little off to them, and I wonder if they really understand that teachers alone make their decisions about their grading policies, that teachers have choices. And while I cannot speak to the all the choices my colleagues make, for they are their choices, I can speak to my choices.
In room 219, I choose to create a realm of possibility, a world where all things are possible, a place where kids truly have choices that are limited only by their desire to progress and improve, not limited by some arbitrarily devised grading policies that generally consider my, instead of my students’, best interests. This week–as with every week–I will choose to let my kids do, redo, re-submit, retake, and correct anything they choose. I want them to make choices and own the consequences of those choices; thus, I create a world where choice exists. This week my kids need my flexibility. It’s how I choose to conduct business. My choice.
Happy Monday, all. If you missed the Weekly Wonder yesterday regarding the fairness of our grading system, here is the link http://www.letschangeeducation.com/?p=288
I agree with the no zero practice. What I have experienced among students and parents is that it only add disappointment and frustration. Too, in most cases students who do not complete, submit or perform well on an assignment is not always an indication that the student cannot perform, and brief conferencing with the parent and or student often yield positive results. So, what about students who have not mastered: help build the student’s confidence has mostly always worked. If not mastery, a higher grade for effort almost always encourages students to push forward.
Hi, Helen. Thank you for connecting and chiming in with your perspective on the impact of zeros.
Most, if not all, of us don’t like to be told what to do, and I’m sure many teachers would feel this way if they were told what their grading policies were going to be. However, with something as serious as a teacher’s grading policies, I find it shocking that no one, teacher or administrator, has asked me how I grade my kids and why I grade the way I do. I admit that my grading policies are vastly different from what they were when I first started because, like many, I graded how I was graded. It wasn’t until a few years ago, after several of my daily drop in visits in room 219, that I started to change the way I grade and assess my students.
I also allow my students to do, redo, retake, and re-submit anything until the last day of the semester. Aside from the end of the term, I take away the stress of deadlines and provide my students with the choice and freedom to demonstrate to me what they can do and what they know. “Wouldn’t this create a flood of make up work to correct at the end of the semester?” No, it doesn’t. In fact the make up work that I correct typically trickles in over the course of the semester. When the students has time and is able to demonstrate their knowledge, they do it and turn it in.
Life happens. Unpredictable and uncontrollable things happen. This is true for everyone, not just our students, and despite my passion for what I teach my class may not be the most important things in the life of a student. That being said, I still want my students to enjoy being in my class and enjoy the things I do with them. I don’t want to diminish this with the stress and worry of a strict make up policy.
I wholeheartedly agree with you on this Jenna!!!! I have the same standard in my classroom and it equates to less stress and more relationship building with my students, in general.
I feel that this mornings message holds a valuable read for all, teachers students and parents. Choices are a valuable asset in our lives. Whether good or bad we need to be able to make them. I think with practice and encouragement this can be accomplished, as with anything its a learning process. We need to be taught that we are going to be held accountable for decisions we make starting at an impressionable age, such a huge part of life. Our choices can have a huge impact on our lives but others also.
I did not know that as teachers, you have choices you can make in your classrooms, I guess I still thought that things were still “standardized.”Once again the choices you make ,whether trail or error will impact lives. I think you are going in a good direction.