Maybe I’m a sucker. Maybe I place too much trust in kids. Maybe I am misguided in my thinking that commitment carries the day over compliance. But I gotta feeling, and…well, I trust my gut, and it tells me to trust them. So, I do. I trust my kids. Guess I am on “trust trip” of sorts.

My latest “trust trip” is in the land of assessment and feedback. As most of my followers know, I have worked diligently over the last three years to move grading to the edges and learning to the center, and to do so, I have had to step–sometimes, leap–away from conventional practices. Here is my latest leap.

Our work with the CCSS language standards has resulted in my doing a five-minute daily entry task, which I am calling “Grammar Growth: An exposure and experience model to teaching grammar. I first wrote about it last week in my “Trying to Know” post http://www.letschangeeducation.com/trying-to-know-project-180-day-4/. But that’s not the leap. Grammar entry tasks are nothing new. The leap, if you will, comes at the end.

Every two weeks the kids will take a Learning Check (this is what I call my assessments). This Thursday is their first and it will go something like this.

The kids will identify subjects, predicates, nouns, and adjectives. They will circle the simple subject, underline the simple predicate, write “N” above nouns, and write “ADJ” above the adjectives. No, this is not the leap. In truth, it’s kind of a baby step. Yes, it is “grammar in isolation.” Why? Kids are held to account on their achievement in this on high stakes standardized tests. And though it is not a game I condone, it is a game I will play for five minutes a day to help kids.

The kids will use their notebooks for a resource. They choose to do the daily entry task in their notebooks, knowing that they have the opportunity to build a resource. Choice is trust. I do not make the kids do the entry task. I do not check or collect their notebooks. I encourage them to do outside research and add to their notebooks. They make a choice. Choice is trust.

Once the kids are done with the Learning Check (LC), they will go to the back counter, grab a key, and assess their own work. They will make necessary corrections and complete a “Response to Feedback” form, which has three basic components set up by these questions.

• What learning targets did you experience?
• What did the feedback reveal?
• What did you do as a result of the feedback?

Here the “feedback” is the answer key. These particular LC’s are objective, so there is not much for me to add, so I enlist the kids to check their own work. Well, can’t they just write the correct answers in? Yes. They can choose to do that. And I will tell them as much. I will tell them on Thursday that they can choose to do just that, but I will also tell them that that choice will buy them little. There is no grade. There is a learning record, which, once all parts are complete, will be a 1/1 in Skyward. There is no grade. Only learning. They are called learning checks for a reason. They are opportunities to check learning. The kids have to own that. It is their learning.

So, if I am not scoring these, how will I know how the kids are doing? I’m going to have a sheet on the back counter where kids turn their LC’s in. The sheet will be divided into four columns: subjects, predicates, nouns, adjectives. I will ask the kids to put a tally mark in any column for which they missed an item on the LC. For example, if they did not correctly identify a simple subject, they will place a tally in that column and so on. They tally sheet, in principle, will give me a glimpse into how they are doing as a whole, showing me where we need to spend more or less time. This is a big picture view. Each kid will have a personal snapshot of their performance with their RTF.

This is the plan for now. These LC’s will get into more complicated areas of grammar soon enough, and there will be some items that I will have to assess, but I plan to have the kids take an active part all year long in the assessment–really, in the ownership–of their learning.

A sucker? Maybe. Too much trust? How much is too much? Okay, probably. Okay, yes. I trust kids too much. There, I said it. Does commitment really carry the day? Not sure. But as I think back on my many years of using the “compliance model,” I lived with no less doubt about learning. In truth, it was a constant companion, as I tried in various ways to “make” kids learn with grades. So, I am okay with the doubt of different. It feels more right than wrong. I never did like the power trip. I prefer the trust trip. I’ll keep my compass pointed there.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will experience…

…connecting through Smiles and Frowns.

…growing with grammar.

…viewing Freedom Writers.

…reflecting in our Journey Journals.

…hearing a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Tuesday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.