LanguageLover's Weblog

As you may have noticed, those of you who might be faithfully reading, I’ve been thinking about grades and grading a lot lately.  Basically, I’m trying to come at the idea of grading from outside the box and trying to come up with meanings for what and how we grade, as teachers.

My newest question is the 5 point grading scale:  A, B, C, D, and F.  Wouldn’t a 3 point scale make more sense?  Basically, I’m not sure that all of us teachers are really good enough at assessing students that we can make the fine distinctions between and A and a B.

I think it makes more sense that we have Good, Adequate, and Failing grading scale.  In terms of employment, that’s how my reviews have gone in the past.  It’s easier to determine skill in this way, so it’s probably more accurate.  Personally, as a teacher, I would like to think it would be easier to grade honestly this way.

However, it probably would lead to the same grade inflation that we see today because no parent would want their student labeled as “adequate” instead of good. Sigh.  Tough to win on this grading business.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

It’s probably just that I’m pretty busy right now, but I can’t seem to get motivated lately to write much here.  I still pop in and check my blogroll for some of my favorite bloggers, but I can’t seem to get much written.  I have thoughts during the day that I want to put down, but when I finally get a chance to sit down, I can’t write it.

And I don’t want to write complaining blogs.  I’m tired of negative energy.  I want to be a postive force in the world and in order to do that, I need to surround myself with positive people and things.  Not Yes men, but people who are looking for solutions, rather than problems.  It’s fun and energetic to build.  It’s tiring to tear things down.  It might seem easier, but it eats away at you.

I have ideas about this, too.  I should get them written down.  I just can’t seem to get motivated to do that.  I think I’m putting too much energy out during my day and I don’t have enough left at night.  In fact, I have been picturing myself during my school days quite literally pouring my energy out into my students in order to try and spark some interest from them.  It’s rewarding when they respond.  My energy is repleneshed.  It’s just that so many people are just taking from me these days.

Wears me out.

Makes me unmotivated.

I’m not trying to complain.  I’m just explaining why I’m not writing as much.  Though I should.  I shall try to do that.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

How do you fight it?

Thanks to the concepts of PLC, Professional Learning Communities, I’ve been working closely with my fellow English teachers to decide on our common curriculum and common tests and common everything.  A lot of great things have come out of it.  However, the main reason I’ve often avoided this sort of thing is that it’s hard to get along with groups of professionals for long periods of time.  Especially, if there is no clearly established hierarchy.

Recently, we all came to a decision about something we would all do in our classrooms.  We had created a simple five question, multiple choice test.  We wanted to give the test and compare the results, partly to see what the common knowledge base of our students is, but also to evaluate the validity of the questions.  We discovered that some of us had already taught the material, some were just about to, and others weren’t sure when they would cover it.  So, after some debate, we agreed that we would all give the test right away and then use it as a pretest for some, an immediate test for others, and a post test for the ones who had taught it some time ago.  We would then compare the scores.

To our faces, all of the teachers agreed.  As soon as we left, a couple went directly to our principal to beg and complain that they shouldn’t have to give a test over material they hadn’t covered yet.  Despite the fact that it was over a unit they had never taught before.  Never mind the fact that they had never given the test before and didn’t really want to give it anyway.  And, of course, the fact that the test would take literally minutes to give and correct shouldn’t come in to play.

For me, it comes down to agreeing to my face and then backpedaling as soon as we are out of our meeting.  Really makes me feel warm and fuzzy about teamwork.  I wonder why I used to just shut the door and teach in my room…

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

Busy week.  I had parent/teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday and now I’m at a conference.  So, I should have a new post this weekend, but I”m a bit too busy at the moment.  Good conference so far, though.

I started a student writing club several years ago.  At the time, several other teachers told me they would be happy to help, as long as I was at the helm, taking care of the responsibility of leadership.  I thought it was a good idea, so I did it.

The students thought it was a great club, but the help from other teachers dwindled to nothing.  It became a lot of work from me and added a lot of stress to my day.  Last year, we had a conflict from the administration that stopped the club from meeting for several months (They weren’t against it, they just didn’t realize they were causing a problem.)  During that time, I realized how much more relaxed I was.  So, at the end of the year, I announced that I was retiring from the club.  No other teachers stepped up to take over, so the club died.

I thought it was done and over. Occasionally, someone would stop and ask if the club was still going and I would shake my head sadly and say no.

This weekend, however, a group of club members emailed me that they had taken it upon themselves to try and start the club up again themselves.  Since they needed support from a teacher, or the administration wouldn’t let them do anything on school grounds, they approached me and asked if I would be willing to start it up again.  They would take up the bulk of the work, they said, but they wanted me to be part of it and needed me to make it happen.  Would I help them, please?

Sigh.  Once again, kids are pulling at my heartstrings, trying to make me do something that is good.  I know it will be more work than they think it is.  I know it will carve up more of my free time–little that there is.  I also don’t know how I can say no.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

I have an idea that I’m going to try and implement.  Each week, I’m going to write a specific goal for each class.  For example, one goal might be “Students will be able to identify the use of irony in fiction and explain its use.”  That week, I will focus on that skill as I teach that week.  At the end of the week, I would give a formative test to determine if their learning hit the target.  I could build on each week’s goals and add it to the next week, so that I was also continuing to test the previous goals.

Would this work?  Is it too hard?  Would I be able to make specific goals and proper tests to make it work?  I’m not sure.  I think I’m going to try it, though.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

More muses on grading.  I’m not sure I actually have a point.  I just wanted to explore some thoughts.

More and more I feel like homework is punitive in nature.  Supposedly, it serves to reinforce the teaching, but if most students are racing through it to finish it just before class ends, or begins, is it really helping?

Why do we use a grading system?  Again, it seems to reflect work ethic more than knowledge.  Those students who are willing to work hard can get the upper echelon, but those who are lazy or unmotivated can only score in the bottom portion of grades.  Shakespeare would get a D in English if he wasn’t willing to write something that wasn’t in iambic pentameter.  It doesn’t matter how well versed he is in English.

Could a pass/fail system actually work?  The problem would be convincing parents that just because little Johnny turned in all of his work, doesn’t mean he actually can pass the class.  He has to demonstrate learning and knowledge.  That would be tough.

How can we really measure learning and knowledge?  Is there a good way?  Does it work for everyone?

Is it good to differentiate instruction for every student if the world doesn’t do the same?  Are we coddling them instead of preparing them?  Or should we only be focused on the the learning and not thinking about the future?

Should the system of grading always be in flux?  What about colleges?  Not my problem?  I wish I knew the answer to any of these.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

I have a problem with teacher awards.  Many of them have to be filled out by the teacher being nominated.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the basic plan:

I think Mr. Smith deserves the Teacher of the Year award (TOY).  So, I get the application form and write some stuff on it.  Then, I have to give it to Mr. Smith, so that he can fill out more stuff and write a letter explaining why he’s so awesome. Then, we send it in.  A committee looks it over and picks a winner.  In our district, the winner is then notified at the end of the school year. That way, if Mr. Smith wins, he has all summer to work on his acceptance speech that he can give when he is presented the award in the fall in front of all the other teachers.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like the idea of awarding people for doing a good job.

I just can’t imagine tooting my own horn like that.  Maybe I’m not that good a teacher and that’s why no one has ever nominated me.  Maybe when I’m nominated (or if), I’ll be happy to write my own recommendation.  But right now, I feel like it’s silly to have teachers write their own recommendations for why they should win awards that someone else is nominating them for.

I thought of this today because I was going to nominate a teacher I know for an outsanding theatre educator award.  Unfortunately, this award follows the same guidelines and I know this teacher would simply decline, because he isn’t interested in awards.  He just wants to do his job.  Which is exactly why he should be nominated (that, and he’s awesome).

Something seems wrong with this system.  I wish someone would explain it to me.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

One of the things I liked about the film Dangerous Minds was the very end.  Feel free to look up the exact quote, but I remember it being something like “How did they convince you to stay?”  She replies, “They gave me chocolate and called me the light.”  To me, it might have been a little idealistic, but it really represents what I call a good day.

Today, a student that I had one year before he moved away came back to see me.  He was back in town and wanted to see “his favorite English teacher.”  We sat and talked about what he’d been up to and then he went on his way.  We had a nice visit.  I couldn’t help but have a big grin on my face after he left.

He was a success story for me.  He didn’t go to college.  He won’t write the great American novel.  Why do I think of him as a success story?

When I met him, I didn’t think he’d finish the year.  I thought he was headed for prison.  He was trouble.  Now, he graduated and is working a job and supporting himself.  Way higher than my expectations.  Makes me happy.  It doesn’t take much, really, but it’s enough.  Did I have a part in his success?  I don’t know, but the fact that he remembers me as a high point of his life, makes me think I helped.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.

Our school is filled with the usual collection of technophobes and technophiles, as you might guess by me writing a blog, I am one of the latter.  The way of things these days is to rely more and more on technology.  Every year, we get something new from the technology department.  It’s been SmartBoards, and Projectors, and Document Cameras, and internal email systems, etc…  Every time one of these new things comes around, there are some folks who complain that it will be terrible and some who hail it as the greatest thing since sliced bread.

This year, our new thing is that we switched to a program that handles all of our grades and attendance online.  The first day it worked flawlessly.  Everyone felt pretty good about it.  Just as the pessimists predicted, though, the whole system failed on the second day. For the first three hours of school, we could not access the online system.  If a teacher had not printed a class roster the previous day, he or she would have no idea who was supposed to be in the classroom.  On top of that, apparently, the counselors did not have paper copies of the students’ schedules, so a student who had forgotten his schedule came to the office to get a new copy and…they couldn’t help him.  Funny.  And sad and scary.

Of course, all of the people who had claimed that the new system wouldn’t work and would be terrible walked around all day with big grins and knowing smiles.  They had been proven right.

It makes me sad to see these people.  Most of the time, they walk around complaining about how bad things are going to be.  The only time they seem to be happy is when things go wrong and we have problems.  Then, they were proven right, so they are thrilled.  They probably would laugh on an airplane as it plunged into the sea, saying “I told you so.”

On the other hand, whoever made the system fail should feel bad.  Of all times for it to fail, the first week is a pretty bad time.  This is the time to step up and prove how great your new system is.  I wonder if the person has any idea how bad he or she hurt morale.

I am the language lover and these are my thoughts.