The Big Break In

I heard something interesting the other day shared by someone in a fairly high position in the district. Basically, this person stated that until a teacher (or anyone in a new job) has experienced something that really shakes them to the core, they haven't been "broken in". Lets look at a hypothetical situation. Suppose a student makes personal attacks on other kids as well as adults while using a popular teen website. The person in the position of authority takes what he/she believes are the correct steps to address the situation. In no time at all, the situation has drawn the attention of the media and a civil rights group.

Has anything happened to you this year that has really made you question your teaching or decisions you have made? Possibly difficult conversations with parents? Students that fail to take responsibility for their own behaviors? How have you dealt with those situations? What did you learn from them? Were you able to get resolution? This can be from a past teaching experience or job.

Please list the problem itself in very general terms (as this is a public forum). However, share in more detail how it affected you as a teacher

If you want to share something confidential, please use the journal format and email to Ray and I.

Student's thoughts on grades

After last week's meeting, I decided to ask my students their thoughts on grading and motivation for learning. After all, we are doing all of this for them, so why not get their opinions.
The comments are starting to roll in. Check it out here.

Non-graded assessments

While reading the article for last week and listening to Tony's presentation, I was once again struck by the conundrum of how to adapt my grading to better facilitate student learning. Indeed, the paradox of learning and grading has always been a point of concern in my own classes. Because of this, I was grateful for the insights offered both by Tony and by the article. What I want to address, though, is the educational value that I have found in the use of non-graded assessments.

I suspect that many of you, like me, use non-graded assessments in your classrooms to try to assess learning in creative ways while sidestepping some of the problems that come with grades. I like non-graded assessments, because when I read them, I don't have to worry about critiquing individual students. I can spend more time assessing my own teaching through student feedback. One technique that I use in my classroom is the "one-minute paper." This assessment technique is more frequently used by colleges and universities and is succinctly articulated by Tom Angelo and Patricia Cross and is explained more indepth by Steven Draper of the Universtiy of Glasgow. Basically, I ask students to take out a 3x5 index card and to spend one minute writing as much as they can reflecting on a prompt question that I give. I might ask students what they thought was the point of class that day to see if I am doing a good job articulating my learning objectives. I might ask what lingering questions students have or what they thought were the most important two (or three or four) things they learned that period. I love the instant feedback that they give me. I usually can read about 3-4 minute papers per minute.

Has anyone else used this technique or a similar technique? Did you find the two links that I provided helpful? What other forms of non-graded assessment do you use? What are some of the strengths and/or drawbacks of this form of assessment? I am excited to get your insight.

Reflections on Tony's presentation

As always, I love the the conversation Tony's presentation generates. My only regret is that we began with the "O Alternatives" article we chose to start our meeting with. Although it prompted great discussion to begin with , it may have clouded Tony's message:" What are grades intended to communicate and what should they measure?". We also appeared to to get stuck on how could we make his grading system work within Infinite Campus.
Let's go back to his premise that grades should be a reflection of what, and how well, students are learning. All he is suggesting is that for the sake of communication we make a distinction between the knowledge and skills we want all students to know and learn, and those non-academic things we choose to look at as well. We should simply put those two concepts under different headings and give them a weighted value based on our best judgment. When you have a conversaton with a parent or student, you are able to change the focus to "this part is about what you have or have not learned, and this is about how well you have or have not met your non-academic responsibility. It is about changing the conversation away from "what do I have to do to get an 'A'?" to "how well have I learned something." This also leads us to explore what essential learnings all students should leave AHS with and how do we assess it? It is the journey we are about to embark on at AHS,if we haven't already begun it in some departments. These are excitng and difficult challenges for all of you/us.
I'd like to leave you with this thought:
"When we no longer know what to do, we come to our real work and when we know which way to go we have begun our real Journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings."
Wendell Berry
Thanks for all the hard thinking you've begun to do.

Ray