February 28th, 2012.
Ryan has found himself in an unfortunate situation. He has struggled all semester with his Language Arts mark, and he has finally made some progress. His mark has risen from the 30-40% range to the 50-60% range. However, his teacher is forced to take all the marks equally into account, putting his final grade at 45%. This young man improved his mark, and was not rewarded for it. I think that final grades should be more heavily weighted than earlier ones. It is foolish to expect that every student to cross the threshold of a classroom has a solid understanding of the course material. Students will struggle, but great progress can be made. For the students who struggle, their early marks will likely be poor. It has taken more practice and more work for them to understand concepts, and their self-perception as learners is very fragile. Their earlier marks should be weighted far less than their final work. For students in situations like this, their progress should be weighted very heavily.
In grade 12, I was required to take Gym. I wasn't thrilled about this, since I had never been an athlete or enjoyed gym. By the end of the semester, I had worked myself up to 7 pushups, which was amazing progress! I had made progress in almost every area of my mark, and as far as I can remember, that was weighted heavily in my final grade. I hope to be able to mark my struggling future pupils in this way.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Vignette 5: Getting What They Deserve?
February 15th, 2012.
Well, our friend Joan has found herself in an uncomfortable situation for sure. She is the newest staff member and they are in the midst of a department meeting. Two seasoned teachers are brainstorming ideas to get children to their classes and have them hand in their homework on time. They are coming up with atrocious ideas. One teacher suggested that the students write a quiz at the beginning of each class, thinking that would get them there on time. If they miss the quiz, the receive a zero. The other rules they had in place were needlessly vicious. I am certain that the tactics they are thinking of implementing would decrease student happiness. The brave young Joan stated that non-academic factors should not be included in the children's marks. The other two teachers are trying to think of ways to correct and grade the behavior of students, which Joan argues decreases the validity of their grading system. In their minds, a grade doesn't just tell a person about a students achievement levels, but also about how this student behaved in class. It's a bad idea because there is no objective way to mark a child on their behavior. The line becomes too blurred for a teacher, and Joan thinks that it shouldn't happen at all.
I agree with Joan whole-heartedly. There are a few similarities between this vignette and vignette 4. The difference being that these two teachers want to implement these methods of grading student behavior for all of their students. Personally, I think this would add far too much to their workload, and as Joan mentioned, strip the marks of meaning.
I would also like to comment that I pity every one of the children that are learning under Mary and Helene, the two who would like to heavily consider student behavior. It sounds like they are running a prison rather than a school. In fact, it sounds like there may be more freedom in a prison than in their classrooms. They want to implement daily quizzes, they have unreasonably harsh late work policies, and they said that, "[students] don't deserve a high grade if they don't work for it all year long." These women are forgetting that their students are children! They can't be worked like dogs, they need breaks! They need to be treated fairly.
Through out this program, I have been constantly reminded of Rick LaVoie's FAT City movies. I learned so much from them, and I think that teachers everywhere could learn from Rick. He mentioned that children should be treated no differently than adults. I have a feeling that if the policies that Helene and Mary are proposing were inflicted upon them, they would be very unhappy.
Well, our friend Joan has found herself in an uncomfortable situation for sure. She is the newest staff member and they are in the midst of a department meeting. Two seasoned teachers are brainstorming ideas to get children to their classes and have them hand in their homework on time. They are coming up with atrocious ideas. One teacher suggested that the students write a quiz at the beginning of each class, thinking that would get them there on time. If they miss the quiz, the receive a zero. The other rules they had in place were needlessly vicious. I am certain that the tactics they are thinking of implementing would decrease student happiness. The brave young Joan stated that non-academic factors should not be included in the children's marks. The other two teachers are trying to think of ways to correct and grade the behavior of students, which Joan argues decreases the validity of their grading system. In their minds, a grade doesn't just tell a person about a students achievement levels, but also about how this student behaved in class. It's a bad idea because there is no objective way to mark a child on their behavior. The line becomes too blurred for a teacher, and Joan thinks that it shouldn't happen at all.
I agree with Joan whole-heartedly. There are a few similarities between this vignette and vignette 4. The difference being that these two teachers want to implement these methods of grading student behavior for all of their students. Personally, I think this would add far too much to their workload, and as Joan mentioned, strip the marks of meaning.
I would also like to comment that I pity every one of the children that are learning under Mary and Helene, the two who would like to heavily consider student behavior. It sounds like they are running a prison rather than a school. In fact, it sounds like there may be more freedom in a prison than in their classrooms. They want to implement daily quizzes, they have unreasonably harsh late work policies, and they said that, "[students] don't deserve a high grade if they don't work for it all year long." These women are forgetting that their students are children! They can't be worked like dogs, they need breaks! They need to be treated fairly.
Through out this program, I have been constantly reminded of Rick LaVoie's FAT City movies. I learned so much from them, and I think that teachers everywhere could learn from Rick. He mentioned that children should be treated no differently than adults. I have a feeling that if the policies that Helene and Mary are proposing were inflicted upon them, they would be very unhappy.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Vignette 8: Decisions, Decisions.
February 8th, 2012.
This situation is about a teacher who is marking his students at the end of the year. He is trying to decide what student work should be taken into account when calculating grades. This is a tough situation, because it could be different depending on the age of the students and the subject being taught.
I think that the students homework should be taken into account, but only on a small scale. If a student isn't doing their homework regularly, their mark will be reflective of that. If they don't complete it, they are in a way lowering their grade on tests. To be dinged twice for not completing your homework seems unfair to me.
I think that the process of students work should be taken into account, but again on only a small scale. These processes, for example writing drafts, are a type of formative assessment. They are mostly for the student to be guided towards their final goal. They are important, but should not be weighted heavily.
I don't think that self assessment should be taken into consideration at all when determining a final grade. They are more for the students to reflect on their own work, and to point out aspects of their work they were particularly proud of.
This situation is about a teacher who is marking his students at the end of the year. He is trying to decide what student work should be taken into account when calculating grades. This is a tough situation, because it could be different depending on the age of the students and the subject being taught.
I think that the students homework should be taken into account, but only on a small scale. If a student isn't doing their homework regularly, their mark will be reflective of that. If they don't complete it, they are in a way lowering their grade on tests. To be dinged twice for not completing your homework seems unfair to me.
I think that the process of students work should be taken into account, but again on only a small scale. These processes, for example writing drafts, are a type of formative assessment. They are mostly for the student to be guided towards their final goal. They are important, but should not be weighted heavily.
I don't think that self assessment should be taken into consideration at all when determining a final grade. They are more for the students to reflect on their own work, and to point out aspects of their work they were particularly proud of.
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