Last Day of Meetings

What I learned today during our final day of in-service trainings:

- Our attendance policy is entirely punitive. No incentives encourage or reinforce positive behaviors. Last year the policy did not change student behaviors, so the detention times are now doubled. I think the person in charge does not understand that the student behavior is a symptom of the disease: the students’ attitude towards school. We need to cure the disease or else the symptoms will continue.

- We used an entirely ridiculous decision-making model and discussion process, but somehow came out with a result the majority supported. The admin team gave us two hours to create a new (though previously) state-mandated culminating project. Instead of starting with the end-goal in mind and working backwards (you know, like teaching), we threw random ideas (time to use, resources, etc.) onto paper and then voted on it. The decision: give the project to social studies, who wanted it, to embed into their senior classes. We still don’t know what the product will be. We just gave the work to someone else.

- Lunch was pretty good: wraps.

- My department rocks my socks! We worked together for an hour and completed every item on our agenda with time to spare. I am so fortunate to work with 19 other language arts teachers who can discuss issues and not individuals, debate dilemmas and not personalities, and create solutions and not add more difficulties. Our new journalism teacher said to me, “we have a great department leader. This department is amazing. You all just love your jobs.” How cool is that?!

- Our cheerleaders truly want to unify the school and change the climate. They created over 120 signs, one for every teacher and visible staff member in the building, which welcome back each person by name. I know I’m biased because my wife is the cheer coach, but I actually believe these girls are serious about their mission and can make visible and lasting changes. This is not last year’s squad.

As I said the other day, “I can’t wait for classes to begin!” Can you tell I’m excited?

It’s Me

I took a personality test!

The Mind Can Absorb…

The mind can absorb what the rear can endure.

That’s the lesson I learned today in the meetings we had today. We sat. And sat. And sat. They lectured.

Now, I must be fair. We had an excellent guest speaker who discussed the hope teachers foster in their students. He was articulate, humorous, well-prepared, practiced, and relevant. He was the highlight of the day.

Then the administrative team emphasized the importance of relationships. I absolutely agree that the relationships built between students, staff, and administrators create much of our successes. They spoke very well in this regard because I wholeheartedly believe they are correct.

However, it was also obvious that the admins have no idea how to teach the teachers how to create better bonds with students. It’s not that they don’t want to do so. They just aren’t successful at creating relationships themselves. This inability of theirs translates to an inability to model or instruct the teaching staff to build these relationships.

I really wish the admins would model effective teaching techniques by differentiating their lessons to the staff and would use techniques other than lecture. They are our leaders in education and, in my opinion, should be the models of excellence in teaching.

We did play a “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” game using a special PowerPoint template which could be a great approach in my classes. I’m going to request a copy of the template.

Quote of the week: “I don’t know the question, but here is the answer.”

Grading Thoughts

(continued from yesterday)

I really started to question what grading means and how grading should be conducted in my classroom. Here is where I am now:

1. Not everything turned in must be graded. Sometimes I just check to see where the trouble spots are by taking quick notes on a pad after reading through student work. Student work is not done for points, but for learning. This is something I pound into the kids’ heads from day one.

2. Standards-based rubrics are used with every writing assignment. Each rubric I use is based on the Six Traits of Writing, and the categories are consistent with every writing I assign. The students should be familiar with the rubric before beginning an assignment and should know their grades when they turn in the assignment. All they have to do is to check the rubric to know their score before I even see it.

3. I use categories in every class I teach. For example in one class, I have 20% of the overall grade as tests and quizzes, 20% for literary analyses, 20% for assorted classwork and homework, 15% for vocabulary, 10% for mastery tests, and 15% for the final. This means no one assignment or skill set in a class dooms a student. However, students must be well-rounded to receive the top scores.

4. Students must, orally or in writing, explain why they receive the grades they get. This way they have to understand what they did, how they can improve, and how they got to the grade they received (metacognition–don’t you love Marzano?).

5. Students can and will redo assignments in which they receive low scores. Just because it takes one student longer than another does not mean his/her grade should suffer.

6. Writings may be graded for very specific items (say, only organizational structure or just content or simply voice, etc.) without grading the rest. This way a focus is created instead of grading what has not been taught in my classroom.

7. Students will grade as much as possible–yes, their own writing as well. I hand out colored pencils, and we make corrections and suggestions as we go. I grade (sometimes check off) these based on how well they participate and go through the processes.

8. The processes are as important as the final product. Since these are fledgling learners just beginning the complexities of writing, they must first learn processes before being held completely accountable for final products. Eventually the final product is the vast majority of a score, but only after I have fully prepared them.

9. I write down at least one positive comment for every critical suggestion. Praise must be given. No product is unworthy of any affirmation.

10. Accommodations are no problem.

11. Eventually, students must be able to show a skill independently. Without independence, the skill is not learned (ingrained?).

12. Not completing an assignment is a zero until completed. However, students must complete the assignment within a week of the due date to receive credit. There are some exceptions to this, but I determine these on a student by student basis. I don’t like the zero grades, but I don’t have an adequate solution as of yet. I may give partial credit if a student can explain the desired learning, proving he/she knows the skill or information–haven’t decided this one yet.

I have considered an academic citizenship or work ethic grade instead of zero scores for missing work, but I have not figured out what I would want this to look like.

This is how I go about things in my classes. There are more pieces of grading minutiae, but these are the basics.

How badly am I doing?

DrPezz’s Grading 101

I posted on a blog by Tense Teacher about some of my ideas on grading. When I first started teaching I put 20-30 minutes into each paper I read. I had positive comments, suggestions for stronger arguments, possible examples to consider using, grammatical and syntactical errors noted, sentences restructured, and word usage problems labeled. I did a great job!

My host teacher looked at me and said, “Who are those comments for?”

This stunned me. “They’re for the kids, of course” was my reply.

“No, they’re not.”

I didn’t get it. I furrowed my brow and must’ve looked lost because he continued with “you wrote those comments as if you were rewriting their papers. If they do what you just told them, the papers will be yours and not theirs.”

I thought about that for quite a while, not really knowing what to do differently. The education gurus in college don’t tell you how to do these things. Maybe a post for another day is what the education departments at universities don’t teach, but today grading is my focus.

So…the first question I focused on was: what purpose is served by how I grade student work?

I can’t say I formed a perfect answer, but this did lead me to decide how I wish to grade my students, why I grade the work, and what should be graded.

To be continued…