I am not for grades and I am not against grades.
A truly effective teacher creates an environment where grades are not the focus and students eventually realize this even though they still receive district required grades and report cards.
In the context of grading and assessment, I ask: Who or what is the main influence on learning in your class: you or grades?
If you drive on the German Autobahn, you will see many varieties of cars going various speeds.
If you walk into different classrooms at a typical secondary school, you will see many types of grading and assessment philosophies in action.
Back on the Autobahn, Audis and BMWs blur pass you, followed immediately with Mercedes and Porches.
Back in the classrooms, some teachers laboriously grade minutiae and others passionately abandon grading.
The cars on the Autobahn get to their destinations.
Our students get to their destinations, too.
Really, they do.
You did, right?
We got to where we are despite the positives or negatives of different grading philosophies and practices our teachers employed.
Students are more adaptable, resilient, and creative than any negative influence a grading or assessment practice can throw at them.
There will be students that do work in class because grades are the only thing that motivates them. Even when grades have been abandoned, there will be students who do not succeed academically due to a variety of external factors. Do your best to show them the reality of grades and learning.
However, please remember, these students may have a teacher next year, or in five years, that will open their minds about grades and allow them to arrive at their destination without concern for a mark on a piece of paper.
Please take a minute to read May Swenson’s amazing poem “Southbound on the Freeway”. My students and I work with this poem and have come up with many different meanings. But, we always come to this central question: Who is in control? You or things in your life like cars, friends, technology?
May Swenson – Southbound On The Freeway
A tourist came in from Orbitville,
parked in the air, and said:
The creatures of this star
are made of metal and glass.
Through the transparent parts
you can see their guts.
Their feet are round and roll
on diagrams–or long
measuring tapes–dark
with white lines.
They have four eyes.
The two in the back are red.
Sometimes you can see a 5-eyed
one, with a red eye turning
on the top of his head.
He must be special-
the others respect him,
and go slow,
when he passes, winding
among them from behind.
They all hiss as they glide,
like inches, down the marked
tapes. Those soft shapes,
shadowy inside
the hard bodies–are they
their guts or their brains?
Again, in the context of grading and assessment, I ask: Who or what is the main influence on learning in your class: you or grades?
You can read more of my writing at Rush the Iceberg or follow me on Twitter @rushtheiceberg.
