Grading - The Bane of My Existance

To all you young teachers out there, you will learn very quickly that grading isn't fun.  I love seeing what my students do and how they accomplish their purpose, but the entire institution of assigning a numerical score to that is tough.

What really is the difference between an A and an A-?  90 or 91?

And what is worse is students have determined that those numbers and letters are all that matters.  They are nothing more than a score.

As someone who never went to undergraduate school to become a teacher and did well throughout his years in education, the task of grading seemed, on the surface, to be easy.  The best would do well and the worst wouldn't.  But as the years go by and I get older, I am starting to see the arbitrariness of these scores, but how strongly they weigh on the students and their feelings of adequacy.

Before we left for vacation, most of my classes were working on an essay.  My freshmen were arguing whether or not O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a successful adaptation of The Odyssey (and surprisingly, many thought it wasn't!?!) and my AP students were reflecting on a satirical piece they wrote for the "Teen Onion" (for which I am editor-in-chief).  At the same time, in Digital Writing, we were discussing Crowdsource Grading for our Concept in 60 projects.  So, I decided to ask them what they should be graded on.  We discussed the requirements of the project, and the areas that should have been focused on.  My freshmen came up with the following:

• Thesis
• Effectiveness of argument
• Logic of argument
• Grammar
• Examples/Evidence
• Discussion of examples/evidence (connections)
• Conclusion 

I thought it was a pretty good list.  

When I suggested to them that we should narrow down this list to 4 or 5, they immediately opted grammar out.  And I was strangely okay with that.  I was more interested in them creating an effective argument, so I thought it was a nice choice.  They seemed a lot more comfortable with discussing the criteria for grading before.  However, I think I need to structure it a bit more.  I am a big fan of Kelly Gallagher, and he does something similar when grading papers, but he has some things in mind and works with the students to model what is an example of an A, B, C, etc.  That is something I think I need to consider when doing this again.  

For the AP classes, things got far more interesting.  They decided that they did not want the assignment to be graded.  Since the purpose of writing the satirical piece was to get them working with satirical techniques, they thought the reflection should explain that and then talk about what they will do moving forward.  Many of the students could not comprehend how that should be graded.  Again, I do not think I gave enough lead-time for students to think about it, so I am okay with them not being graded on this assignment.  One class, however, got a conversation going about the fact that if it doesn't "count," they won't put in a good effort.  I asked them what it means to "count?"  We never quite got an answer.

This idea of including students in coming up with grading criteria is important, and something, going forward, I need to work on.  I think this will also help with focusing my lessons on specific areas of improvement.  Hopefully, this will take the mystique out of grading for them.  

Do you have any thoughts on how grades should be assigned?  Feel free to comment below.

Teacher: "Needs Improvement"

I know this is not the most uplifting first post to make, but it fits my purpose.  My goal in creating and writing this blog is to have a no nonsense, straight from the horse's mouth, [insert another dead, cliched metaphor] perspective on the life of a full-time teacher.  And sometimes it's a lot tougher than any grad class or after school special will tell you.  Tonight is one of those nights.

In this snow-ridden month of February (we have had exactly 6.5 days of school out of a possible 12), I had my freshmen watch the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a final assessment to our unit on the Odyssey.  Now, you have to understand that we have been studying this epic poem since Thanksgiving, so I, much like Odysseus, just want to get on with it.  However, I find showing them this film is a great finale to the unit, demonstrating that this poem still has lingering inspirations and affect on our modern culture.  Unlike past years where I have simple used this as a discussion, I changed our final writing assignment to incorporate the film.  I gave the students a graphic organizer to compare some elements found in the film to the ones in the poem, and then the prompt was, I assumed, simple enough: How effective is the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? as a contemporized retelling of The Odyssey?  I then proceeded to give my students a day to discuss in their groups different approaches, and a few nights to right the first draft.  I assumed that everything was clear and were all on the same page.

But I forgot the old saying about assuming.  And now I am sitting here, a big ol' ass.

It's clear to me that my assignment was not calibrated right, that there was something lost in translation.  Perhaps too, the assignment just didn't resonate with them.  Even though I showed a more modern film, they just didn't connect.  It wasn't good enough.

And that is the feeling, as a teacher, that's hard to shake.  I wake up each morning with this constant want to do better and to give more of myself to my students.  I am constantly trying new things and planning, re-planning, and planning some more.  I read, regularly, different techniques, pedagogical (god, I hate that word) approaches to developing my craft.  But even then, on nights like tonight, it's just not good enough.

I've always been a perfectionist.  It has served me well throughout my life.  (Although, my therapy bill may say otherwise).  But I have learned over the years that his quality does not serve my students well.  I am not saying that I don't give my best or that I don't expend an obscene amount of energy for my kids, but perfection is an unrealistic, unattainable reality.  To stress over it is simply rocking in a chair when you trying to get to the store.

I've heard people say that as a teacher, we must be the "sage on the stage" and I am telling you all out there, it's crap.  The best thing you can be to your students is imperfect, needs improvement.  Because if they see you for that and not some unreachable person, it humanizes you.  And that means something to them.

So, we are heading back to the drawing board with this essay.  And just like that damn Greek who had to hit rock bottom before becoming a more human figure, I guess I'll do the same tomorrow.