Growing up as a student I always was always very concerned with the grade I was getting on every assignment or test. This purpose of worrying about grades so much drove me to try and do every assignment or study for every test to the best of my ability. I was so worried about getting a bad grade and what my teacher, parents, fellow students would think of me that I would continue to stress myself out to get the best grade. Many times when I received a grade I did not get any feedback other than one comment on a test, such as "Good work" or "Nice!" for good grades and no comment at all if it was an average or poor grade. There were few times where a teacher asked me to discuss a good or bad grade. Especially due to the fact that receiving poor grades was not something that I got on a regular basis, teachers didn't seem it was worth it to talk to me individually about the grade or give me feedback because I felt they thought that was "out of my character" or I just didn't study. I felt growing up and currently still as a student now that I have been engrained to worry so much about the grade you get in the class, you don't fully immerse yourself into learning the content. I always thought, especially in college , that it would be so great that the content was the main purpose of the course and that the grade was perceived in a different light, such as a pass or fail element or a quality of engagement in the course. I was so frustrated that after I took a class I forgot the material after a short couple of months after receiving my final grade. After stating all of this I pretty much felt that grades were the most important aspect of school rather than what I was actually learning. The better the grades I got the more opportunities I felt I received, both socially and educationally.
In regards to a grading scale, I feel that it provides definite choices when it comes to taking ownership for a students own learning. There are two choices that I feel are obvious for students when it comes to a grading scale. Students can view grades as important and take their studies seriously or students can see the difficult and unobtainable. Grades teachers feel keep students on track and helps the educator take and keep control of students. There is also discussion that students need grades because of the fact that colleges demand them. Which I feel is very true because there is so much emphasis on high school students to get the best grades, perform exceptionally well on state/national tests, and have many extra-curricular activities. Potentially if colleges did not put so much emphasis on high grades this would ease elementary and secondary schooling to maybe not emphasize grades so much and truly focus on LEARNING!
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ReplyDeleteHi Lauren, I enjoyed reading your post first, then reading the assigned article. From reading them in that order, it really brought to light how much striving for the top grade can affect ones learning. I am still in 2 minds about how to appropriately use grades, if at all. As a student I also felt the same way as you and am even seeing the same thing repeat in my own children. For example, while our kids were elementary school we never discussed grades or report cards with them We didn't do this on purpose, but just talked about what they were doing in school, what projects they were working on, and in general how thing were going. I was in contact with the teacher and always got a positive verbal review and that my child was advanced. So we never thought about grades. When my oldest hit 8th grade and finally found a subject he really didn't like, I was forced to realize I had never attached a significance to an A or F and had no come back on why it was important. Once it was all explained to him, importance (rewards) were put out there for high grades and negative (cell phone taken away) consequences for low grades, ALL of his grades have gone down and he's somewhat turned out of school. Definitely NOT the answer I was looking for. My youngest still hasn't run into a road block yet and is still getting great grades without stressing or worrying about them. I am still trying to figure out how to make a positive outcome from it all.
ReplyDeleteSo this leads me to believe that the main point of our article, to get rid of grades all together might be the right solution. My concern, is not what about colleges or parents might think, but what happens when a student truly doesn't like a subject. How does a teacher still incorporate that aspect of learning into the whole structure in a student portfolio of achievement? Does the teacher just leave that subject out and have the portfolio demonstrate their other academic achievements? What do you think? This is where the other side comes into play that at least some type of grade needs to be shown that the subject was presented and taught, but the student was not interested in it or exceled. I would love to see 2 or 3 current schools where this is working to see how I can tweak it for not just myself as a parent, but as an upcoming teacher.