Consistency, changes, artifacts

October 11, 2011

Overall

Busy busy busy!  I still love it.  I think everyone should do it.  And I’ve said as much at the PD meetings we have.  I cannot wait til next year when I can attempt to use this same system in physics.  It is so much easier when directly compared with the old way of doing things like I am in physics.  It is amazing how easily the students have adapted to the system and how much more they trust it.  I feel like they no longer think grades to be arbitrarily assigned but see the levels as a mark to be exceeded.  Even general chemistry is catching on and beginning to ask for more practice to learn the material. 

Consistency

I am very excited to say that three other teachers are going to attempt to pilot their own standards based grading systems next year.  That said, we are working together to make sure that our systems are as consistent as possible. . . which is proving to be easier said than done.  We are currently trying to decide what the non-negotiables are: homework policy, grading scale, retake policy, reparations for missing work, etc.  And it is proving quite the task.  We all teach different subjects-history, English, math and science- and that is making it difficult to streamline our approaches.  With such different material, it is difficult.  However, consistency is important since one of the biggest complains about the current system is the lack of consistency. 

Changes

I want to attempt this idea of “artifacts of learning” as opposed to recording everything.  Right now, I grade, record and put into SIS all homework that I assign and grade.  It is making me crazy.  With students turning in homeworks on different days, different times, some late, some on time, some in pieces, it is very difficult and time consuming to find that particular key, grade it, find the one box in SIS where it goes and put it in.  But, I like having lots and lots of data.  I am an analytical chemist by training and I like data and visible patterns.  So I am thinking that I will grade everything still, but I will not put it in the online system.  I think I will still record it in my paper grade book and then if I see a pattern of lacking in practice contact the parents but this recording every little detail is just not working.  I don’t have that much time.  Instead, I will implement this idea of “artifacts” that demonstrate a student’s mastery of a concept.  These will go in SIS to be visible online and are nonnegotiable.  They must exist, whether the student mastered the concepts the first time or the 15^th time.  This will be implemented in physics, so I won’t have to battle the tweeky SBG already in effect. 

·         Three artifacts (on average, some standards are bigger/smaller) will be given per standard

·         These artifacts will be due at spaced out times throughout the unit.

·         Only one artifact may be a homework assignment

·         The other artifacts may be teacher-student conference, staying after school, a question on a pop quiz, or any other assignment that takes place individually within the confines of the classroom

·         If artifacts are not turned in, the student will be assigned a 0 and parents will be contacted to inform them the student must stay after the next tutoring day to complete the artifact. 

·         If a retake is requested for a particular standard, an additional artifact is necessary. 

Hopefully, this will alleviate some of the difficulties in finding time to enter all these individual grades that span the entire year in the grade book.  This will also allow students, again, to be able to do the amount of practice they require to master the concept.  Each day, I have a few more students understand why I do the homework this way and see, often for the first time, the importance of homework and out of school practice.  I also hope that, when this is moved over to the chemistries, that this will deter students from rushing into the retake.  By requiring an additional artifact, I’m not just looking at the numbers but also looking at the quality of work as well. 

Issues

Benchmarks, midterms, final exams, whatever you want to call them. . . they are a problem.   Most schools require some kind of midterm exam but it falls in the middle of a standard it seems.  It made deciding what to do with said assessment difficult.  I have decided to keep it as a permanent summative grade that cannot be retaken.  This benchmark indicates retention as it tested standards 1 and standard 2 as well.  For general chemistry, it works out better and falls at the end of general’s shorter standard 2.  My biggest issue remains the time it takes to put all these helter-skelter assignments in the online grade book. 

Sept 30, 2011 Parent Response, student response

September 30, 2011

Parent Response

Parent teacher conferences concluded last night and I have to say I was astounded as the positive parental response to my system.  Overall, I had lower numbers of parents this year so my experience was by no means a major sell but of the parents that came, the response was overwhelmingly positive about my grading system.  When I began to explain it, the parents always seemed to understand fairly quickly and several commented that it was very user friendly and transparent.  As I would get to pieces like students having to raise their grade by learning more, I got responses such as “I completely agree” or “that’s great” or “that’s how it should be”.  When we discussed homework not being graded because it was part of the learning process, again I got comments such as “where it should be” and “great!”.  Parents of brighter students really liked the fact that their children weren’t expected to do 15 worksheets when they got the concept immediately and parents of students who struggled loved the idea that tests weren’t a “one and done” sort of deal but that the option did exist for students to improve themselves.  As I said, the few parents I had by no means demonstrated a majority opinion but I was so incredibly pleased by the amount of positive responses.  I was worried.  I knew the research and logic behind SBG is sound, but it is something different.  People, as a whole, do not respond well to change.  This seems to be an exception to the rule though.

Student Responses

A few more students every day make the link between their homework grades and their tests scores.  Many students still struggle with the idea of homework not being worth points but still being worth doing.  Many of them rush right into the retake without pausing to think about why they received the score they did or what they could do to improve it.  It is only September so I will still hold out hope that more will understand.  They get the basic idea but learning for learning’s sake is still beyond their reach.  Sometimes it is difficult to relate chemistry to teenage life experiences. 

How this has changed my classroom

Looking back at previous year’s material, I notice that this system is slowing me down.  For the time being, I do not see this as a bad thing.  Mastery has always been about depth instead of breadth of knowledge.  I still think we will get through all of the material necessary by the end of the year.  In fact, I think the students will remember what they have learned because they actually learned it, not just memorizing for a test.  This process has also helped me as a teacher better track my own focuses and assessments of concepts.  It becomes painfully evident when you put all your time into one concept  and pass briefly over another.  It has also made me more aware of the level of mastery within my classroom.  The mastery system allows everyone time for mastery but also allows me the freedom to move on.  We will have to see how many students improve these early scores later in the year.  I will have to remember to bring it up from time to time. 

I will say that I do feel like I am grading more.  A friend in Rockwood, who has also implemented some version of standards based grading, says their teachers are also complaining about the massive amounts of grading that seem to come with this system.  I feel like I am grading more, but it is taking the same amount of time.  Since I don't have to tally points, the whole process moves much faster.  I feel, though, that I may attempt to differentiate between samplings.  Not every assignment that is given needs a grade and perhaps some assignments need to be designated as just practice, nothing more.  They do not need to be turned in or graded.  Then, other assessments will be samplings, to determine student understanding at a particular point.  This would lessen the grading load somewhat.  I will try to do this more in the coming weeks.  Overall, I am still tickled pink over the whole thing.  I feel like the students are learning, they’re tracking their progress and tracking their improvements!