Dec 16 Record keeping, standards and New Ideas!!

December 16, 2011

RecordKeeping

I have been displeased with my folder method of tracking grades for some time but was having difficulty creating an alternative.  I had originally decided to create a divided version of the open grid they have now.  Formative homeworks and practices are recorded in one column, artifacts (aka pop quizzes or assessment-like scenarios) in another and summatives (aka big tests) would be in a third.  After DeSoto visited, I created a second version, modeled on theirs.  This one has the standard written at the top instead of the abbreviation present on the divided version.  It also features a graph where students plot their scores on the grid for a more visual representation of a student’s trend of learning.  Only artifacts and summatives would be recorded on this grid.  I like this later version because of the more visual version of the trend of learning, the ease of seeing the standard above the grades and the use of only artifacts and summatives.  I feel like having the students record all of their formative assignments is data overload.  Now, I love data as much as the next analytical chemist but this is just too much for the kiddos, to record EVERYTHING they do.  The artifacts are a good representation of how a student would do on a test, where a formative assignment shows what they know with their notes and friends in a comfortable situation.  But what I want doesn’t always coincide with what the students think or will do. So I pitched it to my students, both my honors chemmies and the students who stayed after school with me yesterday.  Most of them liked the graphing one.  They liked the idea of it being more visual and they also liked the idea of only recording artifacts and summatives.  I also told them about the power law that Pinnacle uses that I was trying to recreate, which I will discuss in the next section, and they really liked that as well.  I have not decided yet if I will try to implement all these improvements in chemistry.  Overall they are a really awesome group that is really flexible and tolerant to all my changes and crazy ideas but I hate to just throw everything we’ve done this semester out the window. . . even though it is not serving our purposes. . . and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing only to expect different results. . . . So I guess I should introduce some of these changes J

Grades

So. . . since I made this new tracking sheet with the graph, I got to thinking about the power law again.  DeSoto talked about it and I felt like a total n00b because I had no idea what it was.  The way they described it was looking at the trend of assessment scores instead of averaging things together.  This concept works so much better and provides an even truer reflection of student achievement than the traditional averaging.  It has long been a complaint of grading that student scores are always lower at the beginning because the student has not had time to mastery the material.  The brain has not had time to integrate the new information.  Thus the student has a poor score, let’s say a 2, on an early assessment.  Later on the student masters the material and really steps it up to achieve a 4 on a much later assessment.  By traditional grading, those two scores are averaged, resulting in a 3.  Even though the student mastered the material, she is still haunted by that first attempt.  I had attempted to rectify that through reassessment opportunities but the power law allows for an even greater efficacy in correcting that error.  Prior to now, I had no idea how to do the “power law” in excel but I think I’ve figured it out.  There is a “trend” function on excel that, according to my reading, does a rough approximation of this power law.  I didn’t think it would be this hard to find a mathematical explanation of the bloody thing.  This means that I can in fact count artifacts as part of the term grade, without averaging them together and reestablishing the old paradigm of punishing first attempts.  Supposedly, this power law weights later assessments heavier than earlier ones, meaning that the earlier pop quizzes will have less impact than the bigger summative tests. 

My difficulties arise from the fact that the way I have my standards set up currently, there is a 2.a, a 2.b, a 2.c, and so on.  I only have 11 “standards” but each one has 2-8 pieces.  I will have to find a different way to word and organize my standards so I don’t have 15 trends to follow for each student.    And, since we are still using a points, I will still have to find a way to combine all standards into one grade. . All this means that I have to do better about having multiple artifacts and multiple assessments for every standard.  This is most certainly a process.   

Standards

At lunch, we were talking about different ways to organize standards and track them.  Right now, I have my standards set up to where I have the larger titles (atoms, compounds) as the “power standards” and then the nit-picky pieces (history, configs, wave equations) as the little a, b, c below that larger one.  I’ve been tracking each little piece separately so far because they are such different concepts with different difficulty levels.  If I’m going to do this “power law” trending to come up with the grade for a standard, I would have to look for the trends of these little pieces and then somehow put them all together to get the grade for that standard.  I could average them. . . but the evils of averaging are something I am trying to avoid. . . so I would almost have to look for a trend among the pieces.  That wouldn’t be any better than the averaging because the pieces are all so different.  I think I’m going to have to start looking at assessments as a whole, without separating them into these smaller pieces.  The smaller sections could be present in the verbal standard but as for grading and recording, it would all be recorded as simply “standard 2”. 

October 18, 2011 Student responses and midterm troubles

October 18, 2011

Classroom changes

I feel like I am barreling through the material.  There isn’t enough time for reflection, improvement and mastery.  I’m currently grading midterms and they are terrible.   It’s incredibly disheartening.  The students aren’t retaining anything. . . I need a better mousetrap.  I’m beginning to think I need to make more changes to the way I teach/the way I structure my day.  Fridays (or whatever the last day I see the students for the week) needs to be some kind of reflection day.  Perhaps, set aside time to reflect on what they’ve learned, have some kind of proof problem to prove they’ve learned it. . . I would like to go back to a system similar to the one I experimented with my first year of teaching.  In that unit, students were given a folder containing all the information for a particular unit.  I gave one, maybe two lectures and then the practice was the responsibility of the student.  There were three quizzes that had to be taken by particular drop dead dates and then a test that was taken.  If I were to do something like that, each concept would have 3 or 4 “proof problems”.  Perhaps they could be kept in a basket or folder on the front table.  Once students believe they are ready for the quiz, they have to complete the “proof problem” and turn it in.  Then they make take the quiz.  The due dates gives students the ability to move more at their own pace but I do not know if general chemistry is mature enough to budget their time appropriately or responsible enough to do the practice they need.  I just feel like one third the class gets the idea and is ready to move on while another third just needs practice and a last bit has no idea.  Why do they seem to make such great progress and then bomb the test? 

I think my next step will be to offer retakes for the benchmark.  Originally, I had said the benchmark grade was permanent but the grades are so awful I don’t feel I have a choice.  Students will be returned their benchmarks and a “retake ticket” form.  It will have three sections.  First, students will have to explain why they achieved the score they did.  If it matches their practice scores or not is one way, or they could explain why they did or did not study or on what concepts they were still unclear.  Secondly, there will be the test itself containing space for the student to explain the correct answer (not why they got it wrong but why the correct answer is the correct one.  Math counts as explanation).  Thirdly will be a space for students to explain how they will better prepare for the retake.  Once this is completed and discussed with me, I will allow them to retake the test.  I like this idea better than the homework proof because it forces them to review and study by making them go back over the test. 

Student Response

Last entry I mentioned how I was going to introduce the idea of artifacts into my physics class since they were not using the AFL system and I could see if it was easier or effective at all.  I immediately noticed the difference in the mindset of students between physics and my AFL chemistries.  My chemistry students, by and large, have stopped asking about points and instead are focusing on learning the material and improvement.  Many of them are redoing assignments simply for the reinforcement and practice as well as asking for even more practice assignments.  Physics immediately saw this as a “get out of homework free” card.  We will see how it goes as time progresses.  I am notorious for testing different homework systems so I do not think tweaking this as time progresses will throw my students for a loop.  As always, the students who practice and do their work will do the homework I request regardless of the rewards or consequences and the students who skimp on homework and practice will skimp no matter what the rewards or consequences. 

Overall I do still feel the student response is positive.  I feel like they are focused on the learning and not the points and can communicate their learning effectively through the mastery levels.  But. . . it does slow down the amount of curriculum I can cover.  Is that ok?  I need a way for the killers and go-getters to move on while the folks who need more reinforcement to practice. . .

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! 

September 22, 2011 Assessments, Grades, Student responses

September 22, 2011

Overall

Well, we have reached the end of term 1 and progress grades are going out this weekend.  Overall, I am still extremely pleased with the entire system.  I feel like student progress is easily quantifiable, track-able, and readily communicable to parents and students alike. 

Tests

Everyone has taken their first round of summative assessments and the results are as one would expect.  Most of the general chemistry grades are C’s and B’s, with the occasional A or D.  I did two separate assessments, one knowledge based (DOK 1 and 2) and one application based (DOK3).  Overall, students did better on the DOK 1 and 2 (basic recall and explanations) assessment than the applied assessment but again, that was expected.  I hope to include more application based activities in the classroom through the year to build those skills.  All students are afforded the opportunity of a retake if their formative assessments support their claim that the test was a poor representation of their knowledge.  I have had a good number of students take advantage of this opportunity as so many claim test anxiety.  It really does seem to be an epidemic.  However, though there are a good number who did improve their scores, it seems most students rushed into the retake after receiving a lower-than-desirable score without reviewing or stopping to ask why they achieved the score they did.  Thus, several saw no improvement on their reassessment. The reassessment, while the same material, was different from the original test.  It would seem that despite multiple homeworks proving their knowledge, some students are still unable to perform on tests.  I think I will need to do more inclass formative assessments to ensure proper data collection.  I also think I will need to be stricter with my requirements for retakes.  Currently, I am more likely to give a student the benefit of the doubt but this first round proves that it seems to waste both their time and mine if I am overly kind. 

Grades

Interestingly enough, the grades for first term are about what I would expect them to be:  honors chemistry has mostly A’s and general chemistry has mostly C’s with a few B’s.  However, I am seeing the stark effect of eliminating the zero from my grading system.  In all the chemistry students I have, all of them have some vague idea of what is going on and thus are entitled to a score of a 2.  An F on the traditional grading scale is meant to indicate a student who has learned nothing or does not have the mental capability/behavioral discipline necessary to succeed in the course.  I have no student who fits that category.  I do have several students who are not putting forth the effort necessary and since the subject does not come easily, they have currently earned the equivalent of a D in my class.  I feel that by eliminating the zero, student grades have become an accurate representation of the learning of the student.  They are almost exactly the grade I would give the student were I to assign grades based on my observations.  I hear the students talking about the grades in terms of the 5 points scale as well.  They seem to understand where they stand in the course so much better. 

Student Response

I seem to be getting a wide variety of student responses to the system.  Last week, I handed out a short survey asking if they understood the system, if they liked it and how it could be improved.  Several students did not like the SGB system simply because it was different, citing that reason specifically.  Most students complained about the fact that homework does not count towards their grade.  This was expected since so many students use homework to pad their grade.  They complain that they are doing so much work for no reward.  Most of them are not seeing the correlation between the homework grades and test grades.  Maybe after another round of summative assessments, they will begin to see the pattern.  I did speak to several of my old students today, from last year.  Their first words in response to my explanation was “that seems fair” and to them, that was the most important part.  They mentioned how they appreciated the fact that a student who excelled was not punished by being forced to do all the homework and a student that needed more practice could get it.  They liked the idea of test retakes, even given the proof stipulation and were very fond of the idea of being allowed to not master a concept on the first go round.  Parent teacher conferences are next week and it will be interesting to see the type of feedback I get from the parents.  I send home a letter this week that explained exactly how I came to the percentage seen on the report card and how a student could improve that grade if he or she wishes.  I am still hopeful and incredibly pleased with the overall effect of the entire system. 

Sept 8, 2011 Initial responses (student and parent)

Overall

Every day that passes I like this system more and more.  It just feels so much clearer than the percentages and numbers.  The students are starting to get the hang of it too.  It’s been rough over the last couple weeks deprograming the students to look at progress instead of points but I feel it’s getting better.

 

Student Response

Honors has taken their first assessments and they have been returned.  I have one student already requesting a retake and his/her formative grades support that decision.  I had several students also comment that they like the system now.  It all make more sense.  The grades are clearer to them.  They actually mean something.  Gen chem seems to be getting used to this idea of practice too.  They’ve stopped asking about points and due dates and instead are focusing on what they know and what they need to improve.  The incentive of being able to work on other homework once they prove mastery works will with this group.  There are always a few who refuse to work but I do not think it would be any better in the points based system.  They don’t do their homework now and wouldn’t do their homework in points either.  But, this system allows for a quick turn around.  There’s no worrying about points to make up or past zeros dragging you down.  In this mastery based system, it’s all about the learning.  It’s all about mastery!  And the students seem to be responding well to it.  Gen chem has their first test next week. . . we’ll see how it goes!

Parents

Communication with parents is still my greatest concern.  The students are with me every day and here me say and say again how this system works, how to deter mine their grade and how it will all fit into SIS.  Despite the letter I sent home, the parents I talked to on Meet the Teacher night and the personal emails, I feel like there is still a lot of confusion about this system.  It takes away the ability to just look at a percent and determine how a student is doing.  You actually have to open the class and look at the pattern of the scores.  Since our online grade book looks at everything as percentages (4/5), the percentages that are present are wrong.  I will have to override them at term.  Again, I sent home the scale that I will use and it's avaliable on my website as well.  However, that is a huge problem and I know that.  I respect and even encourage the parents who use grades as a means of reward or concern.  But the original percentages used in the past meant nothing.  It was a conglomeration of every topic and behavior since day 1 and does not reflect student learning at all.  A student could do all their homework, do the extra credit and complete test corrections to get an A in the class regardless of whether the student learned anything or not. With this system, I feel like grades are clear: here is the standard and here is where you are.  I hope it will all become clearer as the semester progresses. 

After school note:  I had a student stay after school because he looked at the pattern that was emerging from his homework in his folder and said “Ms V, it doesn’t take a genius to see that 2 and 2 and 2 and 2 don’t get a 5 on that test!”  And I was over the moon.  He looked at the pattern and saw that he wasn’t progressing and needed a little extra help/confidence.  I think it is much easier for students to see their progress with the streamlined 5-4-3-2-1 system.  Another student stayed after school for a similar reason, stating that her homework grades weren’t getting any better.  Overall, they seem to be responding really well to the idea of progress as opposed to do or die one time grades.