Ok, so now that I've got my stuff organized (see last blog post), the easy part. The hard part was figuring out how was I going to grade the students? I didn't want to grade regurgitated facts – I wanted to grade their learning. Again, Twitter came to the rescue. I believe it was @ccarmen, @gardenglen, and @Brunsell... who turned me onto the idea of SBG – Standards Based Grading. They directed me to a couple of sites and from there, the snowball effect took place.
In my early attempt to define it (since it cannot be summarized in a short way), the students are graded based on the standards. It has nothing to do with effort/participation, quizzes, bonus points, etc. The grade is based on how well you understand the standards or perform the standards. One thing that got my attention me – homework is NOT graded. Yes, you read that right.
I had always believed in giving homework --- my goal with homework was always practice, practice, practice. What struck me especially was that students should be able to practice without pressure. Why punish students for practicing? (punish in this case means a bad grade) It doesn't matter what one is doing when they are practicing – they usually won't get it right the first time, be it sports, music, or schoolwork. They should be able to practice without pressure - just be able to try and try again. That really hit home with me – my students usually have a lot of personal issues to deal with and they don't need another pressure point with homework. I would love for them to practice. If they couldn't do it, they could come see me the next day. If they can, what would that do for their self-esteem? One of the biggest things about my students is they often get a message (intentional or not) and the message is “you can't.” I want them to believe in themselves and see that they CAN.
There is a lot about SBG that I will have to learn. But I have gleaned that 1) it will be harder for students, 2) grades should drop – fall more in line what state testing scores, but 3) it can and should reflect their actual skills. More on this in the following posts.....
If you use SBG, what is it that you like about it most?
Communication is the most important component of SBG. It will be an adjustment for any students, as they are trained to accumulate points. SBG is refreshing because students can always know where they stand, and where they need to focus to improve their understanding.
ReplyDeleteOne comment: your students might not do homework for homework's sake. They might not do homework UNLESS they are getting a grade for it. It's something I struggled with quite a bit the past year and a half of using SBG. And I know your students ;-).
ReplyDeleteThe thing I like best about SBG is that the teacher and students can see exactly what they do/don't know at any given moment.
About homework... have you read The Homework Myth? I read it this past year and I'm definitely no longer a fan of homework At All. Some of my reasoning is similar to exactly what you were writing about (imposing extra conflict on students when they leave your classroom, etc).
ReplyDeleteAbout SBG... I love so many things.
I love that it is respectful of the students. It gives them so much power over their learning and over their grade. It is clear at all times to a student what they need to do in order to get better.
I love that it encourages students to make mistakes. If you aren't making mistakes, then you are only practicing things you can already do. I want them to practice things they can't do yet! But if you grade everything (especially things like homework), then mistake-making is penalized.
I love that there are no averages. When you average something, you are assuming that you are taking multiple data points of the same thing. If you are measuring their mastery all semester and averaging it at the end, then you are assuming that their mastery is a fixed thing, right? If you were going to grade with points, it would be much better to display their final grade as a graph showing how their mastery improved as time went on rather than an average. I mean, hopefully my students' mastery depends on time spent in my class!!
I also love that it puts the expectation at: You will learn. Instead of: You will follow directions.