After weeks of reading and learning about SBG, I felt somewhat ready (confident would not be the word I would use at this point) to try to develop the skill concepts and the grading rubrics I would use for each. One of the first things we (we meaning the other high school science teachers I work with) had to figure out is the grading scale for each skill concept. Naturally, one of the best ways to figure this out was to talk to people who already use it. So I talked with several people and especially @jbrtva and another math teacher at my school who incidentally had started using SBG themselves for a year and a half prior. We thought maybe 1-10 because it would be easier to match the grading scale in PowerSchool (the grading system we use at our school). But never just take the easy way. We realized that we couldn't come up with 10 different levels for just one skill concept – it was starting to become a little toooo subjective. So we decided on 1-5 (5 being mastered or on grade level).
Incidentally, our state had just revamped the standards for science, so naturally it was a great time to revamp the curriculum at the same time as well. Our curriculum coordinator gave us some time (paid, yay!) during the summer to work on this project. One of the things we realized we needed to do was determine what skills were “grade level” and what skills should have already been known or exposed to before they came to us. We developed a vertical alignment chart for each subject area we teach and brought it to our summer project. We each had somewhat slowly started developing the skills for grading but felt unsure of ourselves.
Well, its amazing what can be done when two or three people can get together and start discussing how it works. Once we were able to verbalize (in our case, “sign”-alize) what we were looking for, this got the ball rolling. We found it easier to list all the skills the state wanted them to demonstrate (although we did do them about 10-15 at a time, depending on the units we were going to teach and how interconnected they were). Once we got those skills listed, we went back and broke down sequentially each step a student would have to learn before they could actually master the skill. In some cases, we ended up combining two skills and in others, we split up one skill into two different skills. The more we did, the more confident we felt. We were able to do the skill concept lists and curricula for 5 different subject areas (well, 4 and 3/4 -- Physics is nearly complete and we feel confident we can finish by the start of the school year).
A few things I noticed as I was working on the lists:
- I realized some things I had been grading were not really as important as others.
- As we worked on the different levels for each concept skill, it really forced us to think hard about what we really were looking for and what prerequisite skills were needed beforehand.
- I love how straightforward the grading will be – I understand what is to be done. More importantly, the students know what is to be done.
A few questions also came up for me:
- Is this grading scale going to live up to its billing?
- Will the students understand what I'm trying to do?
- What if I missed something that should be graded? Is it fair to add in during the middle of the year?
- Should I use the list I/we developed for myself only or share it with the kids word for word? Should I simplify it for the students?
Now that this is nearing completion, I am getting excited to see it in action. But also nervous as well. My current mantra remains the same – “Think of the long term results.” Do any of you have suggestions, thoughts, comments? Maybe some insight to some of the questions I have, especially the last two questions?
