Back From Cyberspace!

Hi all....

   After navigating (ok, getting lost in) the world of SBG last year, I am back again and have resolved to try updating more frequently this year.  Clearly I did not know what I was getting into with 5 classes and 5 different preps and installing an SBG grading system and not giving homework. All of these definitely challenged me as a teacher and students as well. I saw positive and negative results last year, but more of the former that is encouraging me to continue to use this strategy this year with tweaking and experimenting, of course.

   Positive results:

• Students had increased awareness of their learning responsibilities
• Students wanted to improve their recall of information, which led to discussion of study strategies and looking for apps to use
• Grades more accurately reflected knowledge of content and skills
• Less time spent on grading
• More time spent on developing ideas or giving students feedback
• Student knows exactly what they did or did not understand
• More parent involvement
• Giving parents a realistic picture of their child's abilities

   Negative results:

• Students had a hard time adjusting to high accountability
• Frustrated students because couldn't give evidence they understood the concept or skill
• I wasn't sure where student independence begins and I end
• Didn't see many students come in after school as I would have liked

   Jury still out:

• Overall, scores were lower. Is this because of SBG's increased accountability? Student motivation? Poor performance on my part? Not giving homework?
• Is the SBG I developed a fair way to assess?

Gonna stop for today, but I will have another post within a few days about goals for the year, personal and professional. In the meantime, I hope to be a better poster/reflector on this blog and other blogs as well.

Best wishes to all of you starting another school year!

Checking in...

Hi all.....just wanted to pop in and give an update on how things are going so far this year.   It's been quite an adventure and the picture above may be a bit misleading.  I'm not exactly overwhelmed with paperwork as it may look like.  Allow me to elaborate...

Making the switch to Standards Based Grading has been a stretching experience for me.  Previous installers of SBG have forewarned that the start-up is quite taxing.  They were not kidding.  SBG has definitely kept me on my toes, challenging my thinking, and helping me to pinpoint exactly what I need to look for from students.   The biggest portion of my time is spent on developing and preparing the assessments themselves as I did not have any to begin the school year.  I am making them along the way.  While I think I did a fair job, I definitely will go back through them all next summer and revise them.  For those who are planning on installing it, definitely make quite a few assessments ready to begin the year with - this is not something you want to install mid-year unless you are quite ambitious and have LOTS of free time.

Nearing the end of the 1st quarter mark, SBG has been keeping me accountable and more importantly, the students.   I have seen students get frustrated at the scores they earn (and I am frustrated myself too since I felt I did a good job helping students learn the content, but not so).  However, students and I have been having conversations about the skills they need to work on.  It's definitely good to see students saying something like "I don't understand the significance of pH for cells" or "I'm not able to count significant digits in multiplication/division operations."  In the past, students would have said "I don't understand."   It's quite the difference to see they can recognize their own weaknesses.   The students and I can clearly see what they can/cannot do and why they earned the score they did.

Some general observations:

• Grading has taken MUCH less time. The assessments are very specific and it is clearly evident if the students can or can not do the skill required of them.  There is no room for subjectivity.  I have been able to grade all of my students assessments the same day they take them and return it to them the next day.  This has allowed me to focus more time on preparing quality lessons (or as I stated earlier, developing assessments themselves).
• Despite the huge start-up investments for SBG, I continue to press on because I can see the value in it.  I have started things in the past and not finished them (academically or nonacademically), so this is saying something.
• Seeing the scores has separated the quality workers from the quantity workers.  I can clearly see who's motivated and who's not.  Which leads me to my next point....

Some students do not like the scores they are receiving.  We review what they do not understand and they want to do better.  So I explain they can make appointments with me after school for extra instruction/support (I have set up a big calendar on my wall for them to make appointments).   At the beginning of the year, I did not have high expectations as the student population at my school generally do not care about grades (just make sure they are good enough to play sports).  However, to date, I have had 4 students make appointments to come after school (and 3 showed up...the 4th forgot and claims she will make another appointment).  For the students that did show up, they all were able to improve their skills.   2 of them took a reassessment a couple days later and improved their scores.  The third tells me he wants to soon.  He even shocked me - he went online and made some flashcards at studystack.com to help him review key vocabulary for this particular skill.

It is so good to see these students want to do better.  To date, these students are the ones with the better overall scores and understanding.  I can only hope and pray that these students doing better will rub off on other students.  It all comes down to that intrinsic motivation of wanting to do well because they want it for themselves, not because they want to do it for me.

One last thing -- I'm learning about SBG at the same time I'm making the adjustment to a 7 period schedule.  Currently, I'm only teaching 5 and all different subject areas (and two entirely new for me) so trying to plan for each of these classes has my head spinning.  I often find myself having to slow down to make sure I've got material and plans for EACH class.  It is really trying balancing all these adjustments I have to make.  Feelings of unpreparedness, inadequacy, "is this working/is this not working?" constantly bombard me.   As I said, my experience this year thus far has been a stretching one.  But I take solace in the fact that I will become a better teacher because of this and the students I teach will be better learners.

I hope to find time to make another post soon about how my students are faring without homework.

Hope you are all well.   Drop me a line and let me know how you're all faring.  Now, back to my "paper pile".....  

The Homework Myth

At the recommendation of Kelly from Physics! Blog!, I am reading the book "The Homework Myth" by Alfie Kohn.  She knew I was debating the idea of homework or no homework and how I had leaned towards the latter.  This book has really opened my eyes.  For any of you who use SBG, even though I've just started, I do recommend it.

So far from the first two chapters, I've gleaned a few important facts.

1) Homework takes the student away from their family while they are home.  I have always believed the family is essential to a child's well being growing up.
2) Homework is a continuation of "school" at home.  They need a break.  They need to be able to take care of themselves - spend time with their family, play sports, socialize, get some exercise, play games, read a book for enjoyment, or just hang.  The list can and does go on.
3) Parents are asked to become "teachers".  They need to just be parents.  Can you imagine working all day then coming home and have to teach your child what your teacher couldn't do?
4) Homework often creates family conflicts.  Nagging from parents can lead to arguments.  Can you imagine being a student coming home and the first thing out of your mom or dad's mouth is something along the lines of "So what do you have for homework tonight?"  No "how are you" or "how was your day" or any similar question that wants to connect with you.
5) Is learning really happening?  Parents have been observed high-fiving their child just for completing the homework.  Not "what did you learn about?" or "what did your studies help you understand about this subject?"  This one was a eye-opener for me.  Seems parents were more interested  and sending the message, intentionally or not, that homework was just something to be done, not something that fosters learning.
6) Homework does not help.  Kohn went through lots of research dating back to 1897 related to homework.  He did not find any research that supports the use of homework. Most research he found actually showed homework hurt student achievement.  The few positive results he did find were very minimal gains and did not present a strong case for using homework.

What the author is doing is asking people who use it to prove the benefits of homework and have the data to back it up.  He hasn't seen it yet, which is why he's against homework use.  I'm inclined to agree with him.  If you know of any research that does, I would be happy to read it and I'm sure the author would too!

One final note that struck me.  If a student has to do homework, I'm not doing my job.  They are not learning.  Comments from a couple of teachers: one said "the students are compelled to be in my class forty-eight minutes a day.  If I can't get done in forty-eight minutes what I need to get done, then I really have no business intruding on their family time."  Another said, "I am forced to create lessons that are so good that no further drilling is required when the lessons are completed."

I've only read two chapters so far, but I'm hooked already and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. I'm going back to my classroom now to take on this challenge of becoming a better teacher with the class time I have to teach the students.