Due to concerns from various staff members, I have been doing some research on grading.  Originally, I was looking for the pros and cons of providing specific weights and categories to student work.  This has been surprisingly difficult as most of the literature on this topic relates to high school.  Along the way though, I came across some articles that made some interesting points and references to recent research about effective grading practices.  While I am still on the fence with weighting versus point-based grading, what I did learn seemed a bit more interesting.  Here are some of the key points described in the articles (links to the articles are listed below):


A.  The use of zeros for grades on a 100 point scale provides a mathematical difficulty when averaging grades that diminishes the legitimacy of a final grade as a reflection of a student's true academic level of proficiency.


B.  Punishing students via zero-score grades for missing assignments or incomplete assignments has been proven by research to be ineffective.  It is true that students must complete their work, but they should be required to do it before school, after school, etc.  Receipt of a zero without a chance to recover the grade and complete the work enables a student to throw in the towel and demotivates them toward future completion of tasks.  Sadly, for many students, a "0" or an "F" is nothing new and will not have near as much impact as requiring them to actually complete the work.


C.  Averaging scores throughout the entire quarter/semester for a final grade may not be as common-sense as it sounds.  Let's say a teacher has set the learning objective as being able to write a coherent and thought-provoking persuasive essay by the end of the quarter.  The essays will be graded using a rubric.  It may take 8 weeks to teach a student how to do this with mastery.  It may also be assumed that most students will not be able to perform each step in the curricular scope and sequence toward an "A" level persuasive essay without making some mistakes.  In all likelihood, many students may get scores of 80, 85, 75, 90, and so on (on a 100 point scale) for the first 7 weeks of instruction.  In fact, statistically speaking, the students should be making mistakes and receiving less than perfect scores during this time because learning by definition requires making mistakes and corrections.  But, this can make it impossible for a student to receive an "A" at the end of the quarter no matter how well they are able to construct the required persuasive essay.  So, what are we grading?  The child's ability to meet the instructional objective?  Or the degree to which a child makes mistakes along the way toward, and including, the instructional objective?


D.  Allowing a single project to determine the final grade in a class is not best practice.  The project, research paper, lab work, or any other assignment that the teacher assigns so much weight to that if it is deemed an "F", the student's final grade is an "F".  Break the project up into smaller segments that may be graded in and among themselves based on the skills being used. 



 

Educational Leadership: February 2008 | Volume 65 | Number 5
Teaching Students to Think Pages 85-87



Educational Leadership: October 2008 | Volume 66 | Number 2
Expecting Excellence Pages 70-74



 

Add Comment
 
 
While I believe districts and schools that require the full use of the Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan Model for all plans have missed the point (if your lesson plans rival a small novel, how useful are they really going to be when you're in front of 30 anxious 3rd graders?), I do think the components of her lesson plan model are important to remember and very useful in preparing effective lesson plans. There is link at the bottom to a much more detailed explanation of each component. 

Beginning

1.       Objectives:  The goal, concept, skill, strategy, etc. that you are going to teach.  I call it the “WHAT” and it should include exactly what you expect the student to learn by the end of the lesson.

2.       Materials:  What you will need to teach the lesson. 

3.       Anticipatory Set:  This is an activity that begins the lesson with a short mini-lesson or activity that gets the students interested in the objective of the lesson.  A lot of people call this the “HOOK” because you are drawing your students into the lesson and its objective.

4.       Purpose:  The teacher explains to the student the skill, concept, strategy, etc. that they are going to learn about during the lesson.

Middle

5.       Teaching:  This involves the method by which the objective will be taught (“modeled”) and which vocabulary, skills, and other concepts will be tied into the lesson in order to secure understanding by the student.  

6.       Check for Understanding:  How are you going to be checking for student understanding as the lesson proceeds?  Many times this involves informal observation, random verbal questioning, and question-and-answer sessions, and so on.  It is really just making sure the students are learning the objective and aren’t getting lost along the way.

End

7.       Guided Practice:  This involves how the students will be practicing the objective of the lesson with the teacher’s assistance.  This is generally a scaffolding technique by which the students are assisted with the objective until they reach a point where they may practice it independently.

8.       Independent Practice:  What students will be doing to practice the skill on their own and how they may get assistance from the teacher, peers, and/or other resources if they have difficulties?

9.       Closure:  How the lesson will be reviewed and closed by the teacher.  How will the students know the lesson has been concluded and how will they recapped on what they have learned?

A more detailed version of this information here.

Add Comment