Often, students are "fantastically over-evaluated, with teachers piling up grades like squirrels gathering nuts" (Dornan, 182).
This image intrigues me because it demonstrates a number of assessment paradoxes in our educational system. For one, we are forced to consider the significance of many graded assignments as opposed to a few graded assignments over the course of a semester. The more-the-merrier camp might argue that a larger selection of grades would render a student's progress and evaluation more reliable. On the other hand, the-quality-over-quantity camp might respond that grading less work but higher quality work (thanks to revisions) is a more reliable measure of student progress. To some degree, both approaches make sense.
The image of the squirrel gathering nuts also conjures up questions regarding high stakes testing and the teacher's responsibility in preparing students for this assessment. What is the teacher's motivation in his/her assessment? If the teacher is assessing with the MCA's in mind, is it better to assign work that parallels the test? Or, should teachers assess the skills that students need through creative and hands-on tasks? Do these tasks really need to be graded in order to encourage student motivation?
To me, motivation is linked with assessment. If formal assessments motivate students to produce high quality work and continue to improve, then I support assessments. However, I also feel that students need feedback from teachers that are not linked to grades. Even if a group of students were highly motivated by grades, those students need to learn that process is ultimately more significant than result. Through informal assessments and self/peer evaluations (mentioned in Dornan), students can reflect on their work and consider peer/teacher responses.
I believe pride in one's work can motivate beyond the expected or acceptable result (i.e. an "A"). Striving for an "A" still has limits whereas inner-motivation requires students to reach for their personal best.
20 minute writing practice
3 years ago
Molly, for starters, awesome post,
ReplyDeleteSo the hard-core statistics nerd in me is about to come out with this comment... Although you don't state the exact statistical term, you bring up an extremely interesting (or what my nerdy self perceives as interesting) discussion of sampling strategies in the classroom.
So if I'm understanding you correctly, you are juxtaposing the following sampling techniques regarding students' work:
1.) Formally grade ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that you can, and then draw your sample from this overall "pool" of grades (via averaging or whatever other means).
-Or-
2.) Generate a sample of the student's BEST work (I'm assuming that this could be "A" work or not) to judge there overall progress.
And when you toss the variable of student motivation into this mix, things get even more interesting to me.
As for myself, the formally grade ANYTHING and EVERYTHING would indeed motivate me as I would understand that if I got A's on 18 out of let's say 20 assignments, I could totally blow off the last 2. However, where does everyone else stand on this issue? Which sampling technique do we think is "best"? Is this question more complex than this? (I'm sure that it is, but I'm asking anyways). Will the "best" sampling method change across / depend on other variables such as they student? Task?
Great Post! good questions.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole dilemma of assessment is very complex. The idea of grading a students "Best" work is somewhat subjective. Does the student turn in what they view as their "best" work or does the teacher view everything they did and select the "best"? If students select their own "best", it may not fit the criteria we, as teachers, are looking for.
Also, another issue with grading only a few versus several, is parents. In lieu of many school's giving access to students grades on a "parent portal", some parents are in constant monitor of their child's progress and grade. By offering a minimal amount of points or only grading some "final" work, you are inevitably going to get calls from parents. If you do choose to grade a selection of best work at the end, I would be sure to have participation and / or progress points to give the student and parents an idea of where the student stands.
I think Rick brings up a good point with student motivation. If you do get A's and blow off the last 2 assignments, how would that change the dynamic of your class? How would peer students react? What would you give students to do if they knew they already had the A? In college, this dynamic is different. If I know I can blow off the final paper / test, I simply don't go to that class. In H.S. students don't get the choice. Great Post... makes me think, how will I handle the grading monster when I teach??
Everyone has made good points regarding the amount and quality of graded materials. But I think the real determining factor lies in the purpose of the assignment (Molly did a great job touching on this). If I assign writing assignments mirroring the "Mechanically Inclined" presentation we saw last week, the idea of a grade has to take into consideration the production, organization, and revision of writing assignments. Ultimately, I think a balance is needed between grading the product and assessing the process- we've talked about this before. Where that balance is, I'm not quite sure yet...
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