Student Control

In my last post, I wrote about blended learning and how I had to give up some control of my students' learning in order to truly allow blended learning to happen in my classroom.  

I wanted to provide another thing I did at the end of last year with my 6th grade students that I will definitely be repeating this upcoming year...and more than once! 

Every year I have my 6th-grade science students create an online book about plants.  Instead of me just handing out a rubric for the book project this time, I allowed the students to help me create the rubric.  Asking them what they think a good informational book should contain proved to be an excellent task for them to complete as a class.  I got this idea after reading A teacher’s guide to classroom assessment: Understanding and using assessment to improve student learning by the Butler and McMunn. They provide an example of a teacher allowing students to create a rubric for a presentation.  I have to say that I witnessed the same reaction from my students when I first told them they were going to help me create a rubric for the books.

“The students responded to this session with a good attitude but at the same time showed some hesitancy because they had never been asked to do this” (Butler & McMumm, 2006, p.xxvii).  

I saw an excitement in some students that I had not seen before when they heard they were going to be able to help me grade their plant book projects.  I also saw students more engaged in the research of their book because they had the freedom to design the book how they saw fit. Something I need to consider is making sure all students are getting a saw in what the rubric contains.  When I first asked the question “What should a good informational book contain?” many of my advanced students were the only ones contributing to the conversation. After some prodding, eventually everyone had said something, and all seem excited.

I won't be allowing my students to create a rubric for all the project we do in class, but I saw them take more ownership in their grade with this method.

Tona

HE>I

Reference Butler, S.M. & McMunn, N.D. (2006). A teacher’s guide to classroom assessment: Understanding and using assessment to improve student learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

To grade homework or not to grade homework...that is the question!

In my last post, I mentioned a book by Rick Wormeli (2008) titled Fair Isn't always Equal:  Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom.  This is my favorite assessment book that I have ever read and I would like to tell you why.  In this book, Wormeli covers topics that I have had many questions on throughout my years of teaching, the most important one for me is:

WHETHER TO GRADE HOMEWORK

I will admit grading homework is something I always did...until reading Wormeli's book.  He describes homework as practicing a skill, and teachers should only grade whether a child has mastered a skill.  If we grade homework, we are grading the process of learning a concept, not whether the child understands and will retain that concept.  Wormeli points out it is important to give feed back on a student's homework.  The work is not done for nothing, but these feedback allows the student to know and understand how well they have mastered the concept.  

"My students will not do the homework if it is not graded!"

My thoughts exactly!  In the middle school years, most students have not yet developed the idea of intrinsic motivation.  I worry they will not complete their homework and then I ask myself "Why am I giving the homework?  Why do I feel the need for my students to work outside the classroom, taking time away from their families, other activities, and just being a kid?  John Buell (2000), coauthor of a book titled The End of Homework:  How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning points out that homework is particularly unfair to impoverished children.  He says that some children do not have the tools, resources, and school focus required to make homework a useful learning tool.  I teach at a private school, where you would think parents would value education, after all they are paying for it.  But sadly, I have many students in my classroom that do not receive any kind of help outside the classroom.  (These are the children I just want to take home with me...) 😥

Wormeli  believes every educator should ask themselves this question: Is this homework assignment, and our requirement that it be done, in the best interest of my students' growth and learning?  

This definitely has me thinking...I may be changing my homework policy for this next school year...

Tona

HE>I

References
Kralovec, E., & Buell, J. (2000). The end of homework: How homework disrupts families, overburdens children, and limits learning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

Wormeli, R. (2008). Fair isnt always equal: Assessment and grading in the differentiated classroom. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.