One thing I've done during student teaching is incorporating a lot of project based learning opportunities for students. Unfortunately, if a student misses a day or two, I can't just easily hand them a packet of guided lecture notes. They missed work. They lacked some degree of contribution to a project. This can leave me with students who have borne an unfair burden of a project load or are now behind as a result of lack of total group effort. I want students to work at their own pace on projects, but also want to support them fully and keep everyone at the same pace.
I spent Monday of this past week tracking down students with some missing assignments. I printed off copies of the assignments and had a list of who owed what with me. I want all students to be successful, and what them to have a chance, but is it the responsibility of the teacher to tell students what assignments they are missing. How flexible should a teacher be with grading? Should I put sole responsibility on students to tell me when something is missing or that they are not happy with a grade? Should I continue to check grades with them and get them what they need? Is there learning of accountability by teaching students to pull out their devices. check their grades, and let me know what they need? What policy works best for making up missed work?
I do run into the issue of teaching while trying to get students caught up. I know some teachers have a lot of success with having a makeup work folder for each class. My goal for life after student teaching is to develop a clearly identified grading policy that details when and how a student can make up work.
Grading can be tough!
ReplyDeleteSystems help us survive, create a system to move the responsibility to the student for keeping up!
THIS: "They missed work. They lacked some degree of contribution to a project." It's SO HARD!
ReplyDeleteI want all students to be successful, and want them to have a chance, but is it the responsibility of the teacher to tell students what assignments they are missing? Short answer: no. Long answer, most kids who are missing work generally aren't missing work because they're stupid, irresponsible, jerks. Kids who are missing work probably have a lot of other things going on, and throwing schoolwork into the mix is just too much. They've learned to prioritize. I think what's important, in terms of your responsibility, is making sure they know that you want their work because you care. How often does homework REALLY make our students better, more career ready people? I think our responsibility as teachers lies with developing meaningful work for our students, which it sounds like you're doing! :-)
How flexible should a teacher be with grading? Have a serious conversation with yourself: What are you grading? What is the purpose of the grade? Is it to show you how hard a student worked or how well they mastered the content? Does imposing a late penalty reflect what you're grading for? Does the format of the assignment reflect the graded objective or are you just being picky?
Should I put sole responsibility on students to tell me when something is missing or that they are not happy with a grade? Should I continue to check grades with them and get them what they need? I'm guessing HS Ryan was a pretty responsible student. You wouldn't be able to tell your teachers what you were missing because your work was already done. You maybe even had the capacity to discuss your grades with a teacher. Go back to our kids in the first question. I would never say they can't do this, but they may need some additional encouragement. They may need to see the conversation modeled because they've never done it before. Sometimes, in addition to content, we need to teach the conversation that empowers students to take charge of their learning.
Is there learning of accountability by teaching students to pull out their devices. check their grades, and let me know what they need? YES!!!!!!!! A million times YES!
What policy works best for making up missed work? As a high school teacher, my school was on the "Power of ICU" system. I've only taught in a district that would not allow 0s on work and required that everything was handed in. I had to accept late work no matter the delay. We can debate the integrity of this policy another day, but I think one of the biggest things for making up missed work is making it accessible and making sure it's not a punishment. I think sometimes we setup punitive late work policies, assuming the worst in our students. But each of us has had a time that we've been sick, away on business, or taking care of family. It's awful to come back to punishing work when you had no control over the situation that kept you absent. That's tough in a project based setup. Like you said, students need to do the work to get the content. Overall, I'd offer that you shouldn't be too rigid in your policy. Flexibility offers understanding and sanity; it doesn't have to mean you're a pushover.