Grading with Accuracy, Fairness, and Specificity

Is my grading accurate, fair and specific? Yes. Is my grading accurate, fair and specific for the nearly 100 diverse students that I serve? Ummmm, define accurate, fair and specific. So that is what I was supposed to get out of the three chapters dedicated to this discussion. The part I am still questioning is how the specific examples that they illustrated fit the majority of my students. I felt the Sean, Sam and Maryellen vignettes were entirely too contrived to be anything like what I experience with my students. I am still feeling like this book is taking isolated incidents of poor grading practices and projecting it onto the larger population of teaching professionals. Are there really a large number of teachers out there typing random numbers into the gradebook to come up with grades to make a student pay for their surly attitude? I don’t see how behavior is really figured into grades. I know these books say that homework grades are behavior grades, but I really do NEED my kids to practice the material before they take the test. And I really do need them to do some of it at home, or in environments other than my classroom. I want my kids to do a little start up in class so they can ask me some suggestions or clarify something said in notes. But, where they get into the true learning of the material is in the time that they develop their style on how to problem solve. So, if you feel homework is a behavior grade, then I guess I am grading behavior every day that I ask my kids to practice the material that we have talked about. Whether a daily paper, quiz or test, my grades are truly a representation of what portion of the problem that a student was able to complete. A  7 out of 10 means that they completed 70% of the tasks requested. So in my experience, I think accuracy should be easy. Maybe more so for those of us with concrete structures like math, but anytime you have a set of criteria; it should be able to be measured.

Fairness is tougher if you want to try and assume the responsibility of analyzing student’s home lives as part of your criteria judgement. I have a reverse thinking sometimes on knowing every detail of a student’s past performance and home life. I actually prefer to get to know students myself rather than let something external to school define them. I like my kids to learn to talk to me if they need extended time or come in and talk to me about retaking a quiz. I know that is really hard for some kids and even more so if they like they are exposing themselves to scrutiny. Still, I consider that skill of becoming an advocate for yourself and your needs to be imperative for future career and consumer success.  I know that some students are never going to share their needs, but I try to get as many kids as I can to understand how to seek help. I preach “know thyself”, come see me when you don’t get something, because I can’t always tell if you just keep nodding.

 I think it is sad that music teachers should feel guilty about noticing the success that Music Academy kids show. I think it is silly to not have any on those family/home projects for anyone just because two in class will not do it. It almost like we are supposed to make our involved parents feel as guilty for putting opportunities in front of their kids just like we have made our less involved parents feel guilty for not doing it. It shouldn’t be about guilt. It should be about, “all right, this is what we have to work with” and lets go on from here. To me, that is fair – begin where you are, but begin.

The specificity chapter was the one that interested me. I want my kids to see what is going wrong. I want to give them specific comments or helping steps to push them in the right direction. I like the “rough draft” approach for homework that encouraged good quality over quantity. I need to make that happen more often.  I can see how doing this could improve the student’s use of my feedback.

I don’t think the books are bringing me great clarity, but at least I am taking the time to really think about why I do something. I can see the ideological theory behind some of what they are saying, but still feel that the application of it doesn’t always match my experience. The books and more importantly my teaching peers are giving me cause for reflection so with that in mind, I will carry on.

 

 

 

Feedback on my feedback

This is quite a frustrating experience to pick apart your every procedure. I feel a little Jekyll and Hyde bouncing back between feeling like I’ve got it figured out and completely flummoxed because I am not doing it/seeing it like everyone else.  The following is an overly long justification of what kind of crazy antics I’ve been up to in the math room.

FEEDBACK

I would rate my feedback as a good quality, but I think the impact level is poor. Where I struggle is making sure they react to it. Do they read it? Do they try and fix their habits? The only way that I can make sure is to talk with them one-on-one and that is hard to do everyday. The other thing I do to ensure that they read my feedback is give notes quizzes (questions from their notes, old quizzes and homework). It is their opportunity to correct those mistakes. And somehow, when problem #32 shows up again in the form of a quiz, they will ask me what I mean by a comment on a paper. When I leave them to their own devices, the kids who really need my feedback blow it off too often.

I would my timeliness on feedback for quizzes/test as excellent, as I hand those back the next day. I would rate my timeliness on feedback for homework as average. I try to return homework the next day, but I check about 100 papers a day, so that doesn’t happen every time. Checking papers is the life-sucking force of my existence and I could write a pretty graphic description of how much I hate it, but as soon as I quit reviewing it, my kids slack off. When I taught Trig/Stats/Computer Programming, I never had that issue. Kids know they have to do the practice work to prepare. I would say about 70% of my algebra II kids get that, as well, but I correct for the 30% that won’t do a darn thing unless I hold them accountable. 

ZERO’s

We are bound by grading periods and eligibility checks, so I think we have to be able to give a reading of our student’s current outcomes at any given time. If they haven’t done the assignment, no points can be awarded. That being said, I work really hard to not give them that option. The week of chapter tests I begin to offer invitations (prettier sounding than nagging) for students to finish their missing work. Most cases, the kids get it done and I only have to go barracuda on a few. I have a few kids sneak zeros by me at the end of the nine weeks and I had three perpetual non-workers who didn’t finish, but I got as many as I could. With a student who will only work under direct supervision, it is almost impossible to get homework completed.  And once again, by homework I mean the day to day work we do. Sometimes it is in class and sometimes it is homework. I have some kids who refuse to work even in class unless I sit on their lap (and administration tends to frown on that, hehehehehehe).

REDO’s

On the point of REDO’s, and life always offers a chance for REDO’s. Yes, but with consequence. If I did not pay my bill, there is a late charge. If I messed up the sheetrock job at my carpentry job, yes, of course I would fix it for the client. But myself/boss has to pay for that expense. So what about the guy who doesn’t pay his bill on time, is he dropped as a client? Only if he continues to have this problem. What about the contractor who has to redo the wall? If he makes good on the correction and doesn’t keep messing up the rest of the job, he keeps his position. Why is it wrong to operate that way in a classroom? I believe we should always ask our students for their best effort first, and only have to REDO in extenuating situations, not as normal practice.  I don’t think that I am personally attacking the student by admitting to the gradebook that they have done zero points of the work. Just as I am not personally attacking a student when I tell them they got 70% on their test, 70% of the problems correct and 30% wrong. I am not saying that they will never get that 30%. What I am saying is that right now, in this moment, after we have spent the time getting you prepared for this test with homework, notes, discussion and examples, you can only do 70% of the problems correctly. And since math skill sets never go away, the skill of factoring in chapter 4 comes back in chapter 5, 6, 7 and 9, so they are automatically in a revolving circle of assessment of old topics.

Another reason that I do not think zeros and redo’s are an issue in my grading is because I use a weighted scale. So if homework is 30% of the grade and I took 30 assignments, and you got a zero on one of them, it is not the end of your grade. Honestly, most single homework assignments do not alter the grade one bit. The only homework grades with large point scores are reviews with lots of material. And if it is a review, they should be prepared to do well on it. But, where it bites you is if you make it a continuing problem and you are unprepared quiz/test time. For example, I have an algebra II student who already has a late…student is habitual with this. So we took the quiz and student did quite well, EXCEPT FOR THE PROBLEMS FROM THE PAGE THAT STUDENT DIDN’T DO! The homework in math is the necessary practice to prepare for tests. I do not give zeros on quizzes and tests since they are end of material measurements and everyone has to do that in my room under my supervision. I consider the tests to be the most important description of the student’s present level of knowledge.  So if I put a zero in the gradebook for the time being while I nag them about that little bitty assignment, I figure it is fair.

ONLY AWARD GRADE AT END

On this point, are you comfortable with that both ways? It was stated that it is fair to award the student with an A if that is their last outcome on work. Now, I’m going to assume you mean this score is a test score and I’m going to assume that the 10 grades listed were all on the same skill. Are you also saying that the kid who worked all nine weeks with relative success, mostly A’s should get the C if that is what their last assessment was? The only way that this makes sense is if you are you completely sure you have created the perfect final assessment tool to measure all of that. And if you are completely sure the student gave their truest performance on that single item. I don’t think I have ever been sure on either of those points. I find it scary to think that 1 assessment is ever used as a final outcome. And yes, I am fully aware of statistics and misuse of averages, but I thought this was really off base. This misuse of averages is really the reason that I use weighted grading. I think tests are most important; they are end of unit checks that we have spent weeks preparing for, so they have the most significant portion of my grade. For a final semester outcome, I currently use 40% for Q1, 40% for Q2 an20% for semester test. My students generally score about a half a letter grade better on final tests. Mostly because the final has all the most important content points, while a chapter test contains more details for each content area. Also, by the end of the semester, we have done these skills over and over, so the ones who didn’t it in Chapter 2 have had time to grow into by the Chapter 1 to 5 final test.

STATE ASSESSMENTS

In the case of state assessments and grades, if they truly measure the same thing, they should be similar. Out of curiosity, I pulled up my algebra II kids scores from last spring and compared them to the semester grade. The alignment was very clear on low end and high end. Less than 65^th percentiles generally were D’s, while above 85^th percentiles were A’s. The middle kids bounced the B/C line sometimes against percentile and there were a couple kids who looked to have off days, but most of the data fit. I can also say from experience that I have students who can do well on a multiple choice test, but could not do nearly so well if it was open ended and they had to completely generate the answers themselves. Some people have an innate understanding of numbers and logic that can get them through a multiple choice math test, yet they can’t perform the skill without that assistance. I agree with those who said these assessments are helpful, but incomplete to describe the abilities of a human being. 

 

In conclusion, I feel glad that I am reevaluating my position on homework/grading. It is reminding me to keep explaining it to my students, so that they know why and how it works. I do sort of feel like I am bucking some of the author’s suggestions, but mostly because some of the ideas would appear to fit better in a grade school classroom or within a classroom setting dissimilar to math. Please tell me we don’t have to do a one size fits all job here, because I think that would really do an injustice to our students. I think we all need to be up front about our practices, willing to revise, but true to what works best for our area.

Changes in the Way I Think about Homework

My thoughts on how to implement homework have been changing since I began teaching 15 years ago. I teach math, so the curriculum is highly cumulative, and to gain retention, practice has been my major vehicle for getting that done. The biggest impetus for change in my room has been the impending implementation of RTI, a new young member to our math team and the ongoing discussion everywhere in education that we need to do something different to reach the current generation of kids.
My homework has been changing over the years to reflect some of this. This class continues to add to my inclination for changing some of my old homework ways. So what are some things that I have changed prior to this class and what are some ideas that I foresee for the future? 
Changes that have been made are:
~small pretests with focus on single-skill type quizzes to place students on learning curve.
~more varied assignments based on current level of skill.
~more word problems for those who already have the skill and more practice-type for rest.
~less outside of class problems than my beginning years teaching.
~way more emphasis on the standards, even though my senior year of college they belabored the math standards. We read and discussed and aligned like crazy that year (1997!), but I think most of the rest of the subject areas were still pretty quiet and the standards rumble died down my first five to seven years of teaching.
~very well aligned homework and tests, AND those are aligned to standards. I don't think very much of my homework could be considered fluff. But, it is too much for some, too little for others and about right for the majority. Wish I could say it was the perfect fit for all, but I know it is not. I'm still trying to figure out how you can have 20 individuals working on different assignments based on their learning needs and still get them all to same standard expectations.

Some items for the future will be:
~differentiation, which I think is SOOOOOOOO much work, valid and worthwhile, but still a nightmare to navigate. I'm trying, but when it is me against 20 kids for 45 minutes with multiple different levels of skills, interest and learning styles, I know I'm not doing it well enough.
~more pretest, and actually using it to differentiate. Most of my pretesting has been for me, so I can see where each kid is and I can watch out for them. I haven't found a way to make it personal to them, so they take an interest in using it to grow and make some of their own choices.
~more department collaboration...appreciate the PLC time and look forward to solidifying our curriculum and moving onto other things that I know we can accomplish more easily as a math team than as a single teacher.
~gathering ideas from my colleagues from this class. I can do the reading and blogs and discussions, but what I really want is some good ideas. I like Leah's draft idea, like, why can't my homework assignments be given as drafts sometimes. They circle their five incorrect answers and then take another day to correct them, ask me for help or look it up in the book. I have been trying for years to get my students to read my comments and examples that I spend hours writing on their papers! I give homework and notes quizzes for exactly this purpose, so why not have rough draft days. When I have kids come study with me for tests, that is one of the first things I do to study. Reread their homework so they catch all those mistakes and learn from them. But, for the average kid, I know I'm not getting nearly enough of them to do that review of homework. I like Skeen's and Brossart's brief writing tasks each day. Ms. Hagen can get kids to come in after school for study sessions like no one else. I know the kids love to play jeopardy in Mr. Olson's room and cannot get enough hands on in ag, so give me your ideas. I know what works for one discipline isn't always going to translate to another, but my favorite part of our discussions is the "this is what it looks like in my room" contributions. Keep them coming!

Homework Still Has a Place in Our School

I’ve never written a blog before, and never really thought of myself as the kind of person who would…so give the math teacher a little forgiveness on the writing thing.  I left our meeting feeling like I am probably going to be one who will need to make the case that homework still has its place. I did read the “Overall Goal for Extended Learning” that Mr. McNeff provided and so I knew that the discussion was going to be about “removing homework”, but it was still disconcerting.

Let me preface this by saying I completely believe HW should be used to improve learning, not to just keep students busy. I do not think that HW is used in the same way in elementary school as it is used in high school. I do not think HW is used in the same way in history class as math class. Also, I’d love it if we could think of HOMEwork as any sort of daily practice. I could care less if it happens at home, in the classroom, in study hall, or on the bus ride home. I just want to see kids practicing what they heard and saw every single day. So here goes, this is why I think HW still has a place in our schools:

1)      Homework encourages at least a degree of parent involvement and support. When my fourth grade son brings home a paper to finish now and again, it keeps us in the loop of what he is working on. We all know that the question, “what did you learn at school today”, can be met with little more than a shrug, grunt or the illuminating “nothing”. So when he has to finish a science review or math paper, it gives us an opportunity to extend his learning. We pointed out the flood in Minot as an example of a dike when he studied that in social studies vocabulary. When he was doing the parts of a plant, we asked him to show it on the houseplant. The more he discusses the ideas and thinks about their application, the more easily he remembers the material.

2)      Do not eliminate this conversation from the parents and kids who want to have it. I know what you are thinking, it is not fair to the kid who doesn’t have parental support. What I don’t understand about that argument is that you are sacrificing the learning opportunity for all just because some do not have the support. Better, to do as the elementary teachers spoke of doing. You can pick up signals quite early about the ones who do not have parental support and work to address that, rather than delete all outside of class work entirely. I would rather talk to Student No Parent Support and work out a time that we can work together than eliminate learning opportunities for the entire group.

3)      Homework is necessary in college bound classes. If I am to prepare my college bound students I do need them to spend time outside of class working on the material. Even with Common Core and choosing target standards, there is still a lot of material to cover and, at least with math, students need a little time to chew on the ideas and digest the material. I know that for our algebra II, trigonometry, statistics, computer programming, and senior math, we will require additional time for the students to practice this type of complicated and higher level thinking material.

4)      Homework does teach students time management, prioritization, and yes, responsibility, which are HUGE life skills.  I rarely have trouble getting my juniors to work on algebra II. Yes, it is a lot of work, but the grand majority get that you have to practice to truly understand the multi-step processes and the how and why discovery that you need to have success at this level. I have students who really struggled with homework completion as freshman, but mature to it as juniors and can reflect back on their past class with the knowledge that the tests would have been so much easier if they had practiced the material more. I expect more out of my juniors than my freshman. My freshmen always get at least 15 minutes to work in class, and even on a tough day, they would likely only spend another 15 minutes on it. If they are spending more than that, they should come see me and clear up the problem. No one should sit and spin on homework for hours and hours every night. Once in a while something will throw us all a curve ball, but my advice is to come see me. Clear it up early because math is highly cumulative. My juniors, on the other hand, get less in-class work time and it is very dependent on what material we are working on. But, just as they don’t struggle with the idea of doing homework, my juniors also struggle less with coming in for help. They know themselves better and know to come in when they need it. The students who continue to struggle on tests in algebra II are the ones who do not practice the material and do not come in for help when they need it. There is a VERY clear correlation between student practice and test success in math. It is a rare student who can just watch me do it at the board and perform well on the test.

So that’s it, that's why I think HW still has a place in our schools. I’m all for some great idea on how to differentiate it and vary the application, but I am not going to be easy to convince for its removal all together.