What would Tigger do?
I am a first year science teacher and will be heading into standards-based grading (sbg) territory right from the get go. I don't have experience in the classroom teaching and assessing students with this holistic approach (it's not just a grading system), but maybe I will have less to unlearn if I just jump right in. I've been studying (Marzano, O'Conner, Shawn, dy/dan, Buell and others) and it makes so much sense my educational sensibilities believe it is worth the risk. The first year is full of doing everything new for the first time anyway, right? I am forging ahead and searching, borrowing and stealing wording and ideas for my standards. Yeah, my district's curriculum helps too.
There is some good stuff out there. The Delaware Department of Education has some decently written learning goals (targets, standards, whatever I will call them) for science. Figure out what is mastery more and less, write student-friendly scoring rubrics, create some assessments that really measure what I am aiming my class towards and backwards plan from there. It's so simple! Really hard and yet so simple. Sigh...
Okay, maybe not simple, but it makes so much sense I really can't see doing it any other way. I buy into not grading homework that is practice...(check back in many weeks when I am ready to throw in the towel because I am still learning how to help the students master the whole "if I practice I will learn what I need to be able to master the learning goal" concept and actually do it if they need to do it). I have spoken to teachers (live ones, not just my imaginary blogging friends) who say the kids focus on the feedback and their work instead of just the numerical score or grade...wait, so scores actually distract students from what they need to pay attention to?
I need to say I am able to even contemplate doing this because of the support from my colleagues in my district and school.
Lest I be led down the valley of dread for I follow delusion without collusion.
All I can say is you blogging teacher types better know what the hay you are talking about, because you influenced my thinking and I am headed up the creek.
Please let my decisions be good ones.
Oh yeah, anyone have any experience using Infinite Campus to record standards-based scores? Hhhmmmm, someone has to know this blog exists and actually read it for me to get answers to my questions. Sigh again. Dragged kicking and screaming into web 2.0.
Hi, Chris!
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas. You sound a lot like I did my first year. I had ideas about the "right way" to do things, and went ahead and followed them! You know, I have never regretted it! I think I was a better teacher for having followed what I thought was best practice. Still bucking the trends- and I think my kids benefit. It scares me to see how rigid and test-based so much of our curriculum and teaching practices have become!