Imagine a world where students are free to learn in any way they want, a world where traditional grades are irrelevant. Students explore content the way they want to explore it. They test their skills doing assessments that they feel a connection towards. In this scenario, students learn on their own terms. There is a structure and there are guidelines, but it is largely student centered and students are assessed based on their personal improvement.
OK. Now imagine a world where grades matter and what students learn is largely irrelevant. It's all about "making the grade." In this world, creative students face the risk of failing, so you'll see assignments that are rather mundane, because there is no reason to take risks when something you can put together in an hour will get you a C+. And hey! That's passing, right? Sadly, you don't need to imagine this. Just walk into most high schools in the United States and you can see it first hand.
In this world the future looks bright, doesn't it? A bunch of men and women who lack creativity, the great thinkers of tomorrow unable to blossom because public schools are valuing grades over learning.
What can be done to change? Sadly, as long as we have a traditional grading system some of these issues will be in place. But we can begin to change the culture of learning by pushing our students to stretch their creative muscles, creating an environment where creativity is rewarded and not punished.
And then we have. . . .
ungraded writing!
Create short, fun writing assignments that when completed are rewarded with homework passes, candy, and whatever else high school students like these days. If we begin to change their beliefs regarding graded assignments, specifically writing, through these ungraded activities, we may be able to change how they think about writing.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, grades will be there - they have to, but we need to break our students out of the confines these boundaries put them in.
I like this idea of gradeless assignments. It allows students to develop their skills without pressure. I liked the literacies assignment that we had because it was low pressure and fun to write about ourselves and what we know. It helps to get the creative juices flowing when there is low pressure. Of course I think the teacher should give feed back, but a positive reinforcement like some candy is always nice instead of a strict grade.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that I think school should be learning centered and student centered I'm not sure I agree with the first part. I think there is something to be said about the structured format of education guided through theory. Having students be involved in the way they learn is certainly important but I think that we train to be teachers for a reason. I don't think we can ignore that we know more about how students learn than students.
ReplyDeleteI can actually picture a world as written about in the first paragraph-it's called homeschooling, and I know maybe a dozen people who graduated with my class who did it in lieu of the traditional education. I can't speak to the educational quality of it, though of those who I have remained in contact with, all have gone on to college. Anyhow, I also think the second part is a bit of a generalizing statement; that with the current public school system, the great thinker of the future will instead be creativity-ridden hacks. I do agree that the system drastically needs diversification, and there is a happy medium between the freedom of homeschooling and the bureaucracy of public schooling. The idea of ungraded writing, to me, is nice in theory, but would take a while for students to put maximum effort into something they know isn't graded. Why exert their precious little time (some with 2+hours a night of homework) towards something that won't actually count towards their grade, the thing that inevitably decides their short-term future? I'm simply playing devil's advocate here-I write on my own, and many people I know do so without being graded, but I'm just trying to view this from the perspective of a high-school student.
ReplyDeleteThere are some people for which ungraded writing assignments are torture because they feel like they aren't getting anything out of the process. There are others who love it and enjoy writing for the sake of writing and relish the opportunity to impress their teacher and classmates. Because this is mostly about preference, no solution is going to be a perfect one that meets everyone's needs.
ReplyDeleteA world that is "student centered" and assessment "based on personal improvement" does in fact exist. It's called life. The problem with formal education is that it does not leave time for life skills to sink in. The way education works is contrary to the multiplicities of life. If you do well in a class, you get an A. If you do well at work, there are no gold stars or top grades (unless you work in sales) and even if there is some type of acknowledgement, it may not always be rewarded. Your boss may give you a raise if you have done everything short of going to the moon for them, but a sense of pride is truly what will carry a student through their education and the world beyond.