Student Comments, on Grading

Students on Grades
8th grade students at Shelby East Middle School offer the following advice to educators regarding how they perceive grading methods.

There are students that suffer from testophobia, which is the fear of taking tests. So a student maybe very smart, but once you put a test in front of them they freak and forget everything. Test grades are a big part in our grading system, so one bad test grade can take you down a whole letter grade. After you have had enough tests you would be failing. And that wouldn’t be your fault. Are tests that really important?

Another big part of our grading system is homework. Well, some students may have a chaotic home. They may have chores and other responsibilities. Instead, the students end up worrying about school all the time. Some students may do wonderful at school but just can’t concentrate at home, so is it fair that there grades start to fail just because of not finishing their homework?
If students are working on a project that interest them, those students wouldn’t be worried about the grade they get, they would be too interested in the project. So if the grades don’t matter to the students, why should it matter for the teachers?
-Ashley Riley

Some teachers grade us on how close our work is to theirs. In my opinion, this isn’t right. “Why do teachers grade us on how close our work is to theirs when they encourage us to be unique and different?!” says Remey. If we are supposed to be unique then why are we being judged on how alike we are, and how similar our stuff is? Will this bump our grade down? We have so many questions that nobody wants to answer. It doesn’t make sense to me really.

Did you know that 75% of students get low grades because they didn’t get all of the questions right? But they tried very hard. Some students will put twice as much effort into their work and still get lower grades than the people that copied. For instance, John goes home every night and studies for a test. Then while taking the test he freaks out (even though he did the best he could) and the outcome will be he gets a bad grade. But if Peter copied another person in the class and got a 100% that wouldn’t be fair. Justice should be served!

Instead of grades the teachers could write a report every few weeks about the progress made/ decrease in progress. So for example, when interims come out every three weeks we will receive a written report of how we are doing in our own work and our conduct. The teachers could write about whether we understand the concept or not, if we complete our work, or how obedient we are in class.
-Caitlin Rogers

Are you ever frustrated with different teachers having different grading methods? Well, there are multiple types of grading methods all over the state. How are students supposed to keep up with what method and what teacher is using which? There is so many times that students have received an assignment back with a smiley face, or a sticker, or a check mark on it, and still not know how well they’ve done. So how are students supposed to base that on how well they’ve done? Is the grade they received an, a, b, c, d? Wouldn’t it be nice to get an assignment back and know what grade you got?
-Jessie Wilson

I also propose that all parents and guardians must be able to look at their child’s grades by an online system or by mail, for those who do not have a computer. They can request for when they would like the grades to be mailed, and those with a computer can request a password. We have had online systems like Infinite Campus and STI, and hopefully we can create a newer and better system for those without the proper technology. Of course, we want to appease both parents and students with good grades.
-Lauren Greenwell

While some teachers are busy planning projects, others are off planning worksheets and other ways to cram more grades into the grade books. When teachers give fewer grades and focus on giving a project it gives students more time to make sure that that project is their best work. But, with fewer grades it also means that if a student does horrible on one thing, that one thing could really bring their overall grade down. More grades would give students a chance to make up for the one or two bad grades. I think that a combination of the two would be the best bet. Students need some time to be creative but we also need assignments to give us some grades and make up for any bad grades.

The difference in expectations can really be affecting some student’s overall grade. Teachers might believe that their teaching method is the best, but their opinion is influenced. When every teacher has the same expectations it would be less biased and hopefully more effective.
So if the problem is that there are too many different expectations, and if student’s grades are suffering significantly, then the obvious solution would be for all teachers to have all of the same expectations. I believe that if all teachers were to transfer to more strict expectations (word for word), that the quality of work that is expected and received from students would increase immensely. This would cause students to harder to earn their A, rather than just getting it with a very minimum effort, as many students do now. It would require students to think more on their own.
-Taylor Webb

Student Comments, Day One

I will post student commentary on teaching and learning issues for the next few days. We all need to care more about what students feel and think about these relevant topics. For more student writing, visit this link off Questions for Schools.

Student Commentary on Motivation
8th grade students at Shelby East Middle School offer the following advice to educators regarding how--or how not--to motivate today's learners.

I believe that schools do a very poor job with student motivation. Students are not near enough motivated when it comes to school. But I think the students are not fully to blame. I believe to a certain degree, a student’s motivation lies within the teacher’s hands. I mean, how are students expected to be motivated and try when the teachers themselves have no motivation? If you ask me, it seems unfair…you have a teacher that acts as if they would rather be somewhere else ,take their frustration on their students, and then, still expect the student to have any motivation what so ever. It’s not only unfair, but it is infuriatingly wrong!

There is one simple solution to student motivation problems. Teacher motivation. If teachers would try their hardest to show even the tiniest spark of enthusiasm in the classroom, then the student may take that spark a make a fire with it, so to speak. Students may not admit it, and the teachers may not realize it, but a student’s behavior has a lot to do with the teacher. If a teacher is constantly nagging a student and fussing at them, do you think the student is going to show them respectful behavior? They should, but the reality is they show the teacher the same disregard as teacher gives them. And it’s the same with student motivation. If a teacher has no motivation, than the student will do the same and show no motivation as well.
-Brooke Monroe


Here’s an interesting question: why does school have to be boring? Why can’t everyone have fun while learning? All we do in most classes is sit and listen to a teacher talk for 45 minutes, and then we do a handout for the remainder of the class period. I might not be the brightest crayon in the box, but it’s actually really hard to sit still and be expecting to learn when it’s so bland and vexing. It’s complicated to explain, but it’s hard to do, and it’s unbearable sometimes.
Here’s yet another question: why can’t lesson plans be fun? As I’ve been saying, school doesn’t have to be so mind-numbingly tedious that we can’t even remember the class within an hour; teachers could make school more fun. But there’s a catch, can’t students have to behave enough and earn the privilege of even more fun assignments rather than unexciting handouts. Teachers working together enough to make something good for everyone. Like the power of peanut. Butter and chocolate working together to make a Reese’s cup, everyone loves it and it was a tasty, brilliant idea.
-Izzy Hawkins


Trying to keep a level head after 7 hours of work is kind of mundane, boring and maddening. Being able to listen to music is a release for kids/teens so they can concentrate. I am writing this to give you, the reader, the gist of what I am saying. So if you keep reading and you will understand why we need to allow music players in schools.
Music is life and life is beautiful. Having music is having someone to calm you down and let you think quicker. Music gives people this even the smallest amount of creativity.
-Joseph Ruloph


Teachers, please show us that your subjects and topics are important. Show us that it relates to the real world! Teachers, you can help! With your motivation, your students can reach a level they didn’t think possible! Care about your student’s success! Maybe you can change some ones motivation to your teaching instead of sports teams or passing grades! As a teacher, you have a choice to make a difference in your students future, teachers mold young people; you could make them into the next president for all you know. Please help your students be the best they could be and motivate them!
-Blair Bors


Interacting and having fun like joking around (in a good way, like making jokes on the subject) while doing your lessons and making the lessons fun is another good skill. It will get students listening and they’ll want to do the work. You can talk different, like in funny voices or you can make up little funny games with your class
-Marleny Garcia


Some people think the “good old days” at school were a time when teachers barked at students and “If you don’t get your work done, it’s off to the principal’s office you go.” (Automatic detention). But really, that’s not what happened. Some teachers are actually nice, and they really do try their best to get students motivated. Here at East Middle, not all the teachers are boring. We love our teachers and we do get our work done, but some of our teachers just don’t exactly know what the term change means when it comes to motivating us. My idea is that if some teachers were to get to know their students better, we'd work harder for them.
-Bre Perry

"Fifty Instead of Zero Misses the Point"

This blog post provides more good reasoning as to why endless debates about how to employ traditional grading can be counterproductive.

http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/06/50-instead-of-a-zero-misses-the-point-1.html#more

Should Creative Writing Be Taught?

I never questioned whether or not creative writing should be taught or not, until this recent article in The New Yorker. Food for thought.

Fundamental Attribution Error

In Alfie Kohn's article "Why Self Discipline is Overrated," he mentions Fundamental Attribution Error, our human tendency to overvalue individual character traits over situational factors to explain human behavior. This theory is relatively new to social psychology, and this tendency keeps education and educators stuck to the status-quo, because a lack of academic success or self-discipline can be explained by an individual's shortcomings, rather than the system's or learning environment's weaknesses.

I think it might be fair to say that effective teachers are NOT as likely to fall prey to this line of thinking.

For example, if Johnny isn't doing well in class, an ineffective teacher--prone to F.A.E., will shrug it off and exclaim, "Johnny is a lazy bum."

However, a more reflective, effective teacher might notice a handful of students not doing well in class, and think about how the lesson or classroom is being structured. Perhaps the teacher and imposed situational factors have to do with the students' performance (or lack thereof).

"Practicing" Creativity and the Widget Effect

My latest column from ASCD Express is about promoting creativity in a language arts classroom. Hope you'll find some of the ideas helpful!

On another note, www.widgeteffect.org is worth checking out if you want to read up about how teachers are seen as interchangeable parts in the greater education system, thus leading to horribly inflated teacher evaluations.