Category: Grading Practices

Parents & Guardians

TL: DR Meetings with parents and guardians can be made simpler and with more care.

A little story:

Many years ago, I saw the need for an alternative to the current ASB (Associated Student Body) group. The ASB at the time was comprised of very highly motivated, engaged, and energetic students who also understood the “rules of school.” Mind you, and I’m saying this clearly so there is no misunderstanding: the ASB leader and students were amazing. And, it was not a club where everyone/anyone could join. It’s based on elections and voting and is often a popularity contest.

via GIPHY

So, I asked my students if they were interested in starting their own club. They were mostly Black and multi-racial girls, about six of them, many of whom had negative experiences in school. They decided to go with the club name of Royal Queens because the feeder high school they’d be attending next year are the Royals, and yes, they were Queens. Okay, cool. Got permission from one of the assistant principals, (one of the most amazing women I’ve ever known) and carried on.

The girls did projects like, on Valentine’s for example, put a valentine heart on every single locker (over 600) from them. Some kids said it was the first Valentine they’d ever received. They would get a special pass to go help with projects around the school. And yes, sometimes — they took advantage of this or were a little disruptive for some teachers, and yes, I had at least two other teachers* complain about them. But they had fun, and so many of them grew and matured, and are loving young adults today. Just an amazing bunch of students.

Pausing to a parent meeting with one of the girls, “T.” T was imaginative, intelligent, funny, joyous, and a loyal and fierce friend to her peers. For some reason, she was in trouble, and we were called into a parent meeting. The other teachers* were ready to attack. They said their piece about how awful and disrespectful “T” was. When it was my turn, I told her mom that T was part of this club, worked really hard, and from everything I could tell did an amazing job of advocating for herself, and many other positive things. Her mom just stopped and stared at me for a second and said, “This is the first time a teacher has ever said anything good about my daughter.”

So.

Okay.

This doesn’t work for every situation, content area, teaching style, or student. I’m trying to coalesce concepts that are not easily filtered.

Parents and guardians want their children to do well. To thrive. Generational trauma, systemic racism, and white supremacy create a toxic mix when parents come into a meeting about their child. Add to that our own experiences we bring to the room, and our beliefs about parenting. The assumptions, stereotypes, and white savior tropes get in the way of many (white) teachers. Clear that away from one moment of clarity and just remember: no matter how good or bad you think the parent/guardian is sitting across from you, there is a blood bond between them and that child in the room, too. Our role is not only to deliver instruction and to ensure their child strives for mastery of that content area but to be and grow to who they are — that’s it. And it’s a collective, nourishing growth. They, students, can show up with love and self-respect. Do not demand respect from students and parents when you have not modeled self-respect.

When it comes to grades, oh boy, nothing upsets many teachers more than when I say don’t markdown for late work. Just don’t. If a student has nothing turned in, build a system in place, especially for older students, where they can call or text their parents to let them know. They always have their parent’s number, even if the grading software isn’t updated. In the age of digital grading systems and alerts, I promise you — speaking from my own experience – all the alerts in the world will not help a parent of a child who has #ADHD or other neurodiversity. And if the parent also has ADHD (ahem) she is most likely doing their best to function in the workplace as well as tend to a child who is struggling to stay organized. And please — throw out this “real world” notion that the real world only functions in a linear, time-demanding way. Notice I didn’t say always — I said only. There are many ways the world functions. People have depression, ADHD, autism, and many other cognitive demands. This does not mean whatever you’re asking them to go can’t be done. It means you’re going to have to work WITH parents/guardians and students to make it work for them. That’s it.

Asset-based mindsets, accurate diagnosis, continuous reflection, and readjustments. And for goodness sakes, just say something good, okay? OH AND FOLLOW THAT IEP/504. This is not a war of attrition against parents where teachers are “winning” something. The cruelty, egos, and overall garbage I’ve witnessed are egregious. But as Mr. Rogers says, I look for the helpers. Who’s in charge of making sure the education law and rules are followed? Who’s in charge of the grading practices and equity? What is my role in the following and adherence to the laws? Quite a large one, actually, as are most teachers.

If there are serious issues, such as gang-related, criminal activity (and no, sorry, crop tops and spaghetti straps don’t count) those are issues that are at the administrative level. At this time in my career, I will do whatever is in my power to disrupt and stop the school-to-prison pipeline. But if it’s reached that point before the student is in front of me, I will still do what I can. This might mean offering an online course for a student, making my time and instructional available in flexible hours, whatever. This does not mean this is a choice other teachers can and should make.

One thing I’m “good” at, which came with a lot of tears and hard learning, is how to interact with parents and guardians in meetings. I’m not naturally good, or…perhaps I am. I took something in my personality and experiences and reflected many times over the years — what would I need and want to hear if I was on the other side of this table? And, with my second son, I was on the other side of the table. I learned so much.

I’m going to offer this to any teacher, veteran, or rookie, this service: I will have a conversation about how to approach grades, discipline, and just an ear to listen — with this caveat — I will give advice and ask questions. You can ask me on Twitter @mrskellylove

Grades gone wild…

The Keys @k.c.love

Cult of Pedagogy turned my attention to this fantastic post by Arthur Chiaravalli, “Teachers Going Gradeless.” 

Gratitude for my PLN for helping me stay fresh, excited and wise: things have been tricky at my school recently, and while we’re on spring break I am determined to relax, dangit. Refresh, Renew. All that good stuff. People are worried about me (turns out middle school girls and boys think I’m crying when I am having a hot flash–thanks, menopause). I was beginning to get a little worried about myself: have I taught them enough? Is testing going to be okay? Will the boy who won’t allow me to help him be a better reader be okay? Will that girl who has given up on herself understand that we won’t give up on her?

Perhaps this may be the simple answer to those complex, emotional questions: as we strive to allow for our students to be independent, the most obvious path is the timeless practice of self-assessment. Their emotional responses to learned helplessness and inner-dialogue of shame may be cooled by simply allowing them the space that they are in more control than they believe. 

Things on teachers’ minds must be washed and dried before break ends–otherwise, it’s not a break. So just in the nick of time here are some ideas about having students self-assess. Chiaravelli draws from the great minds of pedagogy:

Drawing on the research of Ruth Butler, Dylan Wiliam, John Hattie, Daniel Pink, Carol Dweck, Alfie Kohn, Linda McNeil, Linda Mabry, Maja Wilson and countless others, we are teachers who are convinced that teaching and learning can be better when we grade less.

For some of us, the word gradeless means to grade less, that is, limiting the impact of grades within the context of current constraints. Some are just trying to get away from toxic assessment and grading practices, like assessments with no opportunity to redo or retake or zeroes on the mathematically disproportionate 100-point scale.

Okay, cool. I have always allowed for redos, and never marked things down for being late, etc. Okay. Instincts without research don’t mean anything – so he provides the research.

What my grading practices are now:
  1. Non-negotiable assignments:
    • Weekly Vocabulary worth 50 points
      • If they don’t turn it in, it goes in zero and missing in Skyward.
      • They have one to two weeks to turn it in and receive full points. I never mark down work simply for being late, and never have.
      • Positive: Once they see they are in control of their non-negotiables and have choice and flexibility,  they get in a routine of learning and diving into new words.
      • Negative: Students still don’t understand that the zero, which is horrible but the only way they and their parents pay attention or get a notification, can be easily remedied by doing the work. I will ask other students in the class who have turned things in late and subsequently turn them in, and their grade changes, to share that with the class. In addition, I still need to track students down.
  2. Grading every two weeks as required.
  3. Grading assessments (especially the Common Formative Assessments created by our ELA PLC 8th grade as ‘no count.’
How are they evolving:
  1. I created a unit/module in Canvas called “Top Ten Things” for ELA. Its intended purpose allows for student flexibility: if they are done with something, they can explore ten lessons in a ‘flipped’ way.
    • Positive: Students who seek them out enjoy doing them as “extra credit.”
    • Allows for self-exploration and questions– great opportunity for metacognition and independent work.
    • Negative: Students have been confused — understandable. These absolutely require my guidance, and that’s fine. Another issue is students requiring more guidance than time allows. After the break this is something I will address.
  2. Provided a ‘create your own rubric lesson’ in the fall: this is a concept I plan on bringing back this spring after the break.
  3. Allowing students to assess student work—now that there is student work to share based on current projects!
Next level:
  1. Paraphrasing and crafting metrics and rubrics based on CCSS, standardized assessments (from the OSPI/SBA)
  2. Crafting choice projects/burning questions metrics based on CCSS
  3. Crafting and self-assessing on both low stakes and high stakes assignments they create and produce.
  4. Continuing to provide curriculum maps to students — visible checklists to help guide them.
Clarifying goals:

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The second finding comes from John Hattie (2012) whose synthesis of 800 meta-studies showed that student self-assessment/self-grading topped the list of educational interventions with the highest effect size. By teaching students how to accurately self-assess based on clear criteria, teachers empower them to become “self-regulated learners” able to monitor, regulate, and guide their own learning. The reason students never develop these traits is that our monopoly on assessment, feedback, and grading has trained students to adopt an attitude of total passivity in the learning process.

Let us all “grade less” so students can learn more. Just like in any creative pursuit, the linear qualities of rubrics do not have to constrain, but to guide.

PS Not sure where I found this:

This could be a good approach to student-created rubrics.

Update:

http://alicekeeler.com/2017/06/22/youre-human-not-assess-like-robot/