Being this is my first post on this blog, I am not sure how many will find it, read it, and respond to what I write, but that's ok.
As we prepare to close out another great school year we rarely stop and think about what really matters. We busy ourselves with writing that perfect final exam. We use the phrase "you will see this again next year" or "I am getting you ready for next year" way too often...was what we were doing all year until now not getting our students ready? We stress the importance of doing well on the exam, or final assessment, or last project of the year because...well...it's the last one of the year.
We constantly tell ourselves, each other, and our students this is what we HAVE to do at the end of the school year. Why? If your only answer is "this is the way it is every year", you may need to rethink some things. I may need to rethink some things. As I sit here writing this post, I have realized this is my 31st end of school year process in my life, 18th as a teacher. In these 31 years I have also realized that I have gone through the same, or at least a very similar, process in each of these 31 years. Has education not changed in 30+ years? Are we that set in our ways of "this is how we have always done it" as educators? Surely we have new ways to measure student progress from September to June. Right?
I don't have an answer for this right now, but I am definitely thinking twice about the exams I have written, proof read, copied and stored in my file cabinet waiting to be distributed in a week. Am I really measuring what my students learned in my classes by giving one two hour exam? And, yes I realize that the exam is only part of their grade, but if that is the case...why put so much emphasis on them? Why give them at all? Isn't it better to give a final grade based on how the students have performed progressively throughout the year?
So, what made me think about all of this today? This article that I found on my feed this afternoon: Reconsidering End of Year Grading for Student Mastery by Starr Sackstein. If you are now pondering some things about your end of year, read the article. It certainly has made me rethink some things I do as an educator.
I don't have an answer for this right now, but I am definitely thinking twice about the exams I have written, proof read, copied and stored in my file cabinet waiting to be distributed in a week. Am I really measuring what my students learned in my classes by giving one two hour exam? And, yes I realize that the exam is only part of their grade, but if that is the case...why put so much emphasis on them? Why give them at all? Isn't it better to give a final grade based on how the students have performed progressively throughout the year?
So, what made me think about all of this today? This article that I found on my feed this afternoon: Reconsidering End of Year Grading for Student Mastery by Starr Sackstein. If you are now pondering some things about your end of year, read the article. It certainly has made me rethink some things I do as an educator.
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