aardent lore

The concept of grading student work is one with which I continue to struggle. I’ve been reproached, by parents, students and administrators, for not having enough graded assignments during a grading period. How exactly am I supposed to define “enough”. My students claim they deserve a grade for everything they do. Parents, the ones who actually look at my grade book, generally expect daily grade posts. I’ve had administrators suggest that I post at least one test grade and one assignment grade per week. My question is always: Why should I assign a grade to student work when what most of my students need is relevant feedback that leads to a higher level of understanding and mastery of the concept being learned? I’m waiting for an answer I can swallow without choking.

Clay Burell’s post brought the grading enigma back to the forefront of my post-school year reflective mind. I’m still ingesting the post. He’s given me much to feed upon.

I’m not happy with how I served up grades this year. My attempts to make my grades meaningful ended in failure; I accomplished nothing more than to feed the machine. Mind now, no one complained about or questioned my grading system. That knowledge does nothing to placate my discontent.

I imagine that there are teachers who have solved this conundrum.

Alas, my thoughts are beginning to dissolve into random chaos. A clear signal that I need to stop thinking on this until my thoughts regain some sense of order.