My Grades Always Surprised
elementary grades. I became more competitive,
I remember as a student that teachers never
and I even took courses that I knew I wouldn’t
made us aware of what criteria they were using
enjoy just to get the grade point average boost
to help me get a scholarship to college. I think to grade. Essentially, my term papers, essays, and
that kids today are under even more pressure to
get the grade, so much so that they don’t love
the learning anymore. We should be teaching
the whole child to love to learn, not to love
taking tests and making As. I think that grades
provide more of a negative motivation than a
positive one. The question is, can we fit a square
in our essentialist, fast-paced schools focused on
“leaving no child behind”?
even homework were all the proverbial Hail-Mary passes. The grade I received was always a
surprise. Consequently, I was motivated to just
get my assignments done, but I was not motivated to do my best because I had no sense of
what that was. The lesson I apply to my own
teaching is to teach the process first with a lot
peg (percentage grading) into a round hole of guided practice. That way, my students know
(standards-based/benchmark/checklist grading) the expectations, and they become motivated to
achieve. My rule of thumb is, “No surprises.”
Santa Monica College, Culver City, California
Students as Data Partners
““I still recall the excitement I felt as a child when the teacher handed out report cards. data-driven education, my 8th grade social stud- ies teacher used to track data for every test, every question, and every student. After we took a test, the following class period was devoted to analyz- ing answers and the data associated with those answers. This was profoundly motivating to me because I wanted to “see myself” in the data. As educators and leaders analyze data to improve instruction, we should consider frequently shar-In the 1980s, long before the current focus on
ing data with our students.
Thanks for That Feedback?
—Jeffrey McCoach, teacher,
In a graduate-level writing class, I had an Methacton School District,
instructor give me the following feedback: “Don’t Collegeville, Pennsylvania
be afraid to keep doing sh***y writing.” From
Blanking on a Sunflower
my perspective today, I have to assume this
feedback was intended to be useful, but at the
We want to hear your
stories! Future “Tell
time it was just discouraging and disheartening. My senior year of high school, I received a C- on Me About” columns
a pointillism portrait of a sunflower because I
The class was small, and there were all kinds of
will feature readers’
chose to leave a portion of the flower blank. I
opportunities for constructive feedback, but this experiences with per-
one cutting and ill-defined assessment shut me have that picture in my classroom to remind me
sonalizing instruction,
to allow students to defend their vision when it
doesn’t fit within my guidelines.
—Mirna Jope, teacher,
Encina Preparatory High School,
Sacramento, California
down for months.
teaching reading, and
more. To see upcoming
—Sam Patterson, questions and
dean of student advising and outreach,
Kehillah High School, Palo Alto, California contribute a response,
go to www.ascd.org
/tellmeabout.
When Pressure Kills Learning
Students Need Unlimited
Opportunities to Excel
On essays, I always offer unlimited revisions Although I was always a motivated student who
wanted to do my best, as I grew older I wasn’t
as focused on learning as I had been in the
until students receive the grade they want. One
student revised six times, going from 77 percent
