I must admit that I was a little surprised that first year teachers shared anxiety over the grading process. It was not something that I had thought about as a cause of concern, but the more I considered their concerns, the more I realized that this can be something that can be ambiguous. Kudos to them for thinking about this ahead of time.
There are so many discussions happening in education about the validity and efficacy of grading in school. Questions arise: What are we measuring? Which type of assessment will be used? How will we know they have mastered the standard? What will we do if they don’t meet the standard? Will there be recovery?
So, I would first say that a first-year teacher should talk to their department chair, colleagues in their department, and/or principal. Part of your grading policy will depend on the school district and the principal. They primarily determine the expectations and guidelines for measuring a student’s success along with using the state standards. I would certainly encourage anyone new to a school to find out the grading policy before making plans. Your best defense is to be a unified front.
Once you establish the norm at your school, you can create a syllabus to set expectations early. I would include the following in this document:
- Course Description
- Materials Needed
- Grading Categories with %
- The County’s Grading Scale
- Grading Codes (NHI = not handed in and I = incomplete)
- Policies
For policies, I created a top 10 list. My #1 was to be kind to all. Other examples in this category would be the plagiarism and cheating policy. At my school, we defined the step of consequences based on the county. The syllabus made my classroom expectations and recovery options very clear. It is best to review the syllabus with your students at the beginning of the year. Even better, you can include a signature page for the student and parent/guardian to sign indicating that they understand and will comply with the policies and requirements.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IB_0splSLrlONdFPvu8YBXEy-IY5QAOl/view
The more you keep the student and parent/guardian informed the better the experience for you during your first year and beyond (insert Buzz Lightyear voice). If you have not read my blog about parent/guardian communication, you might want to check it out to hear of ways to stay ahead with communication at home.
Something to think about is how to get your students involved in measuring the growth. If you have not already, I encourage you to read the Growth Mindset Playbook: A Teacher’s Guide to Promoting Student Success by Annie Brock and Heather Hundley. You can also purchase a coaching book that serves as a month-to-month handbook. These 2 books or tools would be a great way to build an understanding or foundation for you to create student buy-in (I prefer to say investment). We need to change the dialogue when discussing grades. Yes, we understand that the final grade is important to most students. For a high school kid, it might mean graduating on time or getting into their preferred college. But, we can’t just consider the grade. It is more important to think about the learning.
A common conversation that I would have with my high school students was about the grade vs. the growth. Too often, we have students who just want to know what they need to do to get an A. This typically takes time, if done right, because the idea is that as each student moves up a grade, every year, they should be entering a course with the mindset of wanting to build on what they learned last year and to learn some new skills, ideas, and topics.
I encourage you to think about ways you can get students involved in watching the learning grow and even measuring it. I find that most people want to invest in themselves. What if we provided the tools and skills for students to invest in their learning process? If the grade is so important to the student (in particular getting that A), I would always emphasize that they should see their grade go up as they continue to practice and learn the new material. By the time the report came out, they hopefully have reached their goal.
Lastly, I want to make sure that new teachers, 1st year teachers, veteran teachers remember to collaborate with other educators. If you are new and are feeling apprehensive or lacking knowledge when it comes to setting up a grade book and assessing student work, please reach out and ask for guidance. No one will judge you for wanting to have clear measurements for grading student work. This should be an ongoing communication within your learning community all year long.
See You Real Soon,
Erin
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