Class 6 (Oct 9) Entrance Slip - Refocusing Our Efforts: A Shift From Grading to an Emphasis on Learning

I had fun reading this article. The part about teachers focusing on engaging the students in learning, making learning fun and engaging for them, stood out to me. I have always considered sticking to the curriculum as a checklist, working to ensure that students master all the learning outcomes, and grading students’ understanding as one of my primary responsibilities as a teacher. But after reading the article, I started to feel that it is not the case. I think that students still should aim to understand and try to apply all the concepts in the curriculum, but they don’t necessarily have to achieve Extending in every area. I thought of the candy crush metaphor I learned in EPSE 317. Sometimes, it is ok to just get two stars out of three for some levels, and you have the freedom and option to challenge yourself for the third star only if you want to. I also thought about one of our discussions in LLED 361, on a proficiency scale rubric, do we read from the top down, where everyone is 100% perfect unless or until they make a mistake, from the bottom up, where everyone is a zero unless or until they earn their way up, or from the middle out, where everyone is given some credit for capability to start with. We also discussed the column rubric, as one of the TCs mentioned that if students don’t know what the ceiling is, they will produce higher-quality work. By leaving space for interpretation, giving students some freedom in the rubric so that the rubric is something students are also participating in, and adding unexpected, above expectation things that students did to the marking scheme, I feel would make grading less stressful and learning more meaningful for students, as they are focusing on what THEY can do, instead of what the TEACHER wants them to do. 

When I was in high school, I liked being assigned percentages for my work. I saw grades as a challenge for myself, which motivated me to study hard. I still remember in social studies 10, I set a goal for myself to get an A for the class, which meant that I needed to get Extending for almost all of my assignments. Because of this goal, even though I didn’t enjoy the class, I was motivated to pay attention in class and try my best on my assignments. I felt that because of this challenge, I learned more than I would have with my lack of interest in the class. For me, grades served as a way for me to gamify my learning journey, to make learning fun, and as an indicator of how well my understanding was. A negative aspect I thought of about grading and tests when I was in high school was how a careless mistake on a test would result in a deduction of marks, which made me feel that all my understanding and work done to understand the topic had gone to waste, and made me very frustrated at myself. Regarding the topic of tests, I also remember when studying for my midterms of finals in my university physics classes, I would always cram them last minute, and rely on my short-term memories during the tests. The results usually turn out well, but it was mostly “not knowledge”, as I was just “[blurting] out all the stuff [I] memorized” last minute. 

Thinking from a teacher’s perspective, assigning grades in assessments seems like one of the tasks teachers have to do to represent students’ understanding to universities, parents, and students, so that they can know where the student is without having to go through all the work that the student has done. With how the whole system works now, I feel that the teacher is not in control of whether to assign grades or not, but I think there are strategies teachers can use to lessen the emphasis on grades and encourage students to step out of their comfort zone to experiment and explore without worrying about their performance as they take risks. Below is a list of ideas I have summarized from my experience and from the reading, to shift the focus from grading to learning:

1. Allow students to "experience relatedness and connectedness"

    - Showing students a cool phenomenon, then explaining the concept, so that they are genuinely interested in how things work

    - Incorporate group work activities

    - "Encourage students to invent explanations for everyday observations related to [the] topics"

    - Incorporate students' personal interests and culture in the lessons

2. Let students experience "perceived competence"

    - Provide "completion mark" opportunities for some of the learning outcomes

        -> To not penalize weakness when students develop it, so that students can develop on skills and learn without worrying about their grades

    - Provide retest or alternate ways to show their understanding so that students feel more comfortable learning

    - Provide more than one opportunity for students to demonstrate their understanding

    - Reminding students that "their success did not have to be defined by a letter grade"

    - Having the lowest grade weighted less can decrease students' stress in their marks and motivate them to take risks

3. Make students “feel ‘freedom from excessive external pressure toward behaving or thinking a certain way” - Give students the freedom to choose what assignment to do, to show what they know for the same learning outcome. -> Firm goals, flexible means - Give students the freedom to choose “a topic that was of interest to them” - Have the class “discuss criteria and create a rubric for the project” - Have open-ended design projects where students can utilize their learning from the unit to apply to the projects