So often we hear “Grades are wrong” and the list of why they are wrong can go on for days. I can sum up the number one reason grades instead of the alternatives are wrong:
The need for “make up” work and doing worksheets and other activities that do not increase learning become the norm. The busy work is assigned so kids can make the grade. A grade is not what it should be, a worksheet is done as make up, problem. In the mean time learning that is happening in the classroom, or lack of, is replaced by this. Kids move through school expecting this to happen every time a grade is below normal and never learning the skills that should be taught. Thus problem solving, group collaboration skills, and the alike are no longer important because “making the grade” has a higher ranking in the culture. Grades become more important than learning and work becomes the goal, that is sad.
And now I step down from my soap box.
I do everything I can to avoid busywork…all the grades in my book are active, collaborative, and creative demonstrations of what they’ve learned. Application matters and being able to express your knowledge in new scenarios matters even more.
Then I was told by administration that I don’t have enough grades in my book.
It isn’t just the kids looking to make the grade, and this is a major problem.