topham's attic: Pardon My Dust

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Pardon My Dust

As we draw closer and closer to break, I realize the vast amount of crap that is accumulating not only in my classroom but also in my email files...old drafts, revisions, unanswered questions, etc. I have to clean house some time soon. I will do so.

Shortly I will finish responding to what I believe to be all significant files from my email and archive the remainder. I will tell you when I have done so. If at that time you feel there is something missing, please let me know; otherwise it will disappear into limbo forever...

Meanwhile...

Winter Writing Festival...bring in drafts of "finished" or "in process" works for the WWF (yes, I went there) tomorrow; put on them

your name (or code name)
my name
your class period
and a TITLE!!!

Stripe them as follows: Sophs Juniors Seniors
You may have as many pieces as you'd like, and 1 or 2 copies of each piece.

CW: Countdown is now 8. Do you know where your portfolio is???

E3H and E2CP: RW tomorrow. WW Monday.

E3H: For Tuesday: Finish reading Chapter 2 of Portrait. Annotations will be due.

E2CP: For tomorrow: Bring decoration materials, esp. Disney/Christmas decorations, sturdy poster boards and markers.

and now, for no apparent reason...

Notes to Parents

8/24/14

Hi, everyone, and welcome back to another (or your first) year at LFHS.

What you have heard is true. The English teacher has lost her ever-loving mind and is not going to be giving any grades at all in her classes this year. Not. One.

There will be no percentages, no numbers, no scores, no letters, no anything that will count toward anything that will end up being averaged for a final grade. But before you call in the men with the white coats, let me explain:

As I hope you have read in the doc your son or daughter (I have always hated the phrase "your student" when addressed to a parent) should have showed you, there is a wealth of research that indicates that grades--or the need to achieve them--are the single greatest thing that stand in the way of a great education. Studies show that the most influential thing a teacher can do to help a student grow academically is to allow him or her to self-grade. Most teachers would rather climb Mt. Everest dressed only in a swimsuit.

But the thing is: our academic system is severely broken. We say that our goal is to get our students to master Common Core Standards, and that is all well and good. But if that is truly the goal, then why do we care how long it takes them to master them? I'm serious. Think about it this way:

Try to remember back to when you were learning how to ride a bike. Oh, it was scary. You needed all kinds of support at first, lots of help from Daddy or Mommy. Then they let go and you were very, very wobbly. Probably you fell off, maybe several times. It took quite a while before you completely mastered the skill. But when you had...you had it down perfectly for the rest of your life.

Now imagine if you were being graded on that learning experience the way schools grade you. We would not score those first scaffolding attempts with Mommy and Daddy, but then...oh, you failed those quizzes when you fell off. And those wobbly rides? C's at best. Then a bunch of B's probably before you finally settled into 100% forever. But if we graded you right at that point, you'd probably average, oh, 83% or so. Why? You've mastered the skill perfectly. So why do you not get 100% if that is what we say we care about? Why on earth do we care about all those earlier times when you didn't have it down yet?

That will be what we go for here. Students will know what the goals are. They will understand what an "A" student looks like. And they will know when they have mastered an objective. Those who do so earlier than others will become tutors to those who have not yet done it: everyone gains from this and the newly learned skills, instead of being quickly forgotten as things studied for a test usually are, will continue being applied as masters tutor their classmates.

That is an awful lot to imagine will happen because I don't give grades this year, but what the heck: if you don't dream big, you never win big, right? The research is behind this, as is the school administration. I'm happy--well, actually I am excited--to pilot this concept at LFHS. As always, I'm glad to discuss this or anything else with you.

Karen

Feel free to email me any time at ktopham@lfschools.net.

topham's attic

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Pardon My Dust

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