topham's attic: 2011: A Space Odyssey

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

2011: A Space Odyssey

And we're back!

Isn't it just lovely to be back again? Don't you all just find it joyous to be here in these hallowed halls instead of, for instance, Arizona or Hawaii or California or even your own bedrooms? I know that I for one woke up every morning bright and early the entire vacation without even setting the alarm, got into my car, and did a drive-by of LFHS just to see the place. Otherwise I'd just have missed it way too much.

Thank goodness that awful two weeks is finally over!

CW: Your entire course is almost over! Portfolios will trickle back over the next ten days or so. Projects will continue all week.

E3H: I'll grade annotations tonight if I can. However, I just had a bit of a monkey wrench thrown into my scheduling for the afternoon, so I am not sure what I will be able to get accomplished. More group reports/literary circle discussion tomorrow. (Plus: I need to check the remaining WW folders!)

E2CP: Read the two Robert Browning poems that open Chapter Four as well as the material around them. Read them reach several times and be ready to discuss the imagery in them. (I also have to check remaining WW folders!)

Oscar season is starting, and there is one film that just is not getting its due from the critics. So here is a "For Your Consideration" piece from the makers of Piranha 3D:

Piranha 3D: For Your Consideration from Jerry O'Connell

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

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

2011: A Space Odyssey

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