topham's attic: 1/9 finals at the door

Monday, January 9, 2012

1/9 finals at the door

Tomorrow is the English Final. Not much to say about that. Good luck!

A few words for all about next week...

But first a goodbye:

CW: I've truly enjoyed this class. I hope that you have too, as much as you've indicated on the Final Projects and all. Thank you for all of the excellent suggestions for next year. I will try to use as many of them as I can. I'm definitely going to try out the Blogfolios. I think that the notion of establishing a once-a-week "class review" day, at least for the first quarter, is excellent. Having time in the first week to set up WS and other structural things is also a fine idea. These and other things I will implement next fall. If you come up with anything else, drop me an email! (Or stop by. You can always stop by!)

Here are the remaining Final Projects:

Have a great second semester!

OK, now: let's talk to those who are coming back...

To all: Don't forget that there is a Vocab Test Thingie on Tuesday, right away, when we return.

E3H: Finish Chapter 3 annotations for Wednesday back. We'll be moving through the rest of Portrait in the next few weeks. Also, it might be a good idea to take a look at the English offerings in the Student Guide to Courses. We'll be discussing them a bit when we return, but you have some big registration decisions to make!

E2CP: In the few days of that first week back, we will finish our novel and write about it; then we will be moving on. Short stories are our next stop before another novel pops up in February.

OLD PEOPLE DANCING!

I found one with a grandma dancing to "Rack City" but the song is too obscene to link to...

This woman is 97!!!

WORD OF THE DAY*: GOOD LUCK!!!!

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

Monday, January 9, 2012

1/9 finals at the door

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