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One teacher's irreverent look at grades and grading.
Educators have long questioned the validity of grades with regards to determining the intellectual ability of students, and have sought more valid means of evaluation with performance events, portfolios, and exit interviews. The bottom line is that grades, by any other name, have and always will play a major role in education and in life. I recently decided to push the grade envelope with a group of students who were obviously burdened by the academic system, and here is what I found.
I knew something was up when I heard them wishing they were still in Junior English. Kyle said something about how she missed Mrs. Thornton. Lewis mentioned how nice Mrs. Thornton was and how well she treated them. I felt like saying, "O.K. What is wrong? Where have I strayed from the prescribed teacher behavior?" I didn't have to wait long to know my error.
Chris stood up, waiting to see if I would extend the scepter toward him. Chris is the indisputable King of the Cliffs Notes. He cleared his throat like any good defense attorney awaiting permission to make the opening statement; I waited patiently.
"Yes, Chris. Did you have something to say?" I said, noticing tension edging around the room like a toothless man at a dentist's convention.
"Yes, ma'am. Uh . . . I think I speak for the rest of the class, . . . I . . uh, we think that there is entirely too much put on us, ma'am," he said.
(For the record, I'm only 29, hardly worthy of the matronly title of "ma'am," a title I've repeatedly asked him to assign only to his Sunday School teacher, his mother, his grandmother and really, really old women.)
"You think there is entirely too much put upon you?" I said. "What does that mean exactly?"
"That means, ma'am, that we are having trouble, I mean, we are . . . well, this isn't the only class we have, you know," he said, finally, with a pained, constipated look on his face.
"Yeah, you are giving us too much work," chimed in Lewis. Lewis is an extremely bright student, well-read, and selfmotivated. I could count on Lewis to...