Grading Elementary Level Work Part 2

In the previous blog, we began looking at how to grade, or evaluate, the work of elementary level students. The idea was put forth that giving letter grades is counter-productive to mastery learning and an obstacle to instilling a love of learning.

To illustrate this point further, consider a cook preparing a special meal.  She plans the menu and searches for just the right recipes.  She purchases the freshest ingredients, then makes each dish with care.  She sets the table with her finest china, and serves the food in her best dishes.  As the meal is being consumed, what does the cook crave to hear? 

            “This meat is the most tender I’ve ever eaten.”

            “How did you get these potatoes to be so fluffy?”

            “May I have more asparagus?”

Her sense of accomplishment will not be satisfied if the diners eat what is on their plates, then scoot back and say, “We give this meal a B+.”  A “B+” is a respectable grade, but by itself it is worthless.  On the other hand, an honest evaluation is priceless and gives the cook specific direction as to what worked and what didn’t.  (The meat was tender, the potatoes fluffy, but the pie crust was too dry.)

It isn’t the B+ that will motivate our chef to improve her cooking skills; it is the combination of praise for what was done well, and suggestions on how to do better that will spur her to prepare another special meal.  The cook will not care about the next meal if this one doesn’t have a moment of glory.

So what is the alternative to giving a letter grade?  You already know.

As a home-schooling mom, you are involved in your child’s learning process.  You know whether or not the material has been mastered.  When it has, let your child show off.  Let him have center-stage at the dinner table.  Host a weekly “this is what I learned” night where your children reveal a new math skill, or participate in a spelling bee, or demonstrate a science experiment in front of the family.  Host a quarterly home-school fair where essays and projects are displayed.  Choose words that praise the new skill rather than the grade.  This type of recognition will motivate and reward your student much more than any grade ever will.

Praising your child’s efforts with words of encouragement and respect develops a positive learning environment not possible through a letter grade.  When you, as the teacher, focus on what has been learned, rather than the measure of what has been learned, your children are free to learn fearlessly.

In the next blog, we will explore how letter grades encourage laziness and work against mastery learning.

Grading

Over and again at conventions, through emails and phone calls homeschooling moms ask about grading their children’s work.  This blog is the first in a series focusing on giving letter grades.  Today we will begin a discussion on grading elementary level work.

Grades are an individual matter.  There is no single, absolute right way to grade students’ performance; therefore, my answers may not work for you.  That being said, as a homeschooling mom and co-op teacher, I’ve had to come up with a “philosophy” of grading that was fair and easy to apply.

Seeking a fair system forced me to consider why grades were important.  For my elementary level students, I realized they weren’t.  It was (and is) important to me to instill a love of learning in my children.  Letter grades are counter-productive to that.  When a grade is given, the focus shifts from “what did I learn?” to “what grade did I get?”

Another difficulty was finding any benefits to grading the learning process.  Walk through this with me:  your student does not know something; he takes steps to learn it; after the steps are completed, he knows the new information or skill.  What part of that process is improved by grading it?  The goal is to learn something.  Tools are provided to facilitate the learning. The “reward” is the mastering of the new skill or knowledge.  Should a child be penalized because he learns at a slow rate?  Should he be rewarded because he catches on quickly?  The way in which a child learns is important to me as his teacher because I want to provide tools useful to him, but how does grading his use of the tools assist actual learning?

If, after effort is expended to learn something, the final hurrah is the grade, then the real achievement becomes secondary to the all-important grade.  Yet, some want a measuring stick to finalize the process, such as the test at the end of the chapter.  Give the test, if you must, but remember that most of us love to learn, few like to be tested.  Most tests assess the ability of a student to take a test rather than gauge his knowledge.  As soon as the test becomes a focal point, the child will memorize facts to pass it, but real learning is side-lined.  We evaluate whether or not a skill has been mastered or knowledge acquired in order to know when to move on to the next skill, but grading the evaluation is pointless.

In my next blog, I will discuss alternatives to letter grades.

It’s been a long time coming, but our new website is finally operational.  As with many new things, we may have glitches to work on; you can help by letting us know if something isn’t working for you, or if there are confusing elements. 

This blog will be used to discuss issues related to homeschooling in general and language arts in particular.  If there are burning topics you’re eager to see addressed, let me know and we can add them to the top of the list.  Currently, I plan to address:  How to Evaluate Your Child’s Writing; The Reluctant Writer; What About Grammar; and The Value of Motion in Learning.

I’ll begin posting about those topics after our annual Rep Weekend, January 15-18, 2009.  All our representatives will be joining me in Washington state for workshops and seminars in preparation for the 2009 homeschool convention season.  We want our reps to be the best anywhere, equipped to answer customer questions and serve the homeschooling community.  You can help by letting us know what you need from your representative.  What does a good rep look like to you and how can we serve you better?

Until then, God bless!

Barbara