(Page 136) “If we’re basing our decision on the ‘real world’ outside of school, then the answer is clear: Allow students to redo work.”
I’m really thinking we all will like this chapter because it doesn’t tell us that we ALWAYS have to let students redo work; it is at our own discretion. We’ve had the conversation before about students in the elementary and middle school just automatically being able to retake a test—they often don’t study because they know they’ll get another chance to do better. I think Wormelli makes it clear that we aren’t required to give students a retake if we think they’re taking advantage; we offer the option when it’s the fair thing to do. This is where the ART of teaching comes in to play. While you may do different things for different students, you still have to be able to justify it if it becomes necessary. We can’t arbitrarily refuse to let students redo work, but if we can explain why we wouldn’t let Johnny redo a test even though we allowed another student to do so with good reason, then there will be no problems. Making such decisions is like good teaching—you know why you’re doing what you’re doing!
I’m really thinking we all will like this chapter because it doesn’t tell us that we ALWAYS have to let students redo work; it is at our own discretion. We’ve had the conversation before about students in the elementary and middle school just automatically being able to retake a test—they often don’t study because they know they’ll get another chance to do better. I think Wormelli makes it clear that we aren’t required to give students a retake if we think they’re taking advantage; we offer the option when it’s the fair thing to do. This is where the ART of teaching comes in to play. While you may do different things for different students, you still have to be able to justify it if it becomes necessary. We can’t arbitrarily refuse to let students redo work, but if we can explain why we wouldn’t let Johnny redo a test even though we allowed another student to do so with good reason, then there will be no problems. Making such decisions is like good teaching—you know why you’re doing what you’re doing!
I must admit that Chapter 11 did get a little wordy for me. I suspect you mathophobics were really thrown with all that number talk early on. I see the point of not giving a zero, but I don’t know that I’m completely sold on the “just give ‘em a 60” idea either. I think I could live more with giving a 50, but I’m thinking that would have to be at my discretion much like the idea of providing the opportunity of the redo. Wormelli gives the example of the kid who does nothing and gets all 60’s still ends up with an F. Well, that’s if the kid does absolutely nothing. What about the kid who is smart but lazy, so he has half A’s and half F’s? That child isn’t going to get an F. Again, I think the whole things deals with the art of teaching. For some students, they do deserve a 0, but others deserve the 50 or 60. I’m definitely one who believes in giving a kid hope. If a student has a horrible grade first quarter that is mathematically impossible to bring up to passing, I absolutely believe that he should be given the opportunity to redeem himself and that number should be adjusted if the student is willing to do a turn-around. What are y’all’s thoughts on this issue?
12 comments:
Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Chapters 10 & 11
You’re right, Claire. I did like the reading. I especially liked chapter ten…I guess that’s the mathophobic in me. I was going to use the exact same quote you used, Diane. Instead, I’ll add a different part that stood out in my reading.
“Our world is full or redos. Sure, most adults don’t make as many mistakes requiring redos as students do, but that’s just it—our students are not adults and as such, they can be afforded a merciful disposition from their teachers as we move them toward adult competency.”
I agree with Wormelli’s thoughts in chapter ten, and I agree with what Diane wrote. It is the art of teaching to use our discretion on retests. I have found more this year than my previous two years of teaching how beneficial a retest can be for students. The students who have taken me up on retests this year have been extremely thankful for the opportunity, and it has definitely helped their grades. More than that, I know that by taking the retest, they’re more prepared and understand the material better the second time around. When I really think about it, I know many times we teachers get extensions on time to get work done. How can we expect all students to make every deadline if we ourselves are many times granted extensions and mercy? I also agreed with Wormelli when he wrote,
“On most occasions, however, our first response is to be merciful. One of the signs of a great intellect is the inclination to extend mercy to others, and all successful teachers are intellectual.”
This quote made me feel good about the opportunities I find myself giving my kids. It doesn’t just mean I’m an easy teacher who doesn’t push them enough. It means I expect more from them. My main goal is that they learn. If it takes a couple of attempts at times (at my discretion, of course), then I’m ensuring their learning. And, just as Wormelli said, being merciful just means I’m a great intellectual!
Finally, I appreciated the explanation of post-test analysis found on page 135. I have used this technique before to allow students the opportunity to earn back points on low test grades. I believe it’s a way for them to boost their grade but also explain what they did wrong. By revisiting their missed questions, they’re going to learn what they didn’t learn before.
I agree with Wormeli's assertion in chapter 10 that life is full of "do-evers." Anyone (adults or students) can have an off day, not grasp the material, etc. Here is a media center analogy to this chapter. Overdue Amnesty Day has a similar premise to chapter 10 in Wormeli. Why penalize students for late fees by withholding the privilege of checking out books from the media center for years on end? Sure, students in high school are young adults and should be held responsible for books they check out. But the media center's once-a-year amnesty day event cleans the slate vis-a-vis overdue fines and puts books in the hands of students. Everyone is happy and the goodwill created goes a long way toward creating a positive climate in our media center and giving students the tools (books) they need to establish a lifetime love of reading.
Chapter 11 is loaded with lots of information. I thought pages 146-147 discussing the differences between automaticity versus concept attainment was very interesting. I am collaborating with a classroom teacher in the media center lab during March. An expert SCETV trainer is coming to school and working with students on PhotoStory and MovieMaker. Developing a rubric is challenging since the students (as well as the classroom teacher and myself) are going to be receiving a lot of brand new information from the SCETV trainer. The students are receiving the information that will go into their computer projects from the classroom teacher PRIOR to coming to the lab, but the mechanics (and so many of the nuances) of the software will be new information for all (except, of course, the ETV trainer). This is definitely an example of the process being as important as the product and concept attainment in its purest form.
I also really enjoyed the reading this time. Particularly the examples and people that allowed students to make up tests in the way of explaining types of errors and how to correct them. It’s very true that varieties of adult jobs require doing tasks multiple times or allow for turning them in late. On the whole in this past school year for me, with my health, I don’t know what I’d have done if my co-workers and bosses were not compassionate.It’s okay to allow the same for students as long as they are not the “chronic redoers.”
I often battle myself with allowing truant students the opportunities to make up their work. I think they should have the opportunity, and love providing that hope for them. However, when they already know that they’ve missed too many days to have a class count for credit and probably even get the consideration of attendance appeals committee, they give up on themselves, and I’m not sure how to or if there is help for them at that point. Suggestions are welcome!
I’m hesitant on turning a zero to a sixty. It does make sense, and in specific situations, sure; but I agree with Diane that giving the 50 or 60 depends on the kid. I’d never want to take it from a kid who gives the effort consistently. But I sure would want to give a close to passing grade for a student who’s never put forth the effort at all.
Wormeli and his sources make an interesting argument for grading gifted students. I remember taking an honors English class in high school and earning a C+ and constantly thinking to myself that if I were in the lower level class, this would be an A. Not that there is rationale to the thought, but I still wonder if students think that today.
Fair Isn’t Always Equal Chapters 10 and 11
Now, I feel bad for giving the Wormelli book such a bad rap. The reading was actually enjoyable. (I told you, Ruth Anne.) I’m not sure I’d be able to say that if Wormelli believed that students should be given limitless opportunities; but since he believes all redo opportunities should be at the teacher’s discretion, I can get behind what he suggested. There is an enormous difference between a student who is really trying to grasp a concept or skill and just isn’t there yet and a student who has all the ability in the world but is more interested in entertaining his classmates than grasping the concept or skill. Knowing that Wormelli says it’s acceptable to allow redo opportunities only to the student who’s trying to learn makes me feel better about the whole redo/retest debate!
As for chapter 11, the math part didn’t scare me. It’s obvious that on a traditional 100-point scale that 0-69 points for an F is nowhere close to the 7 or so points for every other letter grade. That’s why I haven’t used the 100 point system for many years. I use a total points system. That way if a kid doesn’t do a ten-point assignment, it doesn’t kill his average the same way. Diane mentioned in her post that she believes in giving a kid hope when it comes to grades and earning credit for a course. For a few years now, part of Airport’s philosophy has been that failure is not an option. However, we have students fail every semester. Why is that? One of the conferences I attended this summer was entitled, Where There Is Hope, Failure Is Not an Option. It’s the introductory clause there that makes the difference. Hope is where extending mercy comes in. (According to Womelli, I must be highly intellectual.) It’s in determining when to extend mercy and when to enforce consequences that the art of teaching really comes in to play. I have no problem ever defending the artistic decisions I make as a teacher because there are always reasons for my choices. If we always grade in each individual student’s best interest, we have nothing to worry about.
See? I knew y'all would like these chapters! Of course, when your intellect is being confirmed, it's hard not to enjoy the reading. :-)
Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Chapters 10 and 11
(Page 131) “I allowed my students to retake exams, even those who scored in the nineties. However, I added an extra step. At the bottom of their page, I required them to explain to me the types of errors they made and how they were able to correct them: What did you do wrong to get this grade? How did you correct the problem?”
---Melba Smithwick secondary math teacher
I agree with this teacher, I allow my students to retake test and redo their class work. I allow this when necessary in order for my students to make improvements on their class work and tests, but I never thought to take it further as this teacher demonstrated. Probably by adding that extra step at times will help my students gain and improve their thinking skills. I will definitely consider doing this strategy. I am a Special Education teacher, and my students are on different levels and learn at different rates. I agree a great deal with Wormelli point of view that he makes in this chapter, and yes it is at a teacher’s discretion. Lastly, I feel that we should offer compassion to our students, especially when a student is trying and working hard to do their best.
Chapter 11: Diane, I must admit I change zeros to fifties or sixties most of the time, because a few of my students would never be able to recover from wrong choices they have made if I did not replace zeros. However, I do not let on to my students and I’m constantly telling them how a zero can alter and affect a grade. I have a student right now that is working on improving his grades and if I had given him a lot of zeros he would not have been able to recover from his mistakes. I guess maybe I am a softy, but not a push over (smile). I want to give my students every opportunity to be able to make improvements in their lives and the classroom.
I definitely like the idea of retakes at the teacher's discretion. As adults we do have opportunities to "retake". Why not students? One reason I believe is for some teachers this means extra work. By all means I am not putting any teachers down but at times I do see issues with taking the time to make students successful. I even see it on discipline referrals. Teachers will write students up for classroom disuption (talking) without having tried any other preventive measures such as assigning lunch detention or calling home. It is easier to write them up. And believe me I do know at times that students do need to be written up before preventive measures could be taken. The same as, it is easier to not give retakes. Diane and Ruth Anne (hey that sounds catchy) I likes both the quotes you guys chose. Those stood out to me too!
Chapter 11 did not scare me. Math does not bother me. However, I am not sold on a student getting a 60 when he absolutely turned nothing in. I think teachers have to be artist when it comes to grading. I think if a teacher thinks of the students' best interest when it comes to grading they will not have to worry about if they were fair or if a student was assigned an inaccurate grade. I do have to say guys I DO NOT MISS grading the papers or assigning grades.
Ch. 10 of Wormelli’s book: “The world can be an unrelenting whirlwind of criss-crossing priorities and urgencies. It’s getting harder to make the most efficient choices and stay in good health, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Offering compassion to others in the midst of this is not only effective, it’s refreshing.” P. 132
Oh how true this is with my own life and how I feel about giving kids multiple opportunities to show us what they know. My life hasn’t been the same over the last year in having to deal with the untimely death of my mother. I find myself constantly behind and often overwhelmed by my job, my new house, and the responsibilities to her estate and her house. I am an organized person by nature, but I haven’t felt organized in the past year. Then there is my student who had an emergency appendectomy recently. When he left school that Friday, he didn’t anticipate ending up in the emergency room and missing four days of school. At that point he had As and Bs in all of his classes and had gotten off to a great start with second semester. He is working hard to catch up, but he has one teacher who doesn’t seem to understand that he might need more time and that finishing a 100 question test might take more than two days. Then there are those special services progress reports. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to email the same people over and over about these; I have told them oh so politely to please not make comments about any of their students turning in late work. You know, stuff happens. It happens in our lives, and it happens in our students’ lives, and we all need to step back and offer some compassion and some extra time!
Ch. 11 of Wormelli’s book: I loved and understood the mathematical discussion about the 0 versus the 50 or 60. This has to be the most controversial topic ever discussed in a school. I am flashing back to that lovely faculty meeting at Fulmer many years ago; Claire do you remember? Many teachers left that discussion angry and bound to do just what they wanted to do with zeros no matter what. I often think of my favorite professor, Dr. Brenda Rogers, at Clemson when I am averaging grades each quarter. I had Dr. Rogers for my Ed Psych course, and I remember a discussion about how you could round a 92.4 to a 93, because it was your decision as a teacher, that art aspect of finalizing grades, and if a 92.5 could round up then why couldn’t a 92.4. She cautioned us to remember that our assessments were probably not so accurate, and that maybe we hadn’t done a great job of teaching every lesson in that unit. In other words, were we always on our game as educators every single minute of every single day? And if we weren’t, then how could we expect our students to be.
Fair Isn’t Always Equal
Rick Wormeli
I think we are all in agreement, students do deserve retest opportunities, however, we have to make sure the student is not simply taking advantage of the retest opportunities. I’m “guilty” of giving retest, I really have the highest hopes for my students and I want all to be successful in life because life is hard. But, I do believe that redo work should be given at discretion. Also, I agree with Wormeli when he says, Do Not Allow Any Work to Be Redone During the Last Week of the Grading Period” (135). I too was guilty of this last semester. I was letting them turn in redo assignments right up until the last day of the semester. This made my life so difficult, but for many this was the difference between pass or fail. I have changed much around this semester and this is something I do plan to implement.
Now, “Record a zero or a Sixty” (137), I can see all sides to this element. Some students flat out deserve a zero, but others, try so hard or have unforeseen circumstances arise and therefore cannot complete an assignment. In instances such as these I record a sixty until the task at hand is complete. Many students of mine are already living in this hard adult world and deserve some empathy.
I think these chapters affirmed what Ruth Anne, Claire, and I talk about all the time with grading issues and redo opportunities. We like being able to make these decisions ourselves. I am so glad that we do not have a mandated policy about retests and minimum scoring. There are students who I think truly do deserve a grade of a zero. For example, a student who puts only his name on the test and turns it in should receive a zero, and the zero should stand. But, if a student bombs a test and asks if he/she can retake the test, then most likely I will give that student the second chance. I like being able to make my own call on whether or not to allow my students the opportunity to redo an assignment.
I know I'm just parroting what everyone else has said at this point, but I too found these chapters very liberating. I've initiated a re-do policy for the first time this semester and I've been horrified at how little my students have responded to it. So far, I've had two students actually take a re-quiz and two other students even talk about it. After reading the chapters this weekend, I did inform my first block that they would not be allowed to re-do any of their work for a week before my grades are du. (When is that, by the way?) So hopefully, they'll get started on bringing their grades up. All that to say, I was very relieved to hear Wormelli state that a teacher could choose to deny a student that opportunity, if they were just taking advantage of the policy.
Reading this did remind me of one of my own "do-overs." In my senior year at USC, I had a professor who required an odd format for his papers. I was taking two classes simultaneously with him and I'd managed to turn in one paper for one class. When my first paper for the second class came due, however, a combination of frustration over the new format and poor planning on my part led me to his office to beg for an extension. He was very gracious about it, offered me some advice on the paper and let me turn it in by the next class. I'll never forget that because I knew that part of the problem had been poor time management. Knowing how much I appreciated that mercy, I can only imagine how a teenager must feel...
I still can't get behind the policy of giving someone a 60, though. First of all, I think the student's turning the assignment in is part of the battle. Now, I do agree that it's ridiculous that 69 points of the scale are failing! But I have a very hard time giving someone who turned nothing in a sixty, but someone who turned something in, but didn't get the concept could theoretically earn a lower grade. In reading this, however, it did occur to me that perhaps we shouldn't be using averages, but rather the median, instead. This would remove the influence of unusually high and low grades. And another thought, since, as Mr. Jovanelly says, the teacher gives the grade, if it is unusual that the student didn't turn the work in, than just don't count that grade.
More than anything, I'm so glad to hear the words "teacher discretion."
FIAE Chapters 10 and 11
“When can I take the test over?” “Do you give a re-test?” “I need to take that test again.” UGH!! I cannot tell you how many times I have heard these comments (or similar words from parents). This has been a battle of mine for years and I was very happy to see Wormeli take this position too. THERE ARE NO BLANKET RE-DO’s. I agree with Diane- this is where the art of teaching comes in. I have given more re-tests this year than ever before in my years as a teacher. I was surprised at the number of students that took advantage of the situation- very few. Students usually want the re-test at their discretion, not mine. I can tell right away when a student has not prepared for the test- when they ask in the middle of the test for a re-do. This chapter really made me feel better as an educator for some of the statements Wormeli made.
I found Chapter 11 very interesting, especially the sections of zeros and grading late work. Like Claire said, one of the basic tenets of our freshmen program is failure is not an option. The teachers in the program have really grasped that philosophy. Do students fail? Yes, but we make sure that it is because of their own decisions, not because they did not have the time or opportunity. LLC is one example of this. The section on zeros really made me think though. I am not totally convinced that a student gets a 50 or 60 for doing absolutely nothing but the numbers are powerful. I am thinking of a new grading policy for next year.
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