You might be paving the way for more learning.
This year, I took away grading any and all classwork.
I no longer gave homework that was required.
Answer keys were always posted on Check Your Understanding days.
Some days students completed a LOT of problems.
Some days, very few.
But every day our goal was the same,
To move our thinking.
With the implementation of Vertical White Boards, (book Building Thinking Classrooms)
And Rough Draft Thinking (book, Rough Draft Math)
Students were more focused on the math content
Then on just getting the problems completed.
When the goal is just to complete something,
Then we've lost focus
on meaning-making,
and using the content to move our thinking.
Just the other day, out of the blue,
One class announced how they liked this grading system better than other classrooms.
I was shocked.
It's a much harder way to earn a good grade
With only quizzes and individual work counting.
But by doing this,
A more accurate picture is being drawn on what the student knows.
The grade is no longer how responsible the student is in getting work completed,
It no longer reflects classroom participation,
It is a true measure of their learning.
To support this evidence,
I counted the number of semester F's for this year, 2021-2022.
I also went back several years,
Back to a time where I gave a grade for completion,
Where classroom activities resulted in participation grades.
And remember the Covid Year, 2020-2021?
(Who could forget that year...hybrid this, remote that...it was crazy!)
To keep a better track of my students progress in the learning activities,
Absolutely everything posted to Google Classroom got a grade of some sort.
Check out the number of F's that year!
Is it a fluke and only worked with this group of students?
Is it legit and really is the best way to enhance learning in the math classroom?
By taking away the grade, does learning really increase?
Can't wait for the state assessment scores to if that's the case.
Fingers. Crossed.
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