Reply To: Lesson 3.4: Transitioning to Standards Based Grading – Choosing Scales to Measure Growth – Discussion

[Callie Smith]

I was also surprised by the findings of the marks and feedback. But at the same time, I’m not. I tried just feedback on a couple of assignments, and it does force the students to read my comments to find out if they are good or bad…. I’m finding, though, that my handwriting has gotten worse over the years (probably because no one read anything or asked me about it), so I spend a lot of time translating my handwriting. I figure this will force me to take my time and write more clearly…

My biggest takeaway, though, is finding a way to document this growth. I’m finding that because of grades and the focus on grades, it helps to keep letting students correct things. This sort of feels like a blender as I hand things back and they hand them back to me. And I give them back. Because of the back and forth, I asked one of my classes, “Do you know why I keep giving the same thing back to you?” A girl piped up, “Because you want us to understand it.” That was all I needed to keep me going!