Grades Search Results

8 Things I Know for Sure About (Most) Middle School Kids

…love them or you don’t!” Jennifer Gonzalez Wow, isn’t that the truth, Shelley? When I get around the primary grades, I want to tear my hair out. Give me a room full of 13-year-olds any day. (And I know primary teachers feel exactly the opposite!) It’s a good thing we get to pick our age group, huh? T Austin I’m just teaching middle school again this year! So excited! Really great read! Loved it! Dave C I agree wholeheartedly! I started 15 years ago teaching middle schoolers, and two years later got moved to teaching high school due to my…

How and Why We Should Let Our Students Fail

…in the camp of not even really knowing how to check my kids’ grades. But I fully support those parents who do a better job than me of accessing grades and holding kids accountable. I get that Lahey is aiming at helicopter parents who scrupulously monitor and then attack teachers when the grades aren’t what they expect (the “my kid is perfect, it must be the teachers’ fault” syndrome). But I think this is a case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Full disclosure should be a good thing, shouldn’t it? And making grades available online for parents…

4 Things You Don’t Know About the Jigsaw Method

…like a good option is to grade students’ assessments individually, then use those grades to make a group average, and have the HIGHER of those two grades go in the gradebook. I think that helps with esprit de corps, that the group will never be dragging anyone’s grade down, but by helping others you are helping yourself as well. I’m trying to find more ways that I can have cooperation AND competition in class activities, because it seems like students respond to both. Rosie Barrera I liked all the great ideas, I would like to get more class activities especially…

The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

…work, but it’s one of those times when talented students are asking for more work, rather than having it crammed down their throats in the guise of differentiation.) Another word about differentiation and debates: it’s worked well for me to put the groups together with two strong groups debating each other on a question and two weaker groups debating each other on another question, and the groups are made up of mostly homogeneous students. This works well because everyone thinks it’s fair (they know who’s “smart” by 8th and 11th grades, the two grades I’ve taught) and no one sandbags….

Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning

Lauralee What does the author say about recording grades from the quizzes? Keep them or not? I read different ideas today about losing grades. I haven’t worked through my thoughts on going grade-less, so I wondered what the authors say about that. Jennifer Gonzalez Hey Lauralee! They recommend assigning a low amount of points to the quizzes, but some points nonetheless, just so students take them seriously. This matters more in situations like college classes, where students have less motivation to attend class–it gets them coming to class more, since they know there will be a quiz that impacts their…