I really appreciate the opportunity to reexamine Alfie Kohn's ideas about grading from last week's video. I really want to learn more about how grades can affect students' motivation and anxiety levels, and especially what I can do about it as a new teacher. I love the idea of giving students more choice about what to study and allowing students more agency to control their learning. I also want to give my students the room and opportunity to fail and learn from their mistakes. In that vein, I think I will definitely try to include more projects and presentations (and fewer tests) in my future classrooms.
Unfortunately, I must admit to being a bit discouraged when I read the authors' reflections one year later. It seems to me that despite what they've learned from their research, they did not find significant ways to change their practice. They admit that: "Our philosophy about grading has changed but we find it difficult to implement practical changes in the classroom.".
One change that I think is worth trying is the Credit/D/Fail system that we have here at UBC. I think it would be awesome to allow students to choose which courses they want to "compete for marks" in. For example, someone aiming to attend university for science might opt-in for grades in their math and science classes, but choose to credit/D/fail their language and humanities courses. And really eager, high achieving students could opt-in for marks in all of their courses and have a similar high school experience to what is currently offered. I wonder if there is any research on how the system is working at UBC and other universities with similar grading policies? And how might I convince my administrators or even the ministry of education to give this a shot?
References
Sarte, J. and Hughes, S. (2010). Refocusing our efforts: A shift from grading to an emphasis on learning Educational
Insights, 14(1).
[Available: http://www.ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/publication/insights/v14n01/articles/sarte/index.html]
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