[ola] Re: Grading questions
- From: Thomas Hinkle <thinkle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2013 09:07:21 -0500
My recollection was that Arnold was pretty opposed to mapping
proficiencies directly to grades.
The thing that jumps out to me about your grading currently is the 10%
class participation grade -- I would think that should be a much
bigger part of the grade in an OLA classroom. Their learning is
predicated on their participating in the environment; if they don't do
that, there is very little they can learn, so the grade should be
weighted accordingly.
As far as grading proficiency, it is complicated to map to letter
grades. We've been spending a lot of department meeting time
discussing this and where we've come out in recent department meetings
is to say that what we need to identify and target are the behaviors
we want to see in a rehearsed or practiced task, behaviors that are
appropriate to students learning and that will push students towards
the next level. It is not trivial to map from the performance
guidelines directly to these behaviors, though. For example, we want
NH/IL students pushing themselves toward intermediate behaviors, so
our rubric identifies as "A" lots of things that are intermediate
behaviors, with the idea that in a particular, intentional assessment,
kids can and should do these things in order to stretch toward the
next level. Under "C" we've identified things that largely represent
backsliding for kids into novice behaviors (constant listing, etc) --
the behaviors we expect kids to be able to handle and that we want to
push them beyond.
Here's our work so far to create rubrics on this basis:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1angdptJCy1AO7sGkt-GqWeU7jPphIrb0TabmzCKN9DI/edit?usp=sharing
The thing is, a grading rubric is not the same thing as a proficiency
standard which is not the same thing even as a performance standard.
In a (relatively) traditional school, we use grades and rubrics to
tell students how far they are along toward mastery, what they need to
do to make progress toward a skill, and what they should do on a
specific task -- all of these purposes are different, and the
conflation of them makes for complicated work.
Tom
On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 4:55 AM, Ashley Uyaguari
<auyaguari@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> No. Not dense at all. It's so new. We will elaborate. I'll do a search for
> old list serve emails for you. I believe Arnold has written about this.
>
> Nanosh, is there a way for Cathy and others to go to old emails before they
> joined?
>
> I recommend a mopi training for helping with this too. Especially with
> Arnold because he relates it back to classroom application.
>
>
> On Tuesday, November 5, 2013, Cathy Bird wrote:
>>
>> What does that mean? I am sorry if I appear dense here, but how do I
>> evaluate and give a letter grade/percentage for writing? or oral? Do you
>> give NM an A and NH a B? I had planned to evaluate students on their
>> progress from one level to another, but that isn't something I can evaluate
>> yet...only one month in.
>>
>> And what are your tests? Open ended writing? What about quizzes? I know
>> what to do in traditional, but need more explicit ways of equating a grade
>> for the work done in class.
>>
>> Cathy Bird, via iPad
>>
>> On Nov 5, 2013, at 5:41 PM, Caleb Zilmer <caleb_zilmer@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> I don't know about anyone else, but I have gone almost entirely
>> proficiency/performance. 90% of the grade (50% tests, 20% final and 10%
>> quizzes) is based on what they can do other the language.
>>
>> That's an important note, actually: it's about what they CAN do, not what
>> they can't do. I have stopped nitpicking discrete points if grammar, etc.
>> Can they communicate a message at approximately NM, NH, IL? Good enough! It
>> makes the grading go much quicker and easier, and more students succeed, too
>> :)
>>
>> Enviado desde el iPhone de Caleb Zilmer
>>
>> El 05/11/2013, a las 17:28, "Cathy Bird" <cathy.bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> escribió:
>>
>> Hello, OWLers. I need some help. I am in my first month of OWL in my
>> French 1 class and it is time to get some grades in the book. I have a
>> number of grades from the first month of traditional, but nothing really
>> from the past month of OWL. Originally I imagined giving grades on HW, class
>> skills (ie: OWL goals), writing and speaking, but it is as clear as mud
>> right now.
>>
>>
>>
>> My standard break-down for grades is 20% Homework; 25% Quizzes; 25%
>> Tests/Projects; 10% Participation; 10% Preparedness; 10% Citizenship. I feel
>> good with HW, participation, preparation, and citizenship… but tests?
>> Quizzes?
>>
>> Here is what I have…
>>
>>
>>
>> 1. During English week, I said that students would earn 10 points
>> per day – 6 pts for speaking in L2 and 4 pts for homework being done. I did
>> not assign a lot of homework, but I did note who had done it or not, so I
>> have a homework grade for them.
>>
>> 2. I evaluated their alignment with OWL goals and gave them
>> feedback, asked them to argue with me if they felt I was off base, but I
>> feel a little uncomfortable grading that document. Is ‘meets’ an A,
>> ‘approaching’ a B, and ‘just beginning’ a C?
>>
>> 3. I gave them a pre-assessment writing activity that I could grade
>> as a quiz/test. It was a homework, rather than an in-class assessment.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Merci
>>
>>
>>
>> Cathy Bird
>> Middle School French
>> Colorado Academy
>> 303-986-1501, x.2622
>
>
>
> --
> Ashley Uyaguari
>
> Spanish Teacher 6/7/8
> Team Curriculum Coordinator
> Innovation Academy Charter School
> Tyngsboro, MA 01879
> 978-649-0432 x3301
>
> This email may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are
> not the intended recipient, please advise by return e-mail and delete
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>
--
Thomas Hinkle
English & Spanish Department Coordinator
Innovation Academy Charter School
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