[ola] proficiency grading, homework, participation
- From: Karyn LaCroix <karynlacroix@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 23:14:00 -0700
Maybe I can help with some of the struggles related to the above.
This is my 3rd year with proficiency-based grading and my 2nd with OWL. While
I have freedom over the content of my Spanish courses, I do need to write
learning targets at the beginning of the semester. Our grades are based solely
on the proficiency of those learning targets (scaled from 0-4). I try to make
the targets as broad as possible ("I can describe myself"), and while there may
be a particular time of year when we are working most on that target, a target
proficiency grade can be changed any time the target comes up in class--or out
of class (I've had a few casual conversations in the hall that resulted in me
changing a target grade).
Our school day ends at 4:15, so we don't really assign homework except for
math. Since I also teach algebra, I'll tell you how we get around the "no
homework grade". We have a target which states "I can defend my math practice
and behavior to acquire proficiency". You could change math to "language
learning". Any independent practice (e.g. homework) that is completed is
stapled to a written assessment. The student then writes a statement relating
practice to the performance on the assessment. If the student does not turn in
homework, but is proficient in the learning target, he gets a "3" for the
assessment and a "3" for the learning target above, providing he made the case
that he didn't need the practice to score well. On the other hand, a student
could get a "1" (emergent) on the assessment and a "3" on the defend target if
she shows how she is working to get to proficient.
As for participation, all of our classes have community targets. Here is one I
use when I have the students self-evaluate:
"I can provide evidence of group communication, time and task management,
sharing work, mutual respect, and resolving conflict". Someone in this OWL
group sent out a scoring guide earlier that my students use (it has categories
like "I don't always work with the same partner") I find that most of the time
I agree with their self-evaluations.
Sometimes it is frustrating when I am not able to grade effort (usually shown
by homework completion and participation). I'm trying my best to find ways for
students to see that in most cases, the effort is related to the outcome.
Karyn LaCroix
Academy of Arts and Academics
Springfield, OR
> From: nanoshlucas@xxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [ola] what would an OWL "unit" look like?
> Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2013 12:36:32 -0700
> To: ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Hello,
>
> Please take a look at the following and drop me your feedback. I used a
> program called "Scapple" to generate this, but you could use a piece of
> paper, too. In the center is the question, "¿Quién eres?" Below you see the
> assessment section, and above you see the planning. (You'll have to blow this
> up in your PDF reader to see it).
>
> What changes from question to question is the vocabulary and the
> questions/sentence frames (see top left). What else might change is the kind
> of response you are expecting from students. I think I might have invented a
> new rubric that covers the gamut from being unable to answer to responding in
> memorized phrases (on a familiar topic, this seems like it's worth an A). Or,
> it was someone else's idea and I just capitalized on it. The baseline goal
> for this first "unit" or whatever one would call it, meaning that everyone is
> able to achieve it, that students answering questions are able to respond in
> at least one-word answers (earning the student a C). As the "units" go on,
> you alter vocab, the kinds of questions you ask, and the goal one is expected
> to reach (chunks, memorized phrases, etc.)
>
> I haven't yet integrated any resources into this yet, and in the planning
> concerns section I'll put in some of the questions that Darcy put into the
> documents she sent on planning.
>
> I appreciate the open dialogue - as we are all in various stages of
> transition - the issue I grapple most with remains as to how to balance
> staying true to how we believe students will best learn, the gradebook, and
> the kinds of documentation required with the new proficiency guidelines.
> Thanks for your input, and I hope this proves to be useful to someone.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Nanosh
>
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