Domain Methodology
Ok, so I really don't like grades. After "grading" papers today, and as I was reading your response, I realized that even more so that I don't like them. Maybe the child didn't pay attention or maybe they just rushed through (in my mind that's "their fault") but still, that grade will not reflect their true understanding. And if they don't "get it"...that's my fault; not theirs. I just feel stuck between a rock and hard place at this placement now with grades because I really don't know exactly how I feel about how it's done...something to continue to ponder.
Also, I realized that I am not looking forward to doing writing in this classroom because for one, many of my students struggle with writing (all the more reason to do it), and two because writing is hard to grade and score. I really need to get organized either this weekend on my writing. We are doing two writing assignments right now, and it will be interesting to see how they go and what I learn from them; it's all apart of the process!
Do you have any methods to offer for comprehension? Ways to prepare them for the "test" but not...what are some good ways to "paper assess" them for comprehension?? I have tried to not look at the end of the week tests and to quiz them on those, but my teacher said she has (even though she doesn't prefer that)...AH!
tips for teaching writing? (writing just seems like such a big task for students; I am going to break it down piece by piece and just teach mini lessons.I guess I need to make sure that I assess what I want to assess and anything else that I see "wrong", I will tuck that away for future lessons. I did find a rubric last night on which to base my "grading" for one of the assignments, so I'm sure it will come together. I just didn't know if you had any suggestions.
Also, at lunch, a teacher talked about diff. instruction. She said she doesn't know about it because we are all supposed to be different because God made us that way and some are just going to be "not as good" as others in certain things...interesting. What do you think of that?:)
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Olivia,
ReplyDeleteYou ask so many good questions! Some of this would be so much easier to answer in person. I'd be happy to meet some time to give you my insights on grading and writing. I always used Writing Workshop...I would teach a mini-lesson and then give students time to apply what they learned. I used a rubric to grade their writing and it only focused on the skills being introduced in the mini-lessons. This made grading the students work much easier...I only graded on content they had been taught. I may have had them write and rewrite the same piece all week as we added different elements from the writing mini-lesson.
As for differentiated instruction...yes students are all different and some will achieve higher in some areas than others...that does not give us permission to not give them a fair opportunity to learn all of the content/standards. We must ensure that each student gets a fair and appropriate education.
I'll have to think on the comprehension...in some ways they need to have the paper pencil questions because they won't know how to answer them when they get to ISTEP. Part of ISTEP is understanding test taking skills and the best way to understand those skills is through practice. You don't have to use this as their sole grade for comprehension but it won't hurt to see how they do in those situations. You may even do some open ended questions to see if they can construct answers without choices being present.
Great questions! Let me know if you want to get together.
Prof. Forshey