An interesting #edchat on Twitter about the impact of homework on education quickly turned to grades. I'm surprised by how many participants not only disdain homework but say that grades are unimportant.
The majority of my grades come from tests only. Yes, students have daily work and homework to do.........but are not graded. If they were graded, I would have 24 identical papers. This only gives some students writer's cramp. I have put most of the learning onto the students..they have a choice---------some do make the wrong choice, but the system works...only if the students and parents know is type of grading going into the course.
When it comes to teaching history, I have to look back and see how I was taught. Lecture, worksheets, sectional and chapter questions followed by quizzes and test was how I learned and I would like to think that I learned the material well. Plus, over thirty years of teaching, I feel that most of my students have also learned well through this system. If you have taught over thirty years, I would believe that you were taught through the the same traditional system. What is wrong in using it today. Is it because a "group of experts" are making some money on trying to change the system?
Bert, 30 years ago, the thought of completing activities on a notebook-size computer would have been crazy. Should we disdain these tools and other remarkable technologies because that's not how we learned three decades ago?
When I was in school, I was paddled for talking to a friend when the teacher was talking. All that did was make me hate teachers and to hate learning. Should we beat kids today, because we used to beat them?
If we operate the way you're suggesting, we'll never change anything. As long as learning is measured by homework, worksheets and tests, you'll never really know what a student achieves. You didn't know it 30 years ago, and you won't know it today.
The majority of my grades come from tests only. Yes, students have daily work and homework to do.........but are not graded. If they were graded, I would have 24 identical papers. This only gives some students writer's cramp. I have put most of the learning onto the students..they have a choice---------some do make the wrong choice, but the system works...only if the students and parents know is type of grading going into the course.
ReplyDeleteMike, you are doing marvelous work. I'm sure your students appreciate the choices you give them.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to teaching history, I have to look back and see how I was taught. Lecture, worksheets, sectional and chapter questions followed by quizzes and test was how I learned and I would like to think that I learned the material well. Plus, over thirty years of teaching, I feel that most of my students have also learned well through this system. If you have taught over thirty years, I would believe that you were taught through the the same traditional system. What is wrong in using it today. Is it because a "group of experts" are making some money on trying to change the system?
ReplyDeleteBert, 30 years ago, the thought of completing activities on a notebook-size computer would have been crazy. Should we disdain these tools and other remarkable technologies because that's not how we learned three decades ago?
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school, I was paddled for talking to a friend when the teacher was talking. All that did was make me hate teachers and to hate learning. Should we beat kids today, because we used to beat them?
If we operate the way you're suggesting, we'll never change anything. As long as learning is measured by homework, worksheets and tests, you'll never really know what a student achieves. You didn't know it 30 years ago, and you won't know it today.
Thanks for your thoughts.