Chapter 9 - Student Voices
I love the sawdust analogy used in this book. "Grades guarantee you good standing in your school. Executing on your sawdust guarantees you a promising career, an interesting life and personal influence that can be leveraged for progress and assistance."
This chapter reinforces what many past chapters have stated - we need to LEARN and TEACH that failure is OK. It's OK to fail as long as we learn from it and grow with our ideas in the future. So many kids, and adults, are terrified to fail - especially in front of others. Along with that, this chapter also talks about confidence, conviction and bravery - in our ideas, our beliefs and ourselves. We need to teach our children that they have value as EVERYONE they encounter also does. We can learn something from anyone and everyone.
What are your thoughts on the importance or lack of importance of grades? Do you feel we are moving away from them? Are they more important than ever?
In my classes grades are important to a point. Our system is set up so that if you have a passing grade you move on to the next class. So I do believe there has to be a standard for grading. But the grading should show progress and not hinder the student. I am a math teacher; the best way for students to learn is to do and try problems. When I assign homework I assign problems that are actually effective. Do you know the material or not? I also just do completion for homework. I feel that homework is the place for students to make mistakes and learn from them without getting punished. Former teachers of mine have graded assignments as if they are a quiz, and this was always frustrating with me. I also know all the resources out there that students can look up answers and what not, most famously in math: Slater. Also they can get answers from friends and what not. So grading assignments is something I have gone away from and just graded on completion. I do believe there has to be a system especially in high school to show mastery. Whether that is grades or not,there does need to be a system in place.
ReplyDeleteSome quotes from this chapter: "Mentors played a huge role in my success." We are all aware of the effect teachers have on students, through our own experiences. I can remember teachers who influenced me. I also remember teachers in my one daughter's education. One in particular really was an encouragement to her in elementary. Another in middle school was very negative. My daughter had a learning style different from the norm. I think the former teacher celebrated that and the latter was unwilling to work with her. I don't think we truly realize the impact we have on the lives of others, especially our students.
ReplyDeleteAnother quote:"Start something with your sawdust and stand out." "If your brand isn't as human as possible, who wants to interact with it?" Being real is so important as well as wanting to connect with people.
One more: "Failure and our response to it is what defines us." It's important to be okay with failure and to teach our students that. That's where we really grow.
As far as the grading system, I believe there defintely needs to be some way to access what has been learned. Maybe a combination of ways. Balance is important.
I love when we can make projects that allow practice of real issues using "fake" money. In economics when the students invested play money in the stock market, when they had a budget and you had to plan a wedding, when junior achievement had students run a city--mayor etc. It is amazing to see students on Student Council help with rules and discipline. This chapter reminded me to tap into the students' interests and leadership skills. I'm realizing how important work ethic, inovation, attitude are just as important as aptitude.
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