Oh, don't get me started!!! When dss was in 5th grade, we had him at our local elementary school, where they had to try all the most contemporary ideas. So they had a class of the "smartest" kids, and told them that they had to write their own goals, and would be graded on how they reached those goals. The idea, they explained to a group of rather hostile parents who learned of this the first time at Open House, was that kids get A's when actually they haven't learned anything new. They already knew that information. They don't have to WORK for the grade. True, but.... These kids are smart enough to know to come up with easy goals. My dss is lazy, and this just allowed him to continue being lazy. And then, the teacher tried to tell ME, the special needs person who just spent 3 weeks writing IEPs for just 4 kids, that it was "just like having an IEP for each kid in my class!" And I'm thinking, "Lady, if YOU think you can write and implement IEPs for 30 kids, you're a complete idiot!!!" Oh, and then the principal got up. A friend of mine had a daughter in the class, and he worked for the State in some capacity. He asked the principal straight out if this had anything to do with "outcome-based education", which was the buzz-word around then, and which Christian circles were very leary of. The principal looked him straight in the eye, and said, "Oh, we've ALWAYS had outcome-based education in our district, because we've ALWAYS been very concerned with the outcome of our students!" Yeah, right! Either she completely avoided the question to try to cirumvent the criticism, or she was a complete idiot who had no idea what was going on in her field. I'm betting on the first!!! Well, when push came to shove, they had to scrape the idea before the first grading period was up. No parental support, and too much work for the teacher!
They are my in-laws. Phyllis used to be the principal but when she had children she stepped down to curriculum co- ordinator ( or something like that) John is an interpreter. They both go to a deaf church somewhere around there. Small world.
Really! They probably go to the Lutheran Deaf church just up the road from the school. There's also a Deaf Baptist church; the pastor was a hearing man of Deaf parents and was a real sweetheart. He died of cancer a few years back. They would know Ken Aldridge. He's a Deaf teacher, and I also took a sign language class from him. Or David St. John. He was a BIG Deaf man who worked security. Man, he drove us CRAZY!!! We'd be working the all-night shift in the cottages, and we're not permitted to sleep. Of course, about 3 AM our eyes would start drooping. And David would come by, making his rounds, and shine his flashlight in the windows at us and freak us out. One time, I was getting off at midnight, and he was my relief. I was in the office of my cabin, talking to another house mother. I hung up, turned out the light, and then opened the door. I'd turn the light out first so it wouldn't bother the sleeping boys. So I opened the door, and David was just getting ready to open it. So here's this VERY LARGE guy standing in the doorway in the dark. SCARED ME TO DEATH!!! He looked JUST LIKE "Jason" from the Halloween movie!!! I screamed, he stepped back, and died laughing at me! Anyway, your inlaws would probably know Rose Murphey. She was a Deaf gal that went through Deaf Ed classes with me, and a good friend. She worked in the school for a few years, but has passed away.
We dont put a lot of emphasis on grades. I do give quizes and tests and will give a grade based on the 90-100 type of grading system. My dd enjoys getting some feedback so she knows where she stands.
O.B.E.! Yes, that's it. I strained my brain to remember that, but that was so many "great" ideas ago and way too many educational acronyms ago. I was getting a degree in teaching right in the middle of the "Outcome Based Education" craze. (It was pretty much dead before I graduated, and block scheduling was the new craze.) I have to take continuing education credits to keep my certificate current, and I laugh at all the theories presented. None are really new; they just get renamed and recycled. The latest online course I took was about "Researched-based Reading Strategies". I'm thinking it will be on library skills or the like. In the intro, R.B.R.S. (or was it R.R.S.?) was presented as the newest, greatest thought from the wise philosophers of public education. You can not imagine my surprise when it turned out to be... phonics. Phonics is the great NEW idea? Apparently, they now have scientific research to prove that phonics is good. (They actually did brain scans to help prove it though I can't remember how it proved it.) Anyway, I understand the frustration of dealing with flip flopping strategies. Actually, I was thinking of proposing my own theory. I once learned that using a purple glitter pen to correct papers instead of red ink pens improved student's self-esteem. I'm going to call it the P.G.P initiative. Yeah, that's it...I think I need to write a book now and prepare a web-seminar.
My poor husband lived through "block scheduling". And I remember subbing in all the "open classrooms" that suddenly got walls and grades again. But, in one district, we had to use "assertive discipline". We had "consequences" listed, and had to put checks on the board. This was DISTRICT WIDE. I had one class that was off the wall! The art teacher told me during lunch that it was her most difficult class, and how to handle it. So I took her advice in the afternoon. I walked in with a handful of detention slips, slapped them down on my desk, and told them, "You know what these are, and I know what these are. Forget the check mark crap. NO WARNINGS! You act up ONE time, your name gets on a slip, and it's going to the office. PERIOD!" And guess what! IT WORKED!!!
we don't do grades. I think they should ALWAYS get A's. We do notebooks and when papers are put into their notebooks, it has to be examples of their best work. So when I say "This is for your notebooks" it means use your nicest writing- erase mistakes, don't cross them off. There's a time and place for doing your prettiest work, it's not about making pretty grocery lists in life, it's about making your christmas cards legible. They need to know how to do both. In academic subjects, I don't often test them but their math books put out tests and they do them when it's time. we don't have test stress in our family because they aren't tested until they know the material. We will definitely take an SAT prep, and my next-year-high-schooler knows she'll be testing more often in the coming yrs as preparation for college- not for real life. In real life, the test is your social skills, isn't it?
I usually write at the top : How many right ----------- How many questions We do a lot of oral work. I have to turn in grades to the CRS twice a year. So I make a weekly note of how great the kids did that week. If they tended to miss the subject that week, I will prob give them a B. Mostly they get a's. (Since they pretty much have to get it because we go over and over it until they figure it out. )
I enjoyed reading through this the other day. I give grades on the tests. The daily work of learning will get a cute stamp of some sort or a stamp that asks the child to do again.
I know this one is old, But has anyone else not only not done grades but forgotten to check the answers with hte teacher book? I am so far behind in this this year because of the different currics, but I am watching them do the work and know for the most part they are getting it right.... but still.
