Will have to ¨vent¨a bit today. Probably the next entry will have some pictures of the field trip.
Grading students can be more trouble than it is worth under the wrong conditions. I discovered today that about half the staff is so into the calculation part of grading that they give no consideration to the rest of the process. Wanting to calculate a grade to two and three decimal places suggests that student evaluation is as scientific as launching a spaceship. Problem is that there are some teachers who, judged by their actions, actually believe this to be true.
I am in the process of writing a one page paper that outlines a brief grading process. Taking an appropriate sample of questions from the unit, writing the questions in clear language, and considering statistical matters of too few questions (or even too many that makes the test time period the critical factor) never seem to be taken into account. Violating all these basics of test writing simply allows the teacher to calculate the results of a poorly written exam to two or three decimal places. What is this?????
I am hoping one of our co-teachers will translate the paper and make a presentation to the staff. Somehow we need to teach the fact that evaluating students is a process, not just a caculation. This fixation with detailed grade calculations also teaches parents that we are capable of that precise of a system of evaluating students.
Evaluation of students is, at best, an approximation! There, I feel better.
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4 comments:
You said you have 75 degrees there. Come on back to Iowa! This morning it was 20 derees below zero! That did not include the windchill! I went to Norfolk today, loading the truck at 3:30 a.m. in the cold! Don't you feel sorry for me? Hey, we are praying for you guys.
Love, Eldon and Phyllis
That fog in the background would freeze in Iowa. The temp is headed back down at -4 just now. We are thankful you arrived back in Puyo safely. We are glad you could feel better after venting the grading frustrations. We know tht you are able to come up with a workable solution. We were planning to visit my sister, but she is having a serious bout with stomach flu. We would rather not share the agony. Was good to visit with you when you were home.
Wishing you God's peace,
Dan and Shirley
Mr. Troyer, as a former student under your principal years at Pella High School, I just want to applaud your comments about grading. I am a special educator currently back teaching at PHS and greatly sadden by the state of affairs in education. Students have become numbers and educating them is all about numbers and paperwork. How can we reduce lives into numbers and grades. That is not who they are but culturally and politically we buy into believing we can run schools like a business and numbers tell us the job we are doing. I personally have been told that paperwork is my priority and it saddens me to be in a professional of serving and educating children that boils down to have paperwork exact and acting like it is the sum of these kids' lives. I was sorry to hear about your parents. I encourage you in the work, your wife & you are doing. God bless! Karen Vander Hart Ryals, class of 1984.
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