stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-04-19 02:35 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-04-19 02:35 pm
Entry tags:
The Plague Diaries: School Time!
At my teaching job, the great debate was raging: how do we grade student work and assess their learning? There are a lot of issues to consider:
--Not all students have equal or easy access to online learning. Although the district is loaning Chrome Book computers and wi-fi hotspots, some students live in areas with bad connection, or they're competing for computer time with other family members, or they're special education students who have difficulty with a computer, or . . . or . . . or . . .
--It's difficult to administer traditional tests
--Students and their households are under a great deal of stress. Yes, for many students, their main problem is fighting off boredom in a well-appointed bedroom, but for a bunch of them, life is more difficult. I have students who are taking care of family members who have the virus, or who are sick with it themselves. I have students who live in health care families, and the adult or adults are gone twelve hours a day, every day, leaving the kids to run the household, and everyone is worried the virus will come home. I have students with family members who got the virus and now the family is trying to decide if the kids should be sent away. Students in these situations aren't in a position to deal with schoolwork at home.
--The state initially said not to grade student work after March 13, the last day schools were open. Now the state has given the go-ahead to assign grades. What do we do with the work students completed between March 13 and now?
--Will the students be given credit for this year, or will they have to make up the lost time over the summer?
--Grading these days is generally divided into two categories: formative (often for homework or in-class practice) and summative (stuff like tests and projects that are a summary of student learning). Many schools also give benchmark assessments, or BAs, which are basically unit tests. In our district, formative grades are 20% of the card marking, summative grades are 50%, and BAs are 30%. Can we give summative and BA grades during the crisis?
--Under the original calendar, seniors only have five weeks of school left. Proportionately, they've lost a lot more time than the other students. Do we extend their school year?
--Speaking of seniors, what about prom? Senior activities (my school hosts a senior all-night party a week before senior finals, along with a senior breakfast on cap and gown day, a senior slideshow, and other activities)?
Last week, we teachers spent all day Thursday and all day Friday on Zoom. Seriously--the whole freaking day. We met as faculty in a large group, we met in departments, we met by grade level. It was all working on figuring this stuff out. It was exhausting.
In the end, the district hashed out a grading system, but also said it was subject to change.
--No summative grades! No BA grades! Everything will be formative.
--The grades the students earned up to March 13 will be 50% of the semester grade. Everything earned afterward will be the other 50%. No final exams!
--Teachers are expected to teach one concept per week. Each high school subject should require no more than 2.5 hours of student work per week, more or less.
--Work assigned between March 13 and April 19 is not to be graded. (There's some controversy over that one!)
--Seniors will end school on the usual date.
--Graduation, prom, and other senior activities are all canceled. HOWEVER, the district is hoping we could hold a graduation ceremony in July. Fingers crossed!
Truly, I've put in more time as a teacher now that the schools are closed than I have when I'm in the classroom. I can't just upload a worksheet to Google Classroom and say, "Now do this one." I have to create brand new material that's usable during online learning, or convert existing material. Almost nothing works as-is. I have to record and edit videos, which is enormously time-consuming. I have to answer a bazillion more emails in a given day than I ever have before.
And I miss being in the classroom, seeing my students every day, watching them learn, talking with them, watching the seniors get more and more antsy as we get to the end. I miss being able to discuss literature. (Zoom is awful for large-group literary discussions.)
I hope this doesn't become a new normal.
--Not all students have equal or easy access to online learning. Although the district is loaning Chrome Book computers and wi-fi hotspots, some students live in areas with bad connection, or they're competing for computer time with other family members, or they're special education students who have difficulty with a computer, or . . . or . . . or . . .
--It's difficult to administer traditional tests
--Students and their households are under a great deal of stress. Yes, for many students, their main problem is fighting off boredom in a well-appointed bedroom, but for a bunch of them, life is more difficult. I have students who are taking care of family members who have the virus, or who are sick with it themselves. I have students who live in health care families, and the adult or adults are gone twelve hours a day, every day, leaving the kids to run the household, and everyone is worried the virus will come home. I have students with family members who got the virus and now the family is trying to decide if the kids should be sent away. Students in these situations aren't in a position to deal with schoolwork at home.
--The state initially said not to grade student work after March 13, the last day schools were open. Now the state has given the go-ahead to assign grades. What do we do with the work students completed between March 13 and now?
--Will the students be given credit for this year, or will they have to make up the lost time over the summer?
--Grading these days is generally divided into two categories: formative (often for homework or in-class practice) and summative (stuff like tests and projects that are a summary of student learning). Many schools also give benchmark assessments, or BAs, which are basically unit tests. In our district, formative grades are 20% of the card marking, summative grades are 50%, and BAs are 30%. Can we give summative and BA grades during the crisis?
--Under the original calendar, seniors only have five weeks of school left. Proportionately, they've lost a lot more time than the other students. Do we extend their school year?
--Speaking of seniors, what about prom? Senior activities (my school hosts a senior all-night party a week before senior finals, along with a senior breakfast on cap and gown day, a senior slideshow, and other activities)?
Last week, we teachers spent all day Thursday and all day Friday on Zoom. Seriously--the whole freaking day. We met as faculty in a large group, we met in departments, we met by grade level. It was all working on figuring this stuff out. It was exhausting.
In the end, the district hashed out a grading system, but also said it was subject to change.
--No summative grades! No BA grades! Everything will be formative.
--The grades the students earned up to March 13 will be 50% of the semester grade. Everything earned afterward will be the other 50%. No final exams!
--Teachers are expected to teach one concept per week. Each high school subject should require no more than 2.5 hours of student work per week, more or less.
--Work assigned between March 13 and April 19 is not to be graded. (There's some controversy over that one!)
--Seniors will end school on the usual date.
--Graduation, prom, and other senior activities are all canceled. HOWEVER, the district is hoping we could hold a graduation ceremony in July. Fingers crossed!
Truly, I've put in more time as a teacher now that the schools are closed than I have when I'm in the classroom. I can't just upload a worksheet to Google Classroom and say, "Now do this one." I have to create brand new material that's usable during online learning, or convert existing material. Almost nothing works as-is. I have to record and edit videos, which is enormously time-consuming. I have to answer a bazillion more emails in a given day than I ever have before.
And I miss being in the classroom, seeing my students every day, watching them learn, talking with them, watching the seniors get more and more antsy as we get to the end. I miss being able to discuss literature. (Zoom is awful for large-group literary discussions.)
I hope this doesn't become a new normal.