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LeVonda,
I enjoyed your reading your reflection about the idea that grades do not define the work of a student. I couldn’t agree more. There is an endeavor happening to Nationalize the curriculum of schools to a “Core” curriculum that is standards based and lean more towards evaluation and assessment of student mastery of skills and concepts, getting away from letter grade system.
The old system of evaluation become a predictable and expected outcome for our students and families. Even to the point that they are not ever concerned with the work they have to do, they just want to know how to get the A letter grade which is a tragedy. I look forward to seeing the system change in my lifetime to have the community be worried about mastery of skills and achievement of acquiring abilities rather than simply getting an “A” or a “B”.
LeVonda Wrote on her Blog
As I read our reading assignment this week in the book, "The Art of Possibility" by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander, I was particularly struck by chapters 3 and 4 on "Giving an A" and "Be a Contribution". Wouldn't it be something if every educator just started giving A's to students to watch how their perspectives changed and/or evolved? Personally I feel that would be easier said than done, but in courses where you can use project-based or game-based learning I feel that it is an easy fit. It is more the creative based course like Music, Art, Graphic Design, Photography, etc... that allow for the actual effort put in to the work to show in the final result of the project and therefore to allow for that feeling of accomplishment. I know that most of us are used to tying that letter grade to our sense of achievement to show others and tell ourselves that we did a great job, but I have learned a lot through my time here at Full Sail in the EMDT program that while yes it is wonderful to see that letter grade it is not what defines me or my work. That is a very hard concept to get across to students who are used to always being judged by others on the work they do. I loved working on my Action Research project because it involved using a game to teach social skills, which allowed for the participants to not receive a "grade" for the work they did, but instead to have that sense of accomplishment on a job well done whenever they successfully completed a quest/mission in the game no matter how many times they had to do it over again to get it right. After all isn't that what we should want to instill in students is that no matter how many times they have to do something to get it right that once they have that "aha" moment and it finally clicks it teaches them that they can do it and they feel as if they actually accomplished something in the process.
As far as the fourth chapter on being a contribution I feel that everyone should strive to do this in their life. As teachers I would hope that all of us are a contribution not only to our students, but to our colleagues as well. I feel that it is important to be a contribution to society, our friends and family, and others around us and I try to live my life thinking in that manner. I know it is hard when we always seem to be so busy with our daily lives to just take a minute and try to help others with theirs, but it is what makes us different and better people. I have been unemployed since last February and believe me it has been very tough over the past year, but I still try to contribute to those around me. I would rather help others than sit and dwell on how miserable I can and would be if all I did was think about how worthless I felt for being unemployed and not supporting my family. Life is funny that way, on the differences a positive versus a negative outlook can have on a persons life.
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