Grades...do you make the grade, use the grade, give the grade?

Well, I wrote about grading over at Home Educating Family Blog today.

Here's a taste:
The idea of grading as we currently think of it came from the development of the public education system. The standardized grading system we are most familiar with arrived on the scene at the same time as compulsory education and the industrial revolution. The great migration to the cities brought about changes including a factory model of education. It was a way educating a great number of individuals at the same time. You know, like mass production. It was an easy way to communicate how successful the student had been in learning what was needed to become a quality factory worker.
Check out the rest HERE.

Friday Funny--Grades

Does everyone grade? What kind of scale? What kind of grades? What age? What subjects? Dish! ;-)

A D or not A D, that is the question!

Earlier this year, I attended the Home Education Council of America's Super Summit.  I say attended, but it was online, so I didn't actually have to go anywhere!

One of the speakers was Rachel DeMille of The Thomas Jefferson Education.  She and her husband Oliver have a website Thomas Jefferson Education or TJed for short.

I wrote a review of the this session HERE if you'd like to read it.  Today, however, I'm just going to bring up one point.  Here's what I wrote:

Quality, not Conformity. This key means you avoid grading and use personalized feedback to encourage quality. George Wythe (one of Jefferson's mentors) College used A and DA. "A" meant acceptable while anything less than quality would receive a "DA" for "do it again."

I started using this practice this school year (all three days of it so far), and it seems to be making an impression.

I've been using "A" and "D" instead of "DA", but using the same meanings.  I explained to mija that she was either going to earn an "A" or it would mean a "D" which means do over. 

It has been a great incentive.  First, she doesn't want to do it again.  Second, she likes to see an "A" on her paper.

I also like that "A" means "acceptable" not perfect.  "Quality" for my 6-year-old, third grader will look a little different that "quality" for an average third grader.  That does not mean, however, that I allow uncorrected errors, sloppiness, or even bad attitude.  Those things are not acceptable to God. "..anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him" (Acts 10:35).

So this year, we are going to work on getting A's that shows our work is "acceptable"!  That includes mommy.  After all, I won't get a  DA or "do again" with my child!

Why is Grading so Important?

Homeschool Heartbeat
Program Audio--Click here to Listen Online.
Why is Grading so Important?
Volume 94, Program 211/4/2010

Please note: This week’s program is a rerun that originally aired May 19, 2008.

How can parents evaluate their own children’s homework? On this week’s Home School Heartbeat, host Mike Smith and his guest Lesha Myers will discuss why grading is so important.

Mike Smith:It’s hard to follow the classroom model of grading since most homeschool families approach learning differently. My guest this week is Lesha Myers. She wrote a book called Making the Grade. Thank you for joining me on Home School Heartbeat, Lesha!

Lesha Myers:Thank you, Mike. It’s a pleasure to be here!

Mike:Lesha, what would you tell parents who might be asking, “So what’s so important about grading, anyway?”

Lesha:Well, there are a lot of things, but let me share just one: it helps our students to learn more. I remember a friend of mine telling me what happened when she started grading. Things were going okay for her, but she wanted the quality of her children’s work to improve—she wanted to move them to a higher level. So, she sat down, thought about what she wanted her children to actually do, explained those thoughts to her children—how she was going to grade them—and she was absolutely amazed at the change. Her children rose to the occasion and started producing vastly superior work. They just needed a bit of direction to understand what their mother wanted.
So, if I could use an archery analogy, they needed a target to hit; they needed an evaluation to determine how close to the bull’s-eye they got, and then they excelled. Mom was happy, and so were the children.

Mike:Well, that’s great, Lesha! I look forward to talking to you more about this next time. And until then, I’m Mike Smith.