Wk 2: Reading – The Art of Possibility: Response to Heather Anderson
Original Post by Heather Anderson
The Amazing Power of "A"
I have never liked grades even though I have always strived to get straight A's or high scores of some sort. Grades and scores on tests never really seem to describe my potential as a student or a person. I could get 100% in a class and feel like I have learned nothing. I could also try really hard and spend countless hours on a spanish essay, yet only recieve a B, because the teacher didn't believe I was capable of every achieving an A. Needless to say, I didn't always try my hardest to achieve the grades, but I always expected good grades.
After reading the third chapter in the Art of Possibilty, I reviewed my perspective of both giving and receiving grades. If there was no struggle to worry about the grade and the outcome in the end, would the student apply herself more during each lesson? Would she worry more about what she is learning rather than what label she is going to receive at the end of the course? I thought about my experiences throughout all of my education. Through high school, it was only about the grade, I don't remember what I learned or why teachers chose to teach us certain material. But in college, I started to pay attention to my learning more. I found myself enjoying studying the material and I could actually remembered what I learned! I stopped caring about the grades. But with this new found love and enjoyment of learning, the high scores and A grades came naturally.
I love the idea of giving everyone an A at the begining of the course or class. It tells the students that you believe in them and you believe in their successes as students and people. I would love to try this with my students, however my students are still very young and haven't had much exposure to grades, so they don't quite understand the pressure yet. I think I will try it with an older grade at some point to see how they act differently.
We should get rid of grades altogether, but unfortunately states think that numbers and grades are what defines a school and it's students. If that frame of thinking were to change, then I think everyone would be more successful regardless of who they are or what they are studying!
1 comment:
- Brett Wilson said...
I share in your experience about working hard to achieve good grades and it was also upon entering college that I truly begin to appreciate what I was learning aside from the grade. Zander’s writing in “The Art of Possibility” is quite profound regarding the giving of an A and everyone being a contribution. After reading, like you, I was forced to reevaluate my grading and hope to incorporate some elements of Zander’s into my teaching. I think the point that Zander makes in his writing about students needing to fill that they earned their grade is so true. For a teacher to give a student an A without any sort of contribution is sending a message that is unwanted. However, for Zander to cleverly devise the activity of writing a letter of the person they hope to be one year from now is genius. Then, the hope is that the teacher will encourage them to so fall in love with that person that they work to become that person they praised one year earlier.
Giving each student an A does, in fact, as you mentioned earlier, send a valuable message that the teacher believes in the student and that possibility is something to be realized. It is also true that many states hinder this stress free, challenging atmosphere conducive to learning for the sake of numbers that they believe will indicate success. Thanks for sharing your thoughts regarding Zander’s reading. It was great to read your blog.
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