Faculty+notes

= = Faculty Notes

**Alfie provided these examples of progressive schools** Miquon School -- outside of Philadelphia Westland School -- L.A., CA Peninsula School -- Menlo Park, CA Calhoun School -- NYC Putney School -- Putney, VT Green Acres -- Rockville, MD School in Rose Valley -- Rose Valley, PA

**The following notes brought to you in living color by Ted** How can I give up my power as teacher to empower students?

"Kids learn how to make good decisions by making decisions."

"We end up worrying about distinctions without a difference." -all those little things like what grade number makes an "A", and whether students can revise for credit -differences like 5 million versus 5 billion

"What are your long-term goals for your kids? How would you like them to turn out? What would you like them to be like?" "Intellectual" versus "Academic" -most of the things that turn up on the list are not "academic
 * happy
 * empathetic
 * passionate
 * life-long learners
 * critical thinking
 * creative
 * democratic
 * artists
 * love
 * responsible global citizens
 * curious
 * purpose
 * realize potential

How do we educate the adults, the parents? -by inviting them to reflect on the same question ^

Learning vs. Performance Task vs. Ego What vs. How Well

Citations: Carol Dweck Carol Ames John Nichols Ruth Butler

-"Only extraordinary education is concerned with learning. Most is concerned with achieving, and for young minds, the two are nearly opposites." (not Kohn...some feminist writer from 70s)

6 likely results on kids of performance-based education:

1. Interest in learning declines 2. Attribution of results toward built-in ability (think fixed-mindset) 3. Avoid challenge (not out of laziness, but out of rationality! if it's all about getting the best grade, then this is a SMART move!) 4. Significant emotional costs 5. Social costs (among peers)--what I hate the most is when the perception is that one student has "stolen" another's idea by bringing it it out in discussion first! 6. Quality of learning declines (see goals above) What specific policies at a classroom-level or a school-level are likely to create "Ed Koch ["How'm I doing?"] students"? ("the hit list" diagnoses = 1-6 above ^)
 * grades
 * top-down rules
 * emphasis on quantification
 * awards/prizes ("rewards are control through seduction")
 * tracking?
 * emphasis on coverage
 * constant reporting back to parents on every grade

HOMEWORK
-"Homework may be the greatest extinguisher of children's curiosity that's ever been invented" -Kohn -Question: "Why might this [no correlation btw hw and results, negative correlation between hw and motivation] be true"?

So I guess my motivation for giving homework would fall under the first of Kohn's categories, about it being necessary to promote learning. But I see it within a particular light: the most productive learning that I see in my classroom is in the collaborative work that students do in discussions, groups, etc. The reading, which is a necessary precursor to that work, I tend to see as an individual exercise. Isn't it weird to bring together into a room a community of students--a class--to spend half or more of the time on individual work? I wonder how Kohn would respond to this. I have brought the writing into the classroom; but how do I bring the reading in--especially when we have kids who read at such drastically different rates?

Kohn's response:

-Nancy Atwell, The Reading Zone -Drop Everything And Read (DEAR) -"Why should we all be reading the same book?"

"You can't reinforce understanding; all you can reinforce is behavior." -Kohn Change the default assumption that there must be homework every night. Can homework be something we opt-into, occasionally? Kohn's criteria for any homework assignment:

Possible beneficial types of assignments:
 * It has to help kids think more deeply about questions that matter
 * It has to help most of the kids get more excited about what they're learning.

Suggestions for how to change the default:
 * Sees free-reading as beneficial
 * Assignments that actually require genuine interaction with family
 * Homework that results from a democratic class decision.


 * Never use all the same homework for all the kids
 * Never grade homework
 * Assign homework only if you've designed it for this specific group of kids
 * Survey the kids anonymously about homework: ask them how it affects their interest, etc

BREAKOUT ON HOMEWORK:
What new questions do we have?

1. Are we allowed to do this? 2. Do we need to ask permission 3. What do we do with sustained reading? Reading a longer piece/novel? How can we accomplish this? 4. How can we modify out homework 5. How can we teach kids to make judgments about what homework has to be done? 6. How can/should we use class time for homework time? 7. To what extent does reading have to be an individual activity? Does it at all? 8. What should be emphasized? 9. If we're required to make weekly assignment posts, what should we post? conceptual knowledge versus skill sets versus need for drills

How do we get a kid to think of learning as "discovery" versus a chore? Getting the kids to ask the question "why" Can we give choices about homework? How do students approach homework--with what sort of understanding?

GRADES
You don't need tests to gather information, and you never need grades to report it. He prefers student-teacher and student-parent-teacher conferences even to narrative comments. What can you do in your classroom:
 * Explain that final grades are required by school, but that regular assignment grades won't happen.
 * If you have to know what grade it would be, then come and see me for a conversation.
 * You don't have to decide on the grade on your own! Negotiate it with the kid.
 * Stage 1: reserve the power to veto!
 * Stage 2: take away the veto-power

How to give up power I, as a teacher usually enjoy, to empower kids.
 * Kudos to MBL for these copious notes **

They make good decisions by….making decisions.

It is hard to do.

It is then that we become better teachers.

We end up worrying about 5 million versus 5 billion years (no innovation, no courage)

Bigger question: what is the effect of using grades at all? Or punishment, even.

Do we have the guts to ask the radical/root questions?

Here is a big question: What are your long-term goals for your kids? How would you like them to turn out? How would you like them to be like? What do you hope that they get in the long run?

Thrive with change in an ever-changing world Happy Empathetic Passionate LLL (Life-Long Learning) Critical Thinkers Super-Creative democratic Responsible Global Citizens Intellectually Curious Living lives of meaning and purpose Sense of purpose

80% of the list are found on lists of every school. And they are not really academic.

TASK: Compare to what we are doing. Compare new mission statement to this list. Is there a divergence? Either we are helping, irrelevant OR less likely that our kids are going to turn out like that.

Then…we may need to do something radically different in my teaching. Something may have give. Something has got to give. Change educational practice at classroom/school level.

DIFFICULTY: Bring the parents along. Suggestion: Be proactive. How do we educate the adults? The same activity. Either small, or MAJOR King activity. Parents will come up with the same list.

To be happy, to be a moral person, to love to read. You say that you love this; why are you still doing that?

Is what we are doing here at King going to meet these goals? Traditional practices undermine what we want for our kids.

Very powerful distinction(Carol Dweck, Carol Ames, Ruth Butler, Carol Midgley): Learning-orientation vs. Performance-orientation. Task vs. Ego What vs. How Well

The Schools Our Kids Deserve (his book)

Do we set them up for asking the grade…baving grades? How did you decide what to write about? Did you already know what you were to conclude? Was the process effective?

As a child walks through the door, what is her goal?

Skills of learning, then they are less interested in what they are learning.

It is not that we should not ever ask how we are doing (Ed Koch), or he would say never assess (results, overachievement = bad things). Just

Achievement – Crazy School: (Research says 6 predictable things happen). Marilyn French (The Woman’s Room). Learning vs. Achieving.


 * 1) Interest in Learning tends to decline. Learning is not question that they can explore, but what they have to get better at. Hence, they find it a chore. The more you want them to be excited about learning, the less you want focus on how well they are doing…(Perversely, in comparison with every one else, i.e. their peers).
 * 2) What is below the behavior. Become better people. Punishment. Detrimental to the kid. Kohn’s Law: value is inversely proportional to the number of times we use the word “behavior”. Rather, HOW you came about doing it? WHY is it that I was able to do so well?

Bernard Weiner (Weiner’s Big 4) (the “effort” is different, “because I am smart”, “the test was too hard”, “it wasn’t my day”.) Which is the most constructive? Most people will say “effort”…because they feel people have control over it.

Kids “attribution of results to ability. If we commit to high academic standards, we lose the learning. The more the commitment to academic excellence. The kid who is getting the A’s may not be the child who is learning.


 * 1) Kids will tend to avoid challenge whenever they have the opportunity. (i.e. selection of the shortest book, or that they know a lot about.) i.e. it is about avoiding risk! When no grades, they choose harder things. Don’t blame the kids. (effort grades – failure at trying. The problem here is the kid….motivation). The more they focus on how well they are doing, the less they step into things that are more difficult, tip-toeing into interesting things.

The issue is the structure in which the kids are.


 * 1) Emotional costs. They get good grades here, and they get to college and they fail.

EX: Child who gets 100s all the time, and get

The problem is with the LINE. How we make it to be on the top side of the line.


 * 1) Social Costs – Relationship among kids. How well they are doing. When their goals are performance goals, they tend to see other kids as obstacles to their own success. Awards by definition create competition. They need to see their peers as contributors to their goals.
 * 2) The quality of learning tends to decline in a place where you are concentrating on how well you are doing. There are exceptions to this. Need an ambitious focus on interest in what they are doing. Interest in what they are learning.

STUDY: Carol Dweck (MS Science).

What are the **CAUSES** of emphasizing achievement too much?

- “Grades” is one answer. Performance.

We want kids to learn deeply and well.

- College Admission and our beliefs about college admission. (850 are not taking SATs anymore). Kids where they are better able to do what they enjoy, and do well are con

- Top-down rules. - Emphasis on Quantification - Tracking (Politics vs Pedagogy) - Cover the curriculum (Coverage is the ….Howard Gardner). Discovering ideas. - Reporting (more often and how precisely) back to parents on how the child is doing.

HOW CAN WE MOST EFFECTIVELY MOVE AWAY FROM THESE? Where do we start? What can I do, as an individual, do? Do I have the courage?

- Rethink the idea of motivation (intrinsic vs. extrinsic). I –because you get a kick out of it for its own sake; E – do something because you are going to get a reward, or avoid punishment. Kids who are praised overly tend to be less generous than their peers. (Studies show).

How to destroy kids desire to reading? Rewards. (Control through seduction). Give them rewards for rewards (money for A’s).

Model has not been promoted by psychologicalists. The more you reward kids for doing something, the more they lose interest in what they are doing.

How we think about MOTIVATIONAL. And the effect on curriculum nad pedagogy. Lens? How to refocus on the what?

Proactively.

TWO ISSUES (for breakout)


 * 1) Homework; 2. Grades

Making kids work a second shift. Downside of homework is clear. How much? (5 million/5 billion). Kids day is longer than a workday. Exhaustion, Frustration, Parents who cannot help. Parents as satellite teachers. “Do you have any homework?” Leads kids to lose interest, curiosity in the material itself. Drives out the desire to learn).
 * 1) Homework.

Harvey Daniels: Most of what homework is driving kids away from learning.

Data/Logic shows…4 arguments

A - Only a correlation (does not prove causation). Kids who go on ski trips get into B - The correlation is not all that powerful (variance) C – more sophisticated studies, the correlation disappears. Look at studies/data internationally, no correlation on scores on tests and homework given. Countries that tend to give less homework, tend to do better. Why might this be true?
 * 1) Homework is useful for learning or school achievement. Research shows no study that homework ….no benefit until US. Test scores and grades do not get better.
 * 2) HS Level. Here there is a positive correlation : homework and higher test scores.

Some homework is better than other; research shows that it does not matter. No homework. How kids react. Why might that be? What predicts the outcome is their experience. What predicts outcomes, goals and expectations of the human.

First and major argument for homework?: for their educational welfare. The research simply does not provide the ground support.

Second argument: a school family connection. Window through which parents to see what is going on; how well. Invite them in;

Third argument: non-academic (creates character). What does the data say? No study has shown this. Mindless obedience. Useful study skills? Perhaps. The skills to do homework.

Fourth: (Better get used to it): They are going to get it later, so we have to prepare you for it. (Grades, Competition, Standardized Tests).

None of these hold any weight.

TWO POINTS:

Never heard anyone make a case for regular homework. Homework in and of itself is beneficial. No matter what it is.

Cognitive Profiles? Then treat the kids

Value-based Arguments

1. This is family time. How are we to determine what we are going to be doing during our family time. Families should decide this.

2. All we really care about is academics…as opposed to saying that now is the time to do what they want. Do they have to be constructively occupied. Do we just not trust children?

Rigor, Raise the Bar, Rationale!

Finally, the more you know about how children learn, then less homework you give. I give to reinforce…(BFSkinner)…based on the idea to make behaviors change. You are reinforcing “mindlessness”. Thinking. Not plugging. Go beyond behaviorist view.

Sports/Music are analogous to academics. How we teach in general? Question the nature of learning.

Not NO HOMEWORK EVER. Change the default. Except on the occasion when they will need to do additional academics once they get home.a

CRITERIA:


 * 1) Help kids think more deeply about questions that matter. (Thinking deeply about things that matter)
 * 2) Has to help kids get more excited about what they are doing/what you teach.

Some examples when it might work. When it might be beneficial? 1. Read a book they love. Not how much. 2. Something you have to do at home (i.e. interview parents) 3. Democratic decision from the kids…we need to do more at home.

Never use the same homework for kids. Never grade homework. (threaten the kids). Whether or not it makes sense. Only if YOU designed it for THESE SPECIFIC kids. Survey the kids. Ask how it affects their interest in reading. Parents. Get them to think. What if the parents say, “I don’t care”. What to do? Give that parents’ kid homework.

OVERVIEW:

Has read Every study effect of giving grades. From elementary through HS 3 circles:

1, 3, 6 (interest in learning, Avoid challenge, Learning) (Assessment does not force us to grade). Assessment: gather and report. Do not need tests, do not need grades. Emphasize not which grade; no grade at all. So how to assess students?

Authentic assessment. Narrative or Rubric (no numbers). OR meet with the parents.

Journal of Educational Psychology: Ruth Butler (Narratives together with grades is just as bad as a grade alone).

We can persuade the parents.

First think you can do: TALK LESS: ASK MORE!

If you have to give them a grade, you do not have to decide all on your own.

1. Conference and decide together. (Reserve the power to veto). 2. It will be whatever you tell me it is. (Good, trust, whatever. You have completely neutered the grade). It can change the whole climate. Do everything in your power not to be thinking about grades….more about achievement, the less learning.

So how do we assess? (alfiekohn.org)

What do we mean by a good teacher? Courses were mostly about me. Transmit. Be a teacher of students – how do students learn? (Listerine – if it tastes vile, it must be working.)

What new questions? What’s the effect on your policies on the students’ learning? Right now, how could you learn how kids are experiencing things? How can they feel safe to communicate? How do you sell the parents on this? What’s the implication of your grades on how you teach? Reasons for doing it. It’s all connected.


 * DEBRIEFING**

How to carry this forward into their lives? Many of the tech guys (Google, Amazon, Sim City) all went to Montessori schools.

You’re probably BETTER equipped to deal with real world issues, AND to do it with some passion. Social and moral state is enhanced.

FEAR??? Giving more power to the kids is scary. Will the parents make my life make me crazy? Will we let fear prevent us from doing that which is the most beneficial to the kids?

How to convince the parents that this is beneficial to the kids? Time? Make sure they feel heard. Show data/research.

Marketing? Stop trying to be all things for all people…(nurturing environment with a rigorous college-prep program). Decent human being and thinks deeply.

Individual pieces of good progressive education are interlocking. On the other hand, cannot do everything at once.

Ask the kids; give them kids’ solutions. What is good about this solution? Why do you think that this is a good solution?

“The Reading Zone” Nancy Atwell

“Drop Everything and Read”.

**Notes from John**

Keynote

 * what re your long-term goals for students?
 * intellect vs academic growth
 * every grade after kindergarten makes students a little less excited to learn
 * how do we educate parents about potential changes?
 * "my kid loves school" --> "are they really learning?"
 * focus on WHAT students are doing instead of HOW well they are doing (don't turn students into little Ed Koch's)
 * assess with great humility and caution -> figure out with students
 * worse than focusing kids on how they are doing is comparing them to other students
 * awards make other students obstacles to success
 * challenge existing teaching practices instead of accepting the "folk wisdom" of what has been done for a long time
 * leverage King's learning profiles to assign homework on a selective basis
 * experience from teachers giving less or no homework
 * students were more spontaneous and made connections between schoolwork and their life
 * students did more challenging tasks on their own
 * cannot reinforce understanding; only reinforce behavior
 * comments are not better than letter grades because most are written to justify the letter grades
 * more projects may help homework dissipate naturally
 * consider collaborating with students on the grade they deserve

Grades

 * ask yourself why grades are necessary?
 * this may help determine how to move towards no grades
 * what is out definition of a good teacher?
 * is it student-centered?

Math Breakout

 * students learn about competition as part of their environment
 * as young as second grade, they notice other grades and students getting different worksheets
 * in math, process is very important relative to final answer
 * need to incent kids with partial credit to show their process

**And the award for most copious notes goes to Elizabeth...**

How can I give up the power of being the teacher to allow the students to learn better?

Bring kids on in making decisions in the classroom. Try to give up the power you have to the students to become a better teacher.

Do we have the guts to ask the radical questions? Radical = root Root questions

What are your long term goals for your kids? How would you like them to turn out? What would you love them to be like long after they leave my class or King School? What is the overriding objective? Thrive with change, happy, empathetic, passionate, critical thinking, life long learners, creative, democratic, artists, love, responsible global citizens, curious, realize their potential.
 * Moral code, integrity, citizenship
 * Responsible global citizen
 * Empathetic, thrive with change, democratic, critical thinkers who love learning, intellectually curious, Artist, Thrive, Happy, love, Passion
 * Observations about the list
 * Not all academic, but are intellectual and emotional

Rethink my practice and use of grades

How do we educate the adults/parents?

Do the same activity with parents? (you will get a list similar to the one we created)

Learning task vs. Performance Ego What they are doing vs. How well they are doing it
 * __ Synthesis of research by educational scientists: __**

Huge difference b/w what they are doing and on how well they are doing it. There are goals that are about the “what” and goals about the “how well”.

Student feedback on how we can be better teaching.

Performance goals vs. learning goals Achievement oriented students won’t do as well as those interested in what they are learning. Why? Look at 1-6 above.
 * __ 6 predictable occurrences according to research that tend to happen when you have kids constantly thinking about how they are doing/performing/achieving: __**
 * 1) 1. interest in learning tends to decline
 * 2) a. see things as a chore and things they need to get better at and not about asking good questions
 * 3) 2. kids attribute their performance to ability, not effort. Attributions of results to ability
 * 4) 3. kids will tend to avoid challenge whenever they have the opportunity (in schools that don’t give grades, people spontaneously pick harder things to do) the more you get things worried about how well they are doing in a class, the less learning you have going on.
 * 5) 4. There are significant emotional costs with how kids look at these issues
 * 6) a. How important we make it to achieve at a high level
 * 7) 5. Social costs – what it does to the relationship among kids when you make it about how well they are doing
 * 8) a. When you focus on performance goals they tend to see other kids as barriers to their own success.
 * 9) 6. The quality of learning tends to decline in a place that focuses on how well you’re doing. It’s not always true across the board. If you have a more ambitious criteria for success –being creative, innovative thinkers and problem solvers, you have greater success.
 * 10) 7.

What are the effects of emphasizing achievement and performance too much? What are the causes? What specific practices/policies are likely to make kids focus only on their performance?

“only extraordinary education is concerned with learning most is concerned with achieving and for young minds, these are opposites.”

The moment you get them focused on how everyone else is doing you can kiss their learning goodbye. The worse thing you can do is get them worried about how their performance stacks up against their peers.

Kohn’s Law: a resource for teachers/parents Less useful the more time the word “behavior” is used. You’re not talking about reasons, values and attitudes the behavior happened.

The more you praise or rewards kids for doing something good, polite, etc. the less likely they will be to do it tin the future.

How they are motivated is what matters. It’s the type, not the amount of motivation that matters. Don’t rewards kids for doing well – pay them or buying a car.

The more you rewards kids for doing something, the more they tend to lose interest in whatever it is they do to get the reward.

Impact of this distinction on curriculum and pedagogy. The new lens: what do we teach when we stop teaching that will help kids to focus on the “what” to engage in the learning itself. What can we do proactively?

Is like making kids work a second shift. Leads to a whole bunch of bad things: kids who are exhausted, frustrated, parents stressed about helping or not, Family conflicts, parents unpaid and untrained satellite educators… Leads many kids to lose their curiosity and interest in learning, drives out the opportunity for them to do other things. Most homework is drawing kids away from learning.
 * __ Homework: __**


 * __ Only heard 4 basic arguments in support of homework: __**
 * 1) 1. Homework is useful for school achievement
 * 2) 2. No study has ever found any academic benefit of homework until high school
 * 3) 3. Standardized/traditional measure
 * 4) 4. No academic justification to giving homework to kids in a lower school.

High school level: correlation between higher academic test scores and homework given. a. it is only a correlation… correlation doesn’t mean causation. b. not a strong correlation c. other factors

you cannot justify, based on research, the assigning of homework

Why might this be true? Partial answer: How kids view homework… how do they regard homework

What predicts learning are the attitudes, beliefs and behavior of the students/those who have to go through this.

Creates a home connection actually creates a negative or stressful connection. There are many other ways to build a connection.

It builds character, teaches them responsibility, good work habits no study has ever supported this argument

Better Get Used To It: they are going to get it later, we have to give it to them now. We have to make her suffer now, for something that is coming now.

We will give homework when your kids really needs it. Giving the same homework to all the kids – is not individualized.

Why does homework persist? Is it because we just don’t trust children, so we make sure they have as little free time as possible? Schools that don’t give homework have students who are doing intriguing academic pursuits at home.
 * __ Value based objections to homework __**
 * 1) 1. this is family time (how do we get used to the idea that schools decide what they do when not in school…we will determine family time)
 * 2) 2. schools talk about the whole child, but the fact that we give homework so often means that we are mostly focused on grades, achievement… not only learning

One teacher said: “As I got to be a better teacher, I gave less and less homework. I became better at teaching what they need in class. And now I give no homework. The kids started coming in with headlines from the newspaper with what was going on in history and how it connects to current events.”

The more you know about how children learn, the less likely you are to give homework. You can’t reinforce understanding… all you can reinforce is behavior. The more behaviorist you view learning, the better.

Recommendation: change the default… no homework is the default. Give homework only on the occasions where you can make the case where it is necessary/justified/beneficial. Don’t give it everyday and don’t get rid of it all together.

Criteria for homework that is beneficial: Got to help kids think more deeply about questions that matter The assignment has to help most of the kids get excited about what they are learning.

Free reading Interview someone about a topic you are studying. After a democratic class meeting when the kids decide they would benefit by doing it home. When homework is the exception in your class, the kids will decide to do it home.
 * __ Homework that might be beneficial: __**


 * __ How to Make the Shift to Less/No Homework: __**
 * 1) 1. Never use the same homework for all kids
 * 2) 2. Never grade homework – it’s about supporting learning not the time to be evaluating them.
 * 3) 3. Assign homework only if it’s designed for this group of kids.
 * 4) 4. take an anonymous survey to ask them what is their experience… ask them how it affects their interest in reading, writing,
 * 5) 5. prove me wrong – try it out… say we are going to have no hmwk for the next month
 * 6) 6. Ask them to consider the depth of their thinking, their attitude in class, their relationship at home
 * 7) 7. If parents complain, give that kid homework but not all the other kids.

Effects of giving vs. not giving grades… research finds -Less interest in learning -Avoid challenge – will pick the easiest task -Learning declines – learn less
 * __ Grades: __**

Gather and report – you don’t need tests to gather information and you never need grades in order to report it.

How can we assess students in a way that doesn’t lead to kids thinking about how well they are doing/their achievement? (See 1-6 above)

If your school is not ready to phase them out, and replace them authentic assessment and narrative about the student’s ability. Or have a conversation.

The study – when you give narratives/comments with grades

What can I do in my own classroom…
 * 1) 1. I have to give you a grade at the end of the year, but I will never put a grade on anything you get in my class. But I will write you a comment about your work. I know some of you kids will still want to a grade, you can come up and talk to me.
 * 2) 2. You have to turn in a grade at the end of the trimester, but you are not required to decide on your own what the grade will be. Have a conference at the end of the course and have a discussion and negotiation about what the grade should be. Stage 1, we will talk about it, I reserve the right to veto it.
 * 3) 3. Stage 2, say to kids a beginning of course, I have to put a grade for you, it’s going to be whatever you say it is. If a kid a grade higher than they deserved, just do it, give it to them. It can do a world of good. Do everything in your pwr to have kids not thinking about grades. The more the class is about achievement the less it will be about learning.
 * 4) 4. Talk less, ask more = better teacher

What schools have a no homework methodology/policy? CT Friends School

Race to Nowhere – movie

Team meetings to talk about homework

[|www.alfiekohn.org] news archives – essays @ grades and homework – teacher testimonials how do we make these changes and bring the parents along.

Need to rethink: What do we mean by a good teacher?

Alfie’s realization about his teaching: “The courses I talked were mostly about me… I made all the decisions rather than the kids… in the end the kids knew more about what I wanted them to know than what they wanted to know, learn or question. Too teacher-centered. Needs to be more student-centered.”

A teacher of students with a focus on how students/children learn. Don’t just fall back on how it was for me as a student.

What new questions do pple have? What is the effect of my homework and grading policy on how kids feel about learning? How could I learn how the kids are experiencing things? How can they feel safe to tell me how they feel about my class? How do you sell the parents on this? What can I do as an individual teacher to most effectively bring the parents along? What is the implication for the way I teach?

You have to look below the behavior… the reasons they do things. One who creates lessons with kids rather than for kids. Authentically engage kids in what I’m teaching… need to be thoughtful about creating a classroom that is based on questions….21st century skills.

How can I get help in changing the way I’m teaching to authenticate instruction and engage learners by applying these new standards.

How many years do we need to persuade the current parents… it requires a particular plan of attack. It’s about how you do it. If we are going to become a really progressive school and you lose some families that you have more families wanting this approach.

School has to be willing to say they are not afraid to make a shift and approach it Alfie’s way. The dilemma – individual pieces How do you get rid of grades if the kids aren’t authentically engaged in what you are teaching? How do I teach English without just the regular practice of just the topic sentence, thesis, etc.?

What are we going to start with?

Can’t do everything at once, but you can’t do one without the other.

Allow students to come up with how they should be evaluated – let them determine the criteria by which they will be graded. Once they have extracted criteria, let them apply it to their own stuff. Remember the caution – even though it’s a better form of assessment – if you do too much of it will focus them too much on how their doing and know the what. The should be completely immersed in the doing.

Some kids do really interesting intellectual things on their own and they come to it on their own. I am being respectful of the family and their family time together. Do you want your child to develop in other ways – emotionally, socially, athletically, etc.

Should kids have the right to just chill out after school, Alfie’s answer is yes. Homework should just be busy work if parents want them to be doing things on their own which parents don’t think is constructive. It’s saying, “We don’t trust children.”

You can make suggestions about what they can do, but not wanting to force them. It’s not my job as a teacher to make sure your child is doing something in her freetime. We are keeping our eye on the long term goal for your children and keeping it all in perspective.

Nancy Atwell – book __The Reading Zone__ Everyone is lost in their favorite book for a while during school. Inspires conversations between kids about the work or writer’s style. Provide a way to direct the lesson. DEAR: Drop Everything and Read – sustained silent reading of real books…. Kids will do better with writing, grammar and vocab proficiency. Zero benefit to direct instruction to writing. Make chance for that individual reading because they will be reading different things. Use a book group model – lit circles

What is One concrete idea – meaningful change I will make: Less homework and not graded. Only give meaningful homework. Changing arrangement of classroom. Student generated grade and narrative comment – negotiated agreement to grade and comment. Student generated rubrics.

from Jamie Mansfield
Regarding the notion that grades equal loss of intrinsic motivation, it was discussed that there is a need to balance effective feedback with the grades. An argument was then raised that feedback is meaningless if it comes with the grades (wasn't read--just looked at the grade)

The question was raised that if grades were abolished, how is it decided which students go to which colleges?

Right now:

-those that are not graded, are heavily assessed on tests (SATs, etc)

-a portfolio model would be better, but---

-standardized tests are more efficient (to colleges), even with all of their faults (marginalization, etc)

Does a grade-driven environment make kids avoid challenges?

A high school teacher said that when a student comes to him at the beginning of the year and asks, "What do I have to do to get an A?" he knows that student is not interested in challenging himself--he wants the 'easy way out'. Another teacher brought up Alfie's point that it is not taking the easy way out--it's rationalizing. It is not the students failing us, rather the other way around!

How do we get parents on board with this?????

-if we emphasize grades, they will get worse grades

-talk about authenticity

-colleges use grades more than SAT scores and the most selective schools are looking earlier and earlier in the student's career than ever before--how do we change this?

From a personal standpoint, I was telling my husband about this, and he just did not understand why we would even consider taking grades away--he saw that as making everyone the same--telling everyone they are winners. I tried to explain that was not the point of the PGD day, but he said that "it sounds like that guy is teaching mediocrity." My husband is by no means the face of all parents, but he had a very traditional upbringing with lots of homework and grades on every test. I think Alfie will have to come back to talk to the parents when we go school-wide with this!

As for me, I hope to implement many of these ideas this year! In my reflection as a third grade teacher, my biggest headache all year revolves around homework. I would love to free up the time I spend creating, copying and grading homework to create more meaningful lessons and experiences in my classroom!