What Do Grades Really Mean Anyway?

How often have we given a grade (or gotten) one and wondered if it accurately represented learning?  

I can't remember when it happened exactly, but I totally stopped using the term "give" when it came to grades because I wanted to be sure that my students understood that they earned their grades, these letters were not magically or randomly bestowed on them.

Matt Weyers, in his article Going Gradeless: Student Self-Assessment in PBL offers insights about how he partners with students and transformed the way he and they understand grading.  Relationships, conferencing, and a purposeful approach to the metacognitive process are critical components of a growth mindset-based system that has shown positive results.  

What is stopping more teachers and schools from going gradeless?  In what ways could you integrate some of Weyers' methods into your own instruction and assessment?

Yay Recess!

 Turns Out Monkey Bars and Kickball Might be Good for the Brain

Yes!  Here's another news story that affirms the notion that recess is not only good for kids' bodies, but is an essential component to a well-rounded school day that can lead to a boost in academic achievement.  

Eagle Mountain Elementary School in Fort Worth, Texas (yes, Texas) has increased recess time for students to four chunks of fifteen minutes each.

These breaks help students get the "blood out of their butts and back into their brains", provide processing time for learning, and give them time to play!  Eagle Mountain took to heart what schools in Finland have known and been doing for a long time: short breaks from academics combined with the opportunity for physical activity help make students more focused for learning.

At the high school level, we don't have unstructured "recess" time, but the school where I work - Chanhassen High School - has instituted 20-minute breaks on block days.  During this time students can get a snack, visit with friends, enjoy a game of ping-pong in the student union or just use the time any way they wish.  The idea is that they both get a break from academics and have a choice as to what they do with it.

What are YOU doing to advocate for more recess time for kids?

UPDATE:
A recent story in the Star Tribune, "Across State, Kindergarten is Becoming the New First Grade". discussed the increase of academic rigor for kindergarteners at the expense of play and recess.  I think this is very unfortunate.  I think that Finland and other countries have proven that play is critically important for healthy development in brains and bodies.  I fear that fewer opportunities to play will lead to more stress.  I hope I'm wrong.

It's Not About Bathrooms

Are you old enough to remember this?  I'm not, but just barely not.  What a black eye on American society!  Separate but equal was anything but, in every way.

It wasn't about bathrooms then, and it's not about bathrooms now.  

Decades ago, when the fight for civil rights was in full swing, separate restroom facilities were nothing more than a way to make sure that whites didn't have to share facilities with blacks, a policy often couched in an air of being safe and appropriate for everyone. The novel (and movie) "The Help" began with a white family constructing a separate toilet room for their black nanny... framed as a health and safety issue.  Hardly!

The Obama administration stood up for transgender students and against hatred and bigotry on May 13th by issuing a directive that all school districts must allow students to use  restrooms for the gender they identify with.  

I agree with this wholeheartedly.  I cannot imagine how difficult life already is for these young people without having to worry about being bullied in a school bathroom.

I have been in plenty of restrooms alongside women whose appearance may suggest that they are transgender, and so what?  Women and transgender persons who identify as women enter the restroom, go into a stall, close the door and do their business.  They come out, wash their hands and go.  Men and transgender persons who identify as men do not have to stand at a public urinal in a mens room; they can use a stall in there as well. Frankly, this all seems like a non-issue, and it most often is.  But not to certain people who use fear as a way to try and advance their anti-LGBT causes.

One suggestion posed by some people is that public places could offer womens, mens, and an "either/or" option.  But why should transgender people have to go into a restroom like that and signify to people that they are an "other"?  Jennifer Finney Boylan speaks very eloquently to this point in an interview with Chris Matthews.  She was featured along with an anti-LGBT activist who, when pressed hard and rightfully so by Matthews, with the challenge, "Tell Jenny which bathroom she should use", had at first, no answer, but then eventually posed the "special restroom for those people" option.

The fact is that many public places already have a separate bathroom available to any gender, sometimes labeled as a "family" restroom where moms on their own with little boys or dads on their own with little girls can safely take them when the need arises and they are too small or young  to use the restrooms all by themselves. 

Presumably these facilities are available to transgender persons, but again, why should they have to make this choice?

And of course, if you've ever been to an outdoor music festival, art fair, fireworks show, county park, trail or public playground, you may have relieved yourself in a  unisex "restroom" like these...  they are available for anyone who needs them.

But now,  11 states are suing the federal government because they do not want to comply with the president's directive to schools.  Which states? States with Republican governors and legislatures.  That should tell us something.  And it's not good.

So what can we do?  What will I do?  

As a woman, an educator, a wife, a mother and a grandmother I will stand up  for the rights of transgender people because they deserve the same rights as the rest of us.  

As a Christian, I will not use religion as an excuse to deny rights to human beings because I believe that we are all children of God, all equal.  

As an American, I will vote for politicians and the party that stands up for and protects the rights of all.

Teaching Active Learners

When I first saw this video, I did not have the same reaction as everyone else in the room who oohed and aahed and thought that it was so cool that these hip and happening kids are digital natives and learn in such different ways.  Out with the old way of learning (and teaching) and in with the new!  

I was horrified and wondered what was going to happen to the art of conversation and the whole notion of personal connections.  Are all these kids marshmallow eaters?  Do they really not need to memorize anything ever because the device at their fingertips will access it all for them whenever they need it?  What will they do with the information once they get it?  Do they know how to determine whether a source is credible or not?  And what exactly is wrong with actually knowing some things from memory?  Doesn't the knowledge that we have internalized allow us to make connections and make sense of things when new stuff comes along?

Remember Wall-E?  

I thought that movie was wonderful for its social commentary.  The humans in it  were fat blobs who blobbed around in blobby floating chairs with their faces glued to screens in front of them.  Food and drink magically appeared for them and they never had to interact with others in person because everything was done via the screen in front of their faces.  When they actually bumped into each other skin-to-skin they freaked out and didn't know what to do.

As an educator, I try not to be on the end of the pendulum as it makes its way to the top of the cycle.  When new things come along I want to find ways for them to add to what is already tried and tested, but I'm also not afraid to let go of things that don't work.  It is important to think of technology in education as a way to enhance learning, but I don't ever want it to take over and supplant human interaction and conversation.  

I truly believe that human beings are social beings and construct knowledge in social ways.  Some of this can and must take place in an online platform.  We are in the 21st Century after all!  But as educators, we have to continue to teach students how to share ideas face to face, how to argue a point in a respectful way, and how to honor each other for the valuable and unique people they are.  We cannot replace human interaction.

So I can't say "Good Job!"... Now what?

How about any of the ideas offered up by this blog post from a Montessori teacher?  Check it out: "Trying to break the "Good Job" Habit?  These 21 Suggestions are for YOU."  Frankly, most of them could be adapted to be used with older students and... dare I say it... adult learners as well.

As a lifelong learner myself, I appreciate specific feedback.  The more detail, the better.  Perhaps I have transitioned from a praise junkie to a feedback junkie.  But that's what gets me engaged in learning and practicing and making the kinds of changes that result in improvement.  Imagine what would happen if an athletic coach only ever said "Good job" or "Bad job".  Athletes would not know what they were doing well or what they could change to get better.

Getting beyond "Good Job" takes a little practice, but it's worth it.  Using any of this blogger's strategies or any others like them can help our own children or our students more fully engage in their learning,  strengthen their growth mindset and increase their grittiness. 

Moments of Gratitude

Moments of Gratitude

Grateful to spend time with Harper!

 

Grateful for the view in the parking lot on the way in to work.

Grateful for this collaborative group of learners in MB3

Grateful to see this beautiful moon as I walked out my front door.

Welcome to the world Harper Elizabeth!

I am grateful for a safe delivery and for the honor of supporting my daughter and her husband as they welcomed this little pink blessing into their lives.

 

!

Play!

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. 

But for children play is serious learning. 

Play is really the work of childhood."

~ Fred Rogers ~ 

It's unfortunate that many children today will not have the same experiences with Mr. Rogers that my children and I did, unless they catch him on Netflix.  We spent a lot time in the land of make-believe with Mr. Rogers, wondering what Lady Elaine Fairchild and Daniel Striped Tiger might do next.

It is also unfortunate that some schools are cutting back on or eliminating altogether recess and unstructured play time for students. 

During my school finance course our groups researched the implementation of all day kindergarten in several suburban school districts.  I was shocked to find that St. Louis Park had eliminated all unstructured play time for kindergarten students, instituting instead "purposeful play" do be directed and supervised by adults.  How does this teach or encourage self-direction?  Kindergarten classrooms in Shakopee were stripped of their toys, including their play kitchen sets.  Teachers were upset by this new policy, but could do nothing about it.

"Play is the work of the child."

~ Maria Montessori ~

According to Montessori, the essential dimensions of play are:

• Voluntary, enjoyable, purposeful and spontaneous
• Creativity expanded using problem solving skills, social skills, language skills and physical skills
• Helps expand on new ideas
• Helps the child to adapt socially
• Helps to thwart emotional problems

I heard this often when I was a kid, "Go outside and play!"  I am amazed and I love it when I see children in my neighborhood running or biking or playing kick-the-can in the park.  Surely this is good for kids.  Surely this helps kids learn valuable life lessons.

Lest we lose heart completely, here is a story about a group of Florida parents who are fighting to keep recess in their children's public schools.  They will not go quietly, and I support their efforts!