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QUESTION: I have been hearing a lot lately about school
"report cards" and whether or not we are holding our students
to high enough standards. Every time I read one of these articles, I begin
to doubt myself and what goes on in my classroom. Am I doing enough? And
are my standards high enough or do I accept mediocrity, and am just happy
that the kids are doing something? I am still relatively new to education
and am not sure how to figure out if what I am doing is appropriate. Anybody
have any suggestions? How do you know if your standards are high enough?
Kara.
ANSWER: Kara, I think yours is a question that causes many
teachers an inner struggle. I think the question points to one of the best
reasons for district and school standards, if teachers are developing and
discussing them with others.
You can't know the answer by figuring it out yourself, because there is
no answer except in the context of the classroom, school, district, and
community, and in some cases the state. Probably the most important questions
we can ask and work together on as teachers are, "What do I really
want the students to know and be able to do? What are the most important
understandings that they will hold onto?"
Those should be the rocks that go into the yearly schedule and then other
things fit in. But this can only be worked out in consultation with K-12
teachers, in a dialogue with the community, and in review of standards from
the national groups and from other communities. This takes a lot of time,
but I believe it is time well spent if the focus is not on, 'let's write
these standards and then put them on the shelf,' but on ...'what teaching
and activities and experiences must students have to help them master this
skill and knowledge?'
If your district or school is not doing this, I suggest you start the conversation
with your team and department. Focus on the big ideas and skills. What about
asking students? Most of them say they are bored (nationwide surveys) in
school. They also say that if the work is too hard or they don't understand,
they often don't know how to get the help they need, thus are frustrated
and often disengage. Once you have the key knowledge and skill goals then
comes the question, 'how will I know they know?' As I said, students can
be involved in this discussion...if they help create the criteria, or a
rubric, they will both understand what you want, as well as the elements
of the knowledge.
I am back as a student now, and I cannot tell you how much I am struck by
the fact that the criteria for "honors" or "pass" work
is not clear....nor are specific expectations of the professor. You have
to work it out yourself, by trial and error. This is much more complicated
than what we put in the syllabus.
I particularly like it when you get the chance to evaluate the work with
the teacher and the class and come up with a set of criteria for the project
after everyone has a try. Then you go back and revise with the jointly planned
criteria in mind. When I was teaching, I found the more clear I was about
what the core skills, knowledge and expectations were, the easier it was
for students to be self-motivated. They didn't have to psych me out.
One teacher I know sets up little individual mini-conferences with students
(15 min.) several times a year to discuss the relationship between the challenge
of the material, how it is being taught, and the students' effort and performance.
Students can tell you a lot about this. I used to use a little chart each
week for students to assess themselves based on the goals we jointly set
up for the class and for the subject content. Students would assess themselves
and then set goals for the next week in areas like.....
-- Put out my best effort
-- Practiced good observation and recording skills
-- Worked well with my lab partner
Hope this helps some.
Holly Hatch, UNC-Chapel Hill