MARSHA
RATZEL
Diary #14
Solomon's
Wisdom
at Internet Speed
Balancing interests. Sometimes they are competing interests. Sometimes the interests are complimentary. But always they need balancing.
Everyone agrees on the common ground that parents should know what assignments have been given, when those assignments are due, the grading criteria, and what grade the student earned."Everyone" meaning teachers, parents, school board members, and administration. What everyone does not agree upon is timing and the manner in which that information should be delivered. So the Solomons of my district struggle to balance the interests involved in the dissemination of homework assignments and their grades.
The conflict arises over how fast teachers should grade and record assignments and post them to a public access grade book. The initial hurdle comes from the fact that not all teachers currently use an electronic grade book. Most do, but some still don't. That seems to me to be a solvable problem with time, software purchases and training.
What's a fair turnaround time?
The timing is much more problematic. Understandably parents want information as quickly as possible. So do teachers. But the reality of grading and tracking down the late assignments and so on, come into play. This is where the wisdom of Solomon is needed to define a fair expectation of turnaround time.
Certainly it's easy enough to figure out it takes less time to grade a 2nd grade math worksheet than a 10th grade writing assignment. But what if that 2nd grade teacher has 6 assignments per night? How does that balance with the middle school science teacher who only gives lab writeups every other week? What is a reasonable delay? And how do you make these timelines understandable to anxious parents?
Ironically it's the advent of technology that has caused this topic to even become an issue. Without the Internet and its accompanying expectation of immediate responses, I doubt whether this need would have been expressed and the "old fashion" progress report/grade card scheme would have been adequate. So we need to develop new insights to be responsive to our patrons and help our students be as successful as possible.
A simple tool for teacher websites
Simultaneously a new expectation for teachers is on the rise. Teachers are being encouraged to develop classroom based websites. My own personal bias is Yahoo!! I used Eboards to great advantage --- posting homework, copies of homework assignments, pictures, PowerPoint slide shows, class notes, etc. But not all teachers are comfortable with web authoring yet. So our district has created a very simple, straightforward web presence for them to use.It only takes 10 minutes for techno savvy users and 30 minutes for techno reluctant users. Most teachers finish the process with a comment, "Hey, that wasn't so bad" or "I can see how I can use this". So over all it's a good process. Teachers who already have a website can register that site on our Homework Central page and give direct linkage to parents/students who access the district page.
I think it should be a huge help to parents who have children in multiple buildings with multiple teachers ---- now they don't have to remember many different web addresses. They can simply go to their student's building, find the teacher name, and Š..click. Given that over 96% of our families have Internet access at home, most students/parents will be able to access this information. We have several hundred of the 1400 teachers now registered, and the number is growing everyday. It will be exciting and informative to watch how this new capability is used.
A dilemma now arises for teachers after creating a website. Given all the choices, which communications media should I use? Voicemail, email, website, print newsletters, etc etc etc? And how do I manage to do a good job of all of these and still teach and still grade and still do adequate planning? Again, I think this new expectation reflects the to balance how to use these communications tools to the best advantage of student learning. I guess I finish this week thinking I have many more questions than answers. I'm really glad I'm not the Solomon anyone looks to answer these questions. But I think the process is exciting, fascinating and frustrating--- for everyone --- most of the time.
