[Critique Group 1] Leonard's comments on Martia's sub for Dec

[tuchyner5 at aol.com]

An interesting treatise.  



I think the things you recommend are worthgiving a shot.  



Some of the children would gain from thosesuggestions, 



and some would not do as well. 



I think the true task is to find out whattechniques work for what children. 



The fact that certain limitations are beingimposed on us is good reason to try some of these ideas out. 



And perhaps many children would flourish, 



Whear as if they did not have the opportunity touse your ideas would simply languish. 



We should be exploring these ideas without beingforced to by the plague. 



But we do not and probably would not do so. 



The piece is very well written   




 



 



 



 


Stop Grading Students during the Pandemic



Marcia J. Wick, The Write Sisters



December 2020



Word Count:  573



 



 



Life on all levels has been disrupted during theCorona Virus pandemic, yet we hold onto pre-pandemic grading practices that arearbitrary and unfair for students and teachers under these circumstances.



 



Over the decades, our educational system hasbecome data driven. We’ve developed standardized tests that measure progressfrom grade to grade; we even track learning from fall to spring. We’veestablished benchmarks so we can assign points and letters to equate learning.That’s all well and good during a “normal” school year, but soon we’ll beentering the second year of “abnormal,” as this global health crisis continuesinto 2021.



 



On top of stress and concerns over life anddeath matters, our children, parents, and teachers feel pressure to meet a hostof educational expectations, compounding their capacity to manage mental andemotional health challenges during this unprecedented time. The impact of thevirus on our economy, travel, public health system, small businesses, andpublic entities like libraries is beyond our imagining. We look for the silverlining in little things like spontaneous acts of kindness and creative insightsinto coping with our solitude. But in the midst of our chaos, we demand thesecurity and comfort of sending our children off to school every day, as ifnothing is amiss.



 



Let’s relax. History shows us that thedisruption of a child’s education during the worst of times – war, famine, theage of cholera, the holocaust - although having short-term impact, may beovercome over the long-term. Most children continue to learn and developnaturally under difficult conditions, especially if allowed the freedom toexperience and explore while living history in the making. On the other hand,under the best of circumstances, many children resist learning when required toconform to standards. What if a child who often fails wasn’t graded relative tothe performance of his peers, but relative to his own progress and effort?Until students are able to return to a structured classroom, why not allow themto explore learning under their own terms during this epic time of difficultyand duress?



 



If I were a social scientist, I’d jump at theopportunity and design a study on the impact of “observing,” not “measuring,”the enthusiasm, motivation, inspiration, and confidence children gain without agrading system to gauge success. Might a student who often “fails” relatives tofellow students seize the opportunity to explore any topic of interest to her?Rather than drilling each fifth grader to master division, for instance, leteach child develop their own curriculum. If a student is interested in trains,yoga, or video games, allow them to study the history of trains, yoga, or videogames. Ask the child to write a report on the impact of their topic on theeconomy, health, or technology. Could the student apply their passion andenergy to ultimately qualify as an “expert” in his area of interest? After all,that’s what’s required to advance, excel, earn a living, and build a career.



 



Learning is a process. Children arrive atunderstanding at different points along the road. Must they meet a specificmilestone by a specific age or grade in school? What if a student learns beyondher years about space travel, but she can’t identify a pronoun? What if the ladwho is dyslexic can engineer a mouse trap that produces solar energy? What ifwe gave each student a passing grade and a pass for 2020?



 



# # #



 



_______________________________________________





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://bluegrasspals.com/pipermail/group1/attachments/20201231/eb3eee80/attachment-0001.html>