Grades and school insights
Julie Bogart <[email protected]>
So I'm one week into this new way of thinking about life (I can't
think about it as school any more) and I have some thoughts and
questions.
I've suddenly seen my paradigm shift about how we view our
own lives! It's as though I had been trained to think about life one
way and suddenly I'm seeing it in a new light.
My oldest has an Algebra II class at the local hs. He has decided
to keep taking it. It destabilized me completely in the fall as he
failed the first two tests and then bounced back to an A- and B+
only to fail another one yseterday. But he's kept at it. He's actually
very good at the mathematics. He just makes little errors in the
arithmetic. The teacher chuckled at his mathematical orientation
with all these little errors as his primary weakness. In fact, in
yesterday's exam, he got the hardest page of problems all
correct (the only one in the class) even though he made so many
little mistakes on the first page that his grade was below 70.
It frustrates me no end. I want him to get the grade to prove that
he is learning math. isn't that incredible? I hdan't realized how
much I felt this way! Yet if we were using a tutor or he was doing
Algebra II at home with a video curricula, I wouldn't even flinch at
his scores or grades. He woudn't have any. Instead he'd have
knowledge of Algebra II. And that would be what we were after.
After this week's worth of reading this list, I suddenly got it last
night. I don't care what grade he gets on his final on Wed. I'm
convinced he understands as much of the math as he has
learned. What difference does it all make, really? College? As
though he can't prove to a college in other ways that he is a
worthy candidate?
I was stunned to think that if his errors are in the arithmetic
mostly (silly mistakes in multiplying or subtracting), isn't it crazy
that the students like him end up penalized, instead of shown
their errors and allowed to improve? Then I started thinking
about the damage of being graded period. The goal is to sort by
test abilities and no attention is paid to whether a child can
regroup and learn a second time or a third time. And these
grades mark kids for life. They come to evaluate their intelligence
and aptitude in light of them.
I felt distressed about that grade until I finally faced my real
feelings. I am still a slave to the grade. It makes me even more
wary of school for any of them seeing how quickly it changes
how I see learning and my kids.
Thanks for all your insights that are helping me sort our reality.
Julie B
think about it as school any more) and I have some thoughts and
questions.
I've suddenly seen my paradigm shift about how we view our
own lives! It's as though I had been trained to think about life one
way and suddenly I'm seeing it in a new light.
My oldest has an Algebra II class at the local hs. He has decided
to keep taking it. It destabilized me completely in the fall as he
failed the first two tests and then bounced back to an A- and B+
only to fail another one yseterday. But he's kept at it. He's actually
very good at the mathematics. He just makes little errors in the
arithmetic. The teacher chuckled at his mathematical orientation
with all these little errors as his primary weakness. In fact, in
yesterday's exam, he got the hardest page of problems all
correct (the only one in the class) even though he made so many
little mistakes on the first page that his grade was below 70.
It frustrates me no end. I want him to get the grade to prove that
he is learning math. isn't that incredible? I hdan't realized how
much I felt this way! Yet if we were using a tutor or he was doing
Algebra II at home with a video curricula, I wouldn't even flinch at
his scores or grades. He woudn't have any. Instead he'd have
knowledge of Algebra II. And that would be what we were after.
After this week's worth of reading this list, I suddenly got it last
night. I don't care what grade he gets on his final on Wed. I'm
convinced he understands as much of the math as he has
learned. What difference does it all make, really? College? As
though he can't prove to a college in other ways that he is a
worthy candidate?
I was stunned to think that if his errors are in the arithmetic
mostly (silly mistakes in multiplying or subtracting), isn't it crazy
that the students like him end up penalized, instead of shown
their errors and allowed to improve? Then I started thinking
about the damage of being graded period. The goal is to sort by
test abilities and no attention is paid to whether a child can
regroup and learn a second time or a third time. And these
grades mark kids for life. They come to evaluate their intelligence
and aptitude in light of them.
I felt distressed about that grade until I finally faced my real
feelings. I am still a slave to the grade. It makes me even more
wary of school for any of them seeing how quickly it changes
how I see learning and my kids.
Thanks for all your insights that are helping me sort our reality.
Julie B
[email protected]
"Julie Bogart <julie@...>" <julie> writes:
<<
So I'm one week into this new way of thinking about life (I can't
think about it as school any more) and I have some thoughts and
questions.
I've suddenly seen my paradigm shift about how we view our
own lives! It's as though I had been trained to think about life one
way and suddenly I'm seeing it in a new light.
My oldest has an Algebra II class at the local hs. He has decided
to keep taking it. It destabilized me completely in the fall as he
failed the first two tests and then bounced back to an A- and B+
only to fail another one yseterday. But he's kept at it. He's actually
very good at the mathematics. He just makes little errors in the
arithmetic. The teacher chuckled at his mathematical orientation
with all these little errors as his primary weakness. In fact, in
yesterday's exam, he got the hardest page of problems all
correct (the only one in the class) even though he made so many
little mistakes on the first page that his grade was below 70.
<..snip>>
I still remember it to this day. He said "Anyone can plug and chug <do
the arithmetic>, but the real work comes in setting up the problem". It
sounds like your son's teacher has a similar view.
Kevin
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
<<
So I'm one week into this new way of thinking about life (I can't
think about it as school any more) and I have some thoughts and
questions.
I've suddenly seen my paradigm shift about how we view our
own lives! It's as though I had been trained to think about life one
way and suddenly I'm seeing it in a new light.
My oldest has an Algebra II class at the local hs. He has decided
to keep taking it. It destabilized me completely in the fall as he
failed the first two tests and then bounced back to an A- and B+
only to fail another one yseterday. But he's kept at it. He's actually
very good at the mathematics. He just makes little errors in the
arithmetic. The teacher chuckled at his mathematical orientation
with all these little errors as his primary weakness. In fact, in
yesterday's exam, he got the hardest page of problems all
correct (the only one in the class) even though he made so many
little mistakes on the first page that his grade was below 70.
<..snip>>
>>I had a calculus teacher who put mathematics into perspective for me, and
I still remember it to this day. He said "Anyone can plug and chug <do
the arithmetic>, but the real work comes in setting up the problem". It
sounds like your son's teacher has a similar view.
Kevin
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[email protected]
In a message dated 1/14/03 7:58:03 AM, julie@... writes:
<< Then I started thinking
about the damage of being graded period. The goal is to sort by
test abilities and no attention is paid to whether a child can
regroup and learn a second time or a third time. And these
grades mark kids for life. They come to evaluate their intelligence
and aptitude in light of them. >>
It's not the permanent record that follows them for life, as the teachers
always ominously told us. It's the internal shame, or the false pride and
confidence, or the profound "averageness" that pervades people's souls when
they have grades and test scores, whether high or average or low.
And when homeschoolers say (hope, claim) that they will test their kids, but
they won't tell the kids the scores and it won't change their behavior toward
the child, they find they were wrong and its impossible NOT to have the
overlay of test scores affect their relationship with their child. The
kids will read those scores in their parents' eyes (if they have any
interpersonal skills at all). They will feel it in their touch.
Here's my best recommendation about tests: Avoid them.
Second-best recommendation:
http://sandradodd.com/tests
Sandra
<< Then I started thinking
about the damage of being graded period. The goal is to sort by
test abilities and no attention is paid to whether a child can
regroup and learn a second time or a third time. And these
grades mark kids for life. They come to evaluate their intelligence
and aptitude in light of them. >>
It's not the permanent record that follows them for life, as the teachers
always ominously told us. It's the internal shame, or the false pride and
confidence, or the profound "averageness" that pervades people's souls when
they have grades and test scores, whether high or average or low.
And when homeschoolers say (hope, claim) that they will test their kids, but
they won't tell the kids the scores and it won't change their behavior toward
the child, they find they were wrong and its impossible NOT to have the
overlay of test scores affect their relationship with their child. The
kids will read those scores in their parents' eyes (if they have any
interpersonal skills at all). They will feel it in their touch.
Here's my best recommendation about tests: Avoid them.
Second-best recommendation:
http://sandradodd.com/tests
Sandra