Dear Grading, You suck.

This year I have taken on the task of applying for my National Board certification. I have been trying (possibly unsuccessfully) to work through the material, and as usual, I am completely overwhelmed. (To the point that I should probably stop telling people I am in the process…. For my dignity’s sake).
Nonetheless, there is value in whatever outcome arises from this. Our school’s instructional coach mentioned that it was the best PD of his life - and he’s not wrong. Of particular note is the emphasis on self assessment and self directed learning.

Imma start with a hard truth. I am a control freak. I struggle with anything left to the students, and often, I assume it’ll fail. (Apparently, I am very narcissistic about my abilities). Being an AP teacher, however, has forced me to rely on their independence because frankly, I can’t hold their hand on the test. It puts me in a position where I need to teach them to be reflective and how to effectively evaluate their own work and progress. Therefore, I’ve always had some form of self-assessment. This year - while undergoing my own person Odyssey - I’ve found even more ways to engage students in reflection. After weeding through the muck, I have a few worth sharing.

• Audio Self Assessment
  1. The kids straight up hate the idea of this. I make them record themselves reading their essay aloud, pointing out where the issues are. It seems tedious on the surface, but I have found no better way to show kids the gaps in their writing (as well as awkward phrasing). I have an example below which highlights her reflection.

bp_audio_transcript.pdf
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• Collaboration Feedback
  • Group projects alway seem to elicit the same dread from students and teachers alike. For me the challenge is how do you assess students as a team when there is always an imbalance on input. Some kids do a lot; some kids do nothing. Yet, the latter always seems to coast by. In my AP class, I have a semester long project - documentary films - that are prone to this, just as any group work. To make sure my grading is accurate of input, I do two things: a group reflection at the end, but also, intermittent surveys on their group members throughout the process. Then, 10% of their final grade is collaboration alone.  The self assessments have helped immensely with rationalizing grade deductions when students aren’t pulling their weight. Not only can I go to their group member’s reflections on them, but I can also pull data from throughout the process - which is also helpful if you need to show improvement or give them process feedback.
• Game Plans
  • A self assessment before and after a test, project, or essay is incredibly useful. I give my AP students a mock exam each year, and we analyze their work prior to the actual exam to make sure they don’t make the same (or silly) mistakes. Before, they complete a self assessment on each section to determine their strengths and weaknesses. After, we create a game plan: an actionable plan for the assessment based on their analysis of the mock exam. It is specific - outlining what they can expect and what variables exist on the upcoming assessment. Similarly, but on a smaller scale, I do this with their frequent writings. After every one, we fill in a progress monitor in which they make a plan for the next essay outlining specific strategies they can employ. The habit of thinking about next time is serving two masters: their score and their mindset.

Really, it’s a shift in mindset for ourselves as the teacher. Why should we burn out creating feedback when the kids are perfectly capable? Yes, it takes frontloading with samples and rubric analysis. Yes, they will complain when you ask them to evaluate on their own. Yes, it means giving up some control (cringe).

The value lies in the process itself. For example, I can tell my kids a score at this point, and they know exactly what that number means: what’s missing, what’s successful, the next steps. Best of all - at least for me - it cuts down grading time. Significantly. It’s honestly the only reason I have time for individual conferences with students... and what's left of my sanity.

Sincerely Cwik