On the eve of going gradeless...
I have been reading about going gradeless for much of my summer. I am at the point now where I feel like I have known Mark Barnes and Starr Sackstein for years. They really spoke to me through their books this summer, and I am convinced that the traditional grading system is bogus. I am excited--with a mix of anxiety--as I approach my first year in a gradeless classroom. The upside is that the entire Latin 1 level will be experimenting together, and that I will have two other collaborators in this work.
Books like Assessment 3.0 and Hacking Assessment inspired me to make the change and gave me the ideas necessary to get the ball rolling. I had been growing tired of the questions related to numbers and letters--”I got an 89, can you bump me up?” or “How many points is this worth?” The learning process is too complicated and profound to be objectively categorized by number or letter grades. I had done a few smaller things over the years to help combat the obsession with numbers and letters. I used to write a note to each student after the first test of the year before I showed them the grade, explaining my observations on their preparation for and proficiency on the assessment, but eventually gave them the grade. I also tried to measure their learning with rubrics, which never quite felt right. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the facebook group “Teachers Throwing Out Grades” (#TTOG) that I discovered the gradeless classroom.
Through narrative feedback, teachers can open up an ongoing dialogue with each student, giving targeted direction on strengths and where to go/what to do to remediate weaknesses. Instead of giving back an assignment with circles, x’s, and numbers randomly subtracted--which doesn’t stimulate learning--I am giving students a map for improvement. It isn’t the grade that communicates learning, but rather the conversation.
Additionally, one of my new colleagues also has experience building a self-paced program, which we decided to adopt as well. We have given the students learning targets, checklists, videos, and assignments--among other resources--all through Canvas (a learning management system). We will use the first week to set things up, provide expectations, and start walking them through the first stage, but eventually turn them loose to proceed through the content at their own pace.
Both these ideas work especially well for a language classroom because in a gradeless classroom there is no punitive damage for failure. Since Latin is required of all freshman and many fail to see the benefit of it, the students approach the class with a certain lack of enthusiasm. They are told how impossible the language is, and some even decide before they even begin that they will “fail”. This approach invites students to see failure as a good thing, as a critical step in the learning process--not something to avoid. It may be a hard sell, but I think it’s one worth trying. And with it being self-paced, students cannot be “left behind” and will be encouraged to take the time necessary to build up the proper foundation to allow them to reach mastery down the line. They set their pace and they decide when they take their assessments. Just like with anything, the capacity to learn a language is unique to each student, so we are trying to rid ourselves of the typical barriers that a traditional classroom creates. Wish us luck!