[High School Math and Physics] Students and Parents care about Grades and not about Learning. Thinking about trying a whole new Assessment Plan

Before I begin, I am not interested in a conversation about how I, you, or we "should be planning engaging lessons!" Yep, we should. But, the issue at hand exists no matter how engaging our lessons might be.

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The system rewards good grades. We all know this. In theory, good grades are awarded to students who have demonstrated that they have learned the material.

In practice, good grades more frequently depend on task completion and correct answers. Task completion and correct answers frequently have nothing to do with the amount that a student has learned.

My kids are obsessed with getting credit and will always choose the path of least resistance. I'm a math and Physics teacher, so that path often includes cheating using things like Photomath or any number of websites that will, for example, solve kinematics problems for you. They want credit on the immediate assignment. They act like they do not understand (it's possible they simply do not care) that a failure to learn the material when we're practicing it will result in low grades on future assessments. So, they'll cheat, copy, or get someone to hold their hand through every problem.

Let me pause for a moment and say that I recognize that this may be a "me problem." I'm definitely struggling this year. I have four preps and every day is an adventure trying to keep my ducks in a row and have four different lessons ready. My mental and physical health also isn't great right now. I also sponsor a really time-consuming after school club (I'm quitting it after this year). But, I have a feeling that this is happening on a wide scale. I know I'm not the only overworked teacher in the world.

I'm having a lot of trouble reaching my students this year, and I think that's related to the issue I'm talking about here. I really want to overhaul my entire assessment scheme.

I wonder if changing things up so that student practice is rewarded with credit for effort, rather than completion or correctness would help. I'm even kicking around the idea of something like giving my students a problem set with the solutions attached, but telling them they need to make sure that they can arrive at those solutions themselves without help. Would that help them internalize that self-sufficiency and understanding is what matters? Maybe. It would certainly take the focus off getting the right answer at all costs.

I'm also thinking about changing my formal assessments to de-emphasize "right answers" and to put more focus on understanding. Maybe making half the points on a test or quiz related to correctness and the other half related to a written or oral explanation of process for a selected problem or two.

During Midterms last month, it occurred to me that what I really wanted to do with my Honors Physics students was give each of them a one-on-one interview about Physics. Just have a conversation with them about what they knew and understood. I feel like that would give me a much more accurate understanding of what they've learned than their score on a traditional test. The problem, of course, is one of grading. I guess I could just use a checklist of topics?

What do you guys think? Anyone else feel like having to assign grades gets in the way of teaching and learning? Anyone have any assessment plans that they think accurately measure student learning that they'd like to share?

Submitted January 24, 2020 at 07:14PM by simowilkins https://ift.tt/37C324Y