The Gradeless Classroom: First Steps
This is the 2nd post in a series about The Gradeless Classroom. Read the first one here.
The months following that fateful conversation in my principal's office found me disillusioned with numbers, data, and all of the limitations that come with attempting to neatly place clear boundary lines ("standards") around learning that is messy, noisy, frustrating, and entirely human. The more I pondered, the less I believed that anything at all about the way we do school makes sense. Grouping students by age, norms-based referencing, bell curves, and standardized testing are all leftovers from the factory-reflective system of learning that has been in place since the inception of public schooling. Unfortunately, I have little control over these issues. The one area over which I do have control is my classroom, and I am lucky to be in a school where I am still (mostly) allowed to make my own instructional decisions. I decided it was time to begin making changes.
After coming to the realization that I was replicating the one-shot system of accountability with my classroom grades, I determined that my grading system was the place to begin. I started by asking myself these questions to try and clarify what changes were needed:
Start With the Standards
I decided my priority needed to be communicating the goals for learning to students. Many of the changes that needed to happen depended on me, but I knew that without a clear target for learning, the students would just be shooting in the dark. So I sat down with the Common Core State Standards and decided to rewrite them with my classroom in mind. After about a week, and around ten handwritten notebook pages, I had created my own "unpacking document." If you have not sat down with your standards and done this, this should be your starting point. There is a lot of extraneous, repetitive information in the CCSS (at least for ELA), and you have to wade through the details in order to find the meat.
I wanted to create a manageable list of standards, based on the CCSS, but modified based on my experience with teaching ELA and with what I considered valuable learning. I began the year with a set of 12 standards, tailored to my own classroom,and establishing what students should know and be able to do by the end of their 8th grade year.
Show Students What Success Looks Like
I was not so foolish as to believe that if I handed students a list of standards at the beginning of the year they would magically understand exactly what they were supposed to be able to do. I also understood I still needed "kid-friendly" language within some of my unpacked standards. So my second step was to create a series of rubrics for each standard, which were written in language your average 8th grader could understand, and which they could use for self-evaluation throughout the year.
I incorporated the language of the standards as much as possible into daily classroom routines. The language was in the objectives written on the board, at the top of each classroom assignment, and used in conferences and discussion. However, the language did not include the language of grades. No mention of levels, letter grades, percentages, or any other such progress-killing nomenclature.
Learning Does Not Follow the Shortest Distance Between 2 Points
I thought I was prepared. I knew my standards, I had communicated to the kids, we were using academic language... Smooth sailing from here on! I told you in my previous post that the year was rocky. Going gradeless is a journey, and a challenging one, especially if you have no idea where to start. I don't want to make it sound like I had everything under control, because nothing could be farther from the truth.
I am finishing out my summer by offering these reflections from my past experience, and for my next post I plan to share with you the pitfalls and challenges I experienced on this journey. I also want to share how I am learning from my mistakes and looking forward to a new year, and some wonderful resources and people to help you along your way. There is an absolutely amazing community of folks dedicated to this idea of change. You just have to find them. I hope this information will be helpful as you reflect upon and maybe enact your own changes. If there is something you need to know that I have failed to include, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help you out!
The months following that fateful conversation in my principal's office found me disillusioned with numbers, data, and all of the limitations that come with attempting to neatly place clear boundary lines ("standards") around learning that is messy, noisy, frustrating, and entirely human. The more I pondered, the less I believed that anything at all about the way we do school makes sense. Grouping students by age, norms-based referencing, bell curves, and standardized testing are all leftovers from the factory-reflective system of learning that has been in place since the inception of public schooling. Unfortunately, I have little control over these issues. The one area over which I do have control is my classroom, and I am lucky to be in a school where I am still (mostly) allowed to make my own instructional decisions. I decided it was time to begin making changes.
After coming to the realization that I was replicating the one-shot system of accountability with my classroom grades, I determined that my grading system was the place to begin. I started by asking myself these questions to try and clarify what changes were needed:
- Do the students with the highest grades demonstrate the best mastery of my content?
- Can I explain the difference between an "A" and a "B"?
- Are my grades based on content knowledge or behavior? Mastery or compliance?
- Do students know what they are supposed to be learning?
- Do my grades help students learn?
Start With the Standards
I decided my priority needed to be communicating the goals for learning to students. Many of the changes that needed to happen depended on me, but I knew that without a clear target for learning, the students would just be shooting in the dark. So I sat down with the Common Core State Standards and decided to rewrite them with my classroom in mind. After about a week, and around ten handwritten notebook pages, I had created my own "unpacking document." If you have not sat down with your standards and done this, this should be your starting point. There is a lot of extraneous, repetitive information in the CCSS (at least for ELA), and you have to wade through the details in order to find the meat.
I wanted to create a manageable list of standards, based on the CCSS, but modified based on my experience with teaching ELA and with what I considered valuable learning. I began the year with a set of 12 standards, tailored to my own classroom,and establishing what students should know and be able to do by the end of their 8th grade year.
Show Students What Success Looks Like
I was not so foolish as to believe that if I handed students a list of standards at the beginning of the year they would magically understand exactly what they were supposed to be able to do. I also understood I still needed "kid-friendly" language within some of my unpacked standards. So my second step was to create a series of rubrics for each standard, which were written in language your average 8th grader could understand, and which they could use for self-evaluation throughout the year.
I incorporated the language of the standards as much as possible into daily classroom routines. The language was in the objectives written on the board, at the top of each classroom assignment, and used in conferences and discussion. However, the language did not include the language of grades. No mention of levels, letter grades, percentages, or any other such progress-killing nomenclature.
Learning Does Not Follow the Shortest Distance Between 2 Points
I thought I was prepared. I knew my standards, I had communicated to the kids, we were using academic language... Smooth sailing from here on! I told you in my previous post that the year was rocky. Going gradeless is a journey, and a challenging one, especially if you have no idea where to start. I don't want to make it sound like I had everything under control, because nothing could be farther from the truth.
I am finishing out my summer by offering these reflections from my past experience, and for my next post I plan to share with you the pitfalls and challenges I experienced on this journey. I also want to share how I am learning from my mistakes and looking forward to a new year, and some wonderful resources and people to help you along your way. There is an absolutely amazing community of folks dedicated to this idea of change. You just have to find them. I hope this information will be helpful as you reflect upon and maybe enact your own changes. If there is something you need to know that I have failed to include, leave me a comment and I'll do my best to help you out!
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