Existential Questions in Education

CHAPTER 3:   How traditional grading stifles risk-taking and supports the “commodity of grades” In this chapter, we'll discuss the following questions: How have different supervisors (or those whose opinions you care about) responded to your mistakes? How have helpful responses impacted you and your effectiveness? How have unhelpful responses impacted you and your effectiveness? Recall something you learned to do outside of the school context. What motivates you to learn and to continue learning when you struggle? Some teachers think, “If I motivate students to learn with points now, they’ll realize success and become internally motivated.: If you believe this, how could you test this theory? How Effective are the use of points for students who are the least motivated and engaged? How might the use of points –the addition and subtraction throughout a student’s day —affect those students’ relationships with adults and their self-concept about whether school is for them? Post your an...

 Chapter 2: A Brief History of Grading In this chapter, we'll discuss the following questions: 1. How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century, their design, their purpose, their students, compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century? 2. How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading? Post your answer to the questions above in the comment section here by clicking "Enter you comment" >  choose "name/URL"  in the drop down menu  and add your name before typing your comment and clicking publish .  Comment on two peers' posts by clicking "reply" > choose "name/URL" in the drop down menu underneath their posts  and add your name . Participants are required to comment on one " I notice...." and one " I wonder..." on two peers' reflections in each chapte...

Chapter 1: What Makes Grading So Difficult to Talk About? Based on collaboration with peers during the orientation on January 21, type response to the following questions: What makes it hard for us to critically examine traditional grading practices? Read chapter 1 and provide responses to the following questions: 1. What are some deep beliefs you have about students? What motivates and demotivates them? Are they more concerned with learning or their grades? 2. What is your vision for grading? What do you wish grading could be for students, particularly for the most vulnerable populations? What do you wish grading could be for you? In which way do current grading practices meet those expectations, and in which ways do they not? 3. What brings you to this book study? What are your goals for this course? How will the way you read it help or hinder you from realizing those goals? 4. Which of your grading practices do you believe best support learning? Why? Which of your grading practi...