The Breakfast Club – #BFC530 – is a 15 minute, 1 question Twitter chat every weekday. We chat in 4 timezones Mon-Fri – 5:30am Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Times. The mission of BFC is to empower participants to make a difference in education by engaging in consistent reflective practice in a supportive community that inspires and challenges one another.
Morning #bfc530
I really do hate mandated HM. Thankfully HW is not mandated in our school. Only policy we have is that we must request approval to give a grade lower than a 50.
Morning #bfc530
I really do hate mandated HM. Thankfully HW is not mandated in our school. Only policy we have is that we must request approval to give a grade lower than a 50.
This is such an awesome question. Students could receive the same education & do the same work but get totally different grades depending on this. Regardless of the answer to this 👇 Q we should rethink grading & its purpose #bfc530#ttog
Today begins our additional 4 days due to using up our snow days (should have been over on Friday). It will be interesting to see how many students attend today. #bfc530
We don't grade hw as such - just assignments. They're done in class but some Ss need more time & finish at home. As for zeros... struggling to get rid of them. In grades 1 - 6 we do narrative reports, no grades. So much better. #bfc530
Next year we start SBG- we’ve been working on rolling this out for the past 3 years. HW won’t count, but it will impact the “habits of work” reporting category! #BFC530
Today begins our additional 4 days due to using up our snow days (should have been over on Friday). It will be interesting to see how many students attend today. #bfc530
Our on-line grading is set to apply a 50 to any "missing" assignments. It's virtually impossible to fail my classes unless a student hands NOTHING in. That way it's on them. Make an attempt and hand something in, I have something to gauge progress, and we're good. #bfc530
We do something similar. We have a "life skills" section of our progress report. Ss are get beginning, developing or secure for different skills. Hw is included in time management and organizational skills. Next year they'll be assessing themselves in these areas #bfc530
The district does not guide grades. For homework/classwork, I give completion grades only. 100% for complete, 90% if late, 0% if they do not do it. They can turn in work late anytime before end of the grading period. #bfc530
Students are assessed for mastery. So, homework is not graded. The problem can be very few grades. Also without a lot of feedback to students, they never really know how they are doing. #bfc530
I had a kid once who was in my game development class all year and when he realized he didn't need the credit to graduate he stop working all together...I still just gave him a 50 but he earned a 0 last 2 marking periods....
#bfc530
I found an copy of Hernandez' 1st book "If at First" at a library book sale this winter. Looking forward to reading that before I go to his latest. Let me know if it is worth it. #bfc530
I found an copy of Hernandez' 1st book "If at First" at a library book sale this winter. Looking forward to reading that before I go to his latest. Let me know if it is worth it. #bfc530
I'm still working on percentage breakdown of grades. I'm currently at 60% for assessments, 25% projects, 15% class work, but I believe it still needs to be tweaked. #bfc530
Good Morning! We are moving to competency based grading where summative assessments are the only ones that count toward academic achievement grades. We do not have homework, but classwork/ formatives count toward a students “work habits” #bfc530
#bfc530 Today's question: In my department, we must give the same assignments, with the same point value, and use the rubric selected by the literacy coach.
Sadly, it seems that kid learned to play the game. Lol. Says a lot about grades- focus has to be on learning and our Ss finding purpose & meaning #bfc530
We have been told to exhaust all options before giving out a zero. I'll even give class time for the student to get it done. If the project is worth assigning its worth completing. For some students, the zero is the easy way out #bfc530
Sadly, it seems that kid learned to play the game. Lol. Says a lot about grades- focus has to be on learning and our Ss finding purpose & meaning #bfc530
I never give less than a 50 on a test or quiz. The student DOES see the actual percentage (ie 35%) so they will know the gravity of the situation, but never want one grade to become unconquerable to recover. #bfc530
Always an interesting discussion when it comes to homework...What is its value? Do students understand its value/purpose? What is teacher purpose when it comes to homework? #bfc530
Total agreement 💯 What do grades measure? That is the real question. That will open up the underlying issue of disengaged students. IMHO of course 😃 #bfc530#ttog
I’ve decided that’s going to be how I grade next year - for some students, I’m hoping the goal will hopefully shift from “passing” to “growing” and “finding success” if they know there’s always a chance to recover from a disappointing performance #bfc530https://t.co/OUcP0Sy525
#bfc530 Today's question: In my department, we must give the same assignments, with the same point value, and use the rubric selected by the literacy coach.
exactly, that is why I don't have in stone due dates, I don't want Ss to think the work is not important. Finish the work, it doesn't lose value if it is done on Tues. instead of Monday#bfc530 0
exactly, that is why I don't have in stone due dates, I don't want Ss to think the work is not important. Finish the work, it doesn't lose value if it is done on Tues. instead of Monday#bfc530 0
Some students get mad at me for only reducing grades once (ie 10 points) for late projects no matter how late. My response 1) Your grade is unaffected by how many pts I deduct from them 2) The activity is worth completing, so why discourage it by reducing multiple times #bfc530
I agree with you. If the assignment is worth doing, I don't care how late it is, I just want Ss to learn. Teaching them time management and how to avoid procrastination is a different lesson. #bfc530
When I taught middle school our formative assignments didn’t count in their grade, only summatives. Students learned quickly if they didn’t do the formatives that summative was almost impossible. We were moving towards mastery based grading at that time. They have now. #bfc530
In high school grading is a never ending fight. Some teachers use it as a punishment while others are trying to figure out how to not give a zero but still have students care about doing work. A lot of time is spent on this conversation. #bfc530
Perfect! Averaging the learning process doesn't make sense. Once I had a 7th grade S who could barely read. He failed for over half the year. But with work he learned to read & finally got passing grades. I was so happy, but the school failed him because of his average #bfc530
I spend a lot of time talking about growth and progress. If a HS student is starting from a 4th grade level and moves to an 8th grade we shouldn’t fail them because they aren’t at level yet but grade them on the progress they made... #bfc530
I agree with you completely I was working in a very traditional school and had no say in the matter. It was so frustrating...that was the year I left! #bfc530
I agree with you. If the assignment is worth doing, I don't care how late it is, I just want Ss to learn. Teaching them time management and how to avoid procrastination is a different lesson. #bfc530
My last day today...teacher day hence the sleep in! We have SBG. Behaviors and hw (if teachers assign it) are pulled out into Habits of Work and Learning. Ss can keep working and retest if they need more time for mastery. #bfc530
At what point do you cut off though? We have teachers with grades due Friday, kids handing in 10 late assignments on Thursday. Is it still really worth doing 3-4 weeks later? Especially if they are only doing as fast as possible to avoid failing?
It’s a question I struggle with
In reply to
@carlameyrink, @CoachKCullen, @mrfieldmanchs
You're right. And it adds to a teacher's already huge workload. If students hand in unsatisfactory work at the last minute, I think TS can refuse to grade it. Ss should know that Ts won't work harder than they do. #bfc530
In reply to
@btcostello05, @CoachKCullen, @mrfieldmanchs
My district is large, including 38 HSs, so each school can determine their own. My school suggests standards-based. Here's my breakdown:
35% projects
35% tests/quizzes
10% classwork
10% HW
10% professionalism
Zeros if present. Retake quizzes 1x after school.
#bfc530
Agreed. Failing is sometimes a part of the learning process not an opportunity for educators to blame themselves.
It's a student's growth we are responsible for. That's the really important metric. #bfc530
Are you ready for Summer ReNEWal? Join @ShiftParadigm and me starting this Thur 6/21 7pm EDT for the first ever 6 week #whatisschool series. We’ll focus on a different aspect of renewal each week. @mrkempnz#bfc530
