My Guest Post on Starr Sackstien’s Blog : A Grading Journey of Epic Proportions (Part 2)

In last post, I started off by saying I have been on a journey of an epic proportion. This year I was given this amazing sketchnote by a good friend, Debbie Donsky, and felt that it really showed my transformation as a teacher in a “Gradeless Classroom”. In my last post I shared some of my first year journeys and ended with the change in my classroom. After my first year I felt that though I had given up grades it was still a lot more of me as a teacher than the students. However, when I moved to a more student matter center I really started to see more drastic changes happening. For part 2 of this journey I want to highlight some of the tools and ideas that I found useful for getting my students to reflect and be a part of the evaluation process. 

I kept my monthly reports but now they are written by students and me. They also have turned into term reports as they have taken some time to write (our formal ministry reports go home three times a year and fit nicely in between the students own words). At the beginning of the year, this report looked like a blank page with the expectation that students would tell or write me what they are doing? How they think they are doing and can they show me a picture. Well this was not the most successful approach for obvious reasons the biggest is that students need to be taught how to reflect. Halfway through the year, I decided to change up the graphic organizer to look like this: 

What this allowed my students to do is look at curriculum but in a organized manner. The students looked at curriculum, write in the boxes and plan what they wanted to say. I have found this the easiest way to get them talking about reflection in relationship to what the curriculum says they have to do.  

Sample of student work: 

Once they finish their letter they show their parents and write a small reflection together about their progress so far. 

Here are some sample of student letters: 

First term: Sample 1,  Sample 2

Second Term: Sample 1, Sample 2

Now I know many reading this will say to me what about your Ministry Reports? Well, I still have to do those. However, this year, I have also started mini conferences with my students. Right before our reports come up my students use google forms to tell me how they think they are doing and then I spend 5 to 10 minutes with each student conferencing about what they wrote. It is a long process but so worth it in the end. I have rich and meaningful data for my students, and my students have no surprises about their progress which I think is the most meaningful aspect.

Here are some of my favourite responses: 

What have I learned:

1. Reflection is not as innate as we think it is. Sure we all think and ponder as we grow up but to use reflection as a tool for success students need skills and time to learn.
2. Yes this is a long process but it is a meaningful one. 
3. Giving no grades has strengthened my relationship with my parents and the classroom community. 
4. Most if not all students don’t really care about marks they care about learning. A mark has been a sign of learning but when you ask them what that letter means people talk about the feedback. 
5. I have seen more gains in my students in 2 years than I have ever in my 10 year career. This might be because I have become a better teacher but I do contribute a lot of this to how students are learning about learning. They clearly see the expectations and set goals to get there. 
6. Going Gradeless doesn’t mean that I am turning my back on the system or on years of practice but just rethinking what does it mean to learn.

The last point of my learning has been the greatest impact this year. Going “Gradeless” hasn’t really meant that I have no grades but that I am rethinking what it means to learn in school. Our kids are ready for change and need that change. The more we have them apart of the learning the better. I would encourage you to try and give it a shot. I would also love to hear about your own journey and how you are trying this in your classroom.