CMEA Band Festival is over. State testing is upon us and the last thing anyone wants to do is to jump back into playing....most importantly me. We are all fighting burn out and trying to push to the end of the year. But we need something to do....
And a friend suggested this article from NPR.
The Six Songs of Your Life it was a story put out by NPR that asked listeners to list the six songs (title & artist/composer) that tell the story of your life up to now. Along with a line explaining why the song is important to you. (e.g. I remember singing this one in kindergarten).
I have challenged all three of my band classes (those Unanimous Superior rated ensembles) to complete this task this week and then share them in small groups next week.
Here's mine:
#1-Tingalayo-Raffi
My elementary music teacher played the guitar and sang with our classes and we sang a lot of Raffi. I absolutely adored that class and music in general at a very young age. One of the first concerts I ever went to was Raffi.
#2-American Pie-Don McLean
This just summarizes for me so much of middle school and high school both my experiences and the music that I listened to during that time. It reminds me of home and of my past.
#3-The Dreaming Tree, Dave Matthews Band
I have been a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band since I was 15 years old. I have seen the group many many times with many of my friends and have wonderful memories of the concert. A dear friend who is no longer with us, helped sketch out a winter percussion show idea around this song called "The Dreaming Tree." A few years later my winter percussion group at Santa Teresa would do this show and we were very successful that season.
#4-Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland
This is one of my favorite pieces of music and reminds me of my experience as a classical musiciand going through music school. It was also the piece of music that I got to conduct the first year I was drum major at UO which was a life changing experience and it was an honor to be that postion with this group.
#5-Somwhere over the Rainbow-Iz
Makes me think of that special someone in my life.
#6-Home-Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
It reminds me of Home and of the nearest and dearest friends I have in my life. You know who you are.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Friday, February 21, 2014
CASMEC 2014 IS HERE!
The California All State Music Education Conference is upon us! It's time for all the music teachers of California to gather in the great state of California for a fun four days of conferncing!
We kicked off the conference yesterday with more sessions offered Thursday afternoon. The Homestead HS Orchestra had an outstanding first concert of our conference. This morning was a fantastic master class with SF Symphony trumpet player Mark Inouye. One of my very own trumpet students had the opportunity to play for him during the master class. The entire experience was amazing.
Today will feature some hanging out at the exhibit halls, a professional development session "Will Teaching Festival Music Through The Common Core Lens Make My Group Sound Better?" This session will be led by Russ Sperling and Jon Grantham. Jon and I have been friends for a long time and this is the first time in six years that we will NOT be working this fine conference....but we can't stay just "attend" a conference so we are both presenting.
We welcome Travis Cross to the great state of California. Travis is the new director of bands at UCLA and will be leading this year's conference band reading session. A really highlight of that reading session is usually listening to me butcher exposed and beautiful piano parts during the sight reading.
And finally....I will be presenting today. I am presenting on the topic of music composition in the class room and my session is entitled "Compose Your Own Adventure". Check out my presentations section of my blog for more information.
We kicked off the conference yesterday with more sessions offered Thursday afternoon. The Homestead HS Orchestra had an outstanding first concert of our conference. This morning was a fantastic master class with SF Symphony trumpet player Mark Inouye. One of my very own trumpet students had the opportunity to play for him during the master class. The entire experience was amazing.
Today will feature some hanging out at the exhibit halls, a professional development session "Will Teaching Festival Music Through The Common Core Lens Make My Group Sound Better?" This session will be led by Russ Sperling and Jon Grantham. Jon and I have been friends for a long time and this is the first time in six years that we will NOT be working this fine conference....but we can't stay just "attend" a conference so we are both presenting.
We welcome Travis Cross to the great state of California. Travis is the new director of bands at UCLA and will be leading this year's conference band reading session. A really highlight of that reading session is usually listening to me butcher exposed and beautiful piano parts during the sight reading.
And finally....I will be presenting today. I am presenting on the topic of music composition in the class room and my session is entitled "Compose Your Own Adventure". Check out my presentations section of my blog for more information.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Ramblings on a new year
The month of December, for every music teacher is a whirlwind. Just coming off of marching band season, like many directors out there, I was madly pulling together winter concerts and prepping for the end of the semester. Myself and my band staff were cramming in winter percussion, winter guard and after school jazz band auditions in those few weeks of December so that we could be off and running come January. With all of this craziness I also had planned a trip to the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic which happened to be the last week of our semester and the week before break. It took me three weeks to prepare for but I was able to go to the conference (virtually) stress and work free. Winter break is the one holiday I really try to observe...meaning that you can usually catching me working on the February break, spring break, and summer but a few years back I decided to do my best to clear my schedule and actually vacation on winter break....sort of (I did "schedule" three days of work at the end of the vacation so that the beginning of January doesn't slap me in the face and push me to the brink of tears). I traveled to Midwest, spent time with my family in Oregon, spent time with friends in Santa Cruz for New Years, and then came home to prep for the upcoming year.
No matter how much preparation you plan and how many lists you make sometimes life brings you challenges that you can't plan for and never expect. The community for which my band is apart of was rocked by tragedy during this month. It brought people closer together than I could have ever imagined and reminded me of how important and valuable the villages we are apart of and create really are. It reminded me of the importance of spending time and treasuring those that we love.
The Midwest Clinic was a welcome event in my life. It was a wonderful and exciting conference as always. I had been looking forward to going for a year. Not only did I enjoy excellent concerts, great sessions, and bonding with my band director friends from all around the country, I was honored to provide percussion coaching to my good friend Jon Grantham's band, Amador Valley Wind Ensemble 1 as they performed at the concert and got to support the Gunn HS Orchestra under two friends of mine, Sandy Lewis and Todd Summers. I attended some fabulous sessions that have really stuck with me.
One of the things I desperately need to improve is my approach to tone quality, intonation etc. Basically, my groups play way too out of tune and its time for me to change my approach. I attended Beth Bornk & Marry Ellen Cavitt's session "Understanding Chord Tuning, Balance, & Intonation" which was wonderful and really set the stage for Shelly Jagow's session "Tuning for Wind Instruments." I have made it my "band room New Year's Resolution" to absorb this information, read more, use tonal energy, and get our intonation IMPROVED!
I got to celebrate my friend Rob Franzblau's release of his new book that highly recommend to students considering majoring in music education and their teachers who have to answer the questions "should I major in music" and "how do I major in music"
I also attend sessions on the Finnish Conducting School, "Help for your Horn Players" (which was amazing!), and Composing 101 for Music Teachers by Dr. Rob Deemer. Rob and I both had the opportunity to contribute lesson plans to a new GIA publication entitled "Musicianship: Composing in Band & Orchestra." This book is an outstanding collection of chapters on the topic as well as practical lesson plans.
This year I will be sharing more about this book on the blog as well as trying out several of the lesson plans in the book out on my classes and sharing them here with you. If you are in California and will be attending the CASMEC consider coming to my session. I will be profiling my lesson plans from the book as well as strategies that I use to teach composition in my large ensemble classes.
This week I will also be presenting on the topic: "Getting the Most Out of Your Percussion Section" at the CMEA Bay Section Conference. I will be sharing more on this session this week and following the session will present a summary of the session right here on the blog.
And here's a little LBD meme that I was sent during the break for your enjoyment:
Happy New Year!
No matter how much preparation you plan and how many lists you make sometimes life brings you challenges that you can't plan for and never expect. The community for which my band is apart of was rocked by tragedy during this month. It brought people closer together than I could have ever imagined and reminded me of how important and valuable the villages we are apart of and create really are. It reminded me of the importance of spending time and treasuring those that we love.
The Midwest Clinic was a welcome event in my life. It was a wonderful and exciting conference as always. I had been looking forward to going for a year. Not only did I enjoy excellent concerts, great sessions, and bonding with my band director friends from all around the country, I was honored to provide percussion coaching to my good friend Jon Grantham's band, Amador Valley Wind Ensemble 1 as they performed at the concert and got to support the Gunn HS Orchestra under two friends of mine, Sandy Lewis and Todd Summers. I attended some fabulous sessions that have really stuck with me.
One of the things I desperately need to improve is my approach to tone quality, intonation etc. Basically, my groups play way too out of tune and its time for me to change my approach. I attended Beth Bornk & Marry Ellen Cavitt's session "Understanding Chord Tuning, Balance, & Intonation" which was wonderful and really set the stage for Shelly Jagow's session "Tuning for Wind Instruments." I have made it my "band room New Year's Resolution" to absorb this information, read more, use tonal energy, and get our intonation IMPROVED!
I got to celebrate my friend Rob Franzblau's release of his new book that highly recommend to students considering majoring in music education and their teachers who have to answer the questions "should I major in music" and "how do I major in music"
I also attend sessions on the Finnish Conducting School, "Help for your Horn Players" (which was amazing!), and Composing 101 for Music Teachers by Dr. Rob Deemer. Rob and I both had the opportunity to contribute lesson plans to a new GIA publication entitled "Musicianship: Composing in Band & Orchestra." This book is an outstanding collection of chapters on the topic as well as practical lesson plans.
This year I will be sharing more about this book on the blog as well as trying out several of the lesson plans in the book out on my classes and sharing them here with you. If you are in California and will be attending the CASMEC consider coming to my session. I will be profiling my lesson plans from the book as well as strategies that I use to teach composition in my large ensemble classes.
This week I will also be presenting on the topic: "Getting the Most Out of Your Percussion Section" at the CMEA Bay Section Conference. I will be sharing more on this session this week and following the session will present a summary of the session right here on the blog.
And here's a little LBD meme that I was sent during the break for your enjoyment:
Happy New Year!
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Lady Band Director....how it all started
If you are a band director in the state of California then you may already know a little bit about this because you might have even been there when it all started.
If you are friends with me on Facebook you have LOL'ed one too many times about the many memes that have been posted on my wall since lady band director all started.
This is my best attempt at the story that is "Lady Band Director"
It was an early morning at the California All State Music Education conference or as we like to call it "CASMEC" and it was time for our annual California Band Directors meeting. While its a crazy early morning session and typically not well attended we knew (as someone who is on the conference "special projects" committee) that this year in particular our general session would be well attended because we were going to have our official membership vote to move the conference to San Jose.
The room was packed. There was a long table elevated at the front of the room that our very large board of directors sat on.
I will say this in defense of how and where this story goes....there were more women in the room than one might expect in a room full of band directors and band directing can be a bit of a boys club. Every one knows this is a male dominated profession but every one also knows that there are a lot more female band directors these days.....or at least I sure feel that way. And I will say that at the beginning of this meeting it felt that way too.
We have a few ladies (not near as many as I think we should have) on the CBDA board. We have a wonderful lady administrative assistant for our organization. Our meeting started out with introductions and some reports as well as introducing our new members and our college band directors in the room....and I will point out that there was presence of ladies being introduced during this time....
And then...then it got real. One of our more veteran band directors got up to give his report. Now I'm going to same this as a disclaimer...this blog is not a rant on what he said. In fact, I honestly am not offended really at what took place next but it did change the course of history a bit and for that I am thankful. The fun, humor, and awareness that these next statements brought to Lady Band Directors everywhere is appreciated so here goes.
He looked out among us all and said "Before I get started I would like to take this opportunity to thank the lady band directors. You all have been doing such good job teaching..." I'm not sure how it ended because that's all I needed to hear.
It got quiet as I remember and we each kind of started looking at each other. Its those kind of moment where everyone is silent but mouthing things like "can you believe he just said that?" And it wasn't just the LBD's scouting out the reactions of the other LBD's in the room. In conversing with other folks it was many people leaning over and saying things like "he might be right but you just can't say that anymore." It was awkward because no one knew what to say or do.
One woman was enraged. She came up to me after the meeting because, yes, I am a lady band director, I'm on the conference committee, and I spoke at the session. I told her that I too couldn't believe that he said that but I wasn't going to take offense to it because I was not sure exactly what he meant by it. I tried my best to help her see that it probably was an innocent statement by a gentleman who thought he was making a positive and supportive statement. A man who is from a different era and just didn't actually know what would be the proper or appropriate venue to share his enthusiasm and support for the evolution of the profession. Or maybe not. Maybe he meant it a different way.
Or maybe he meant it exactly how he said it. Who knows....and honestly who cares.....because.....what came out of it actually has been worth it. I think what he was trying to say....and if it wasn't then I'm going to take it this way....is that there are MORE lady band directors than there have been before and you know what we ARE doing really great things in music education.
Now most of the folks who read this blog I assume are band directors. We are an odd bunch and when we are together we are like a bunch of caddy school girls so let me tell you it wasn't within 15 minutes that "Lady Band Director" was ALL we could talk about.
Before I could make it downstairs from the first floor to the second floor we had jokes about composing music for "Pieces of Ladies." I had to rush down and have a good laugh with our Lady Administrative Assistant about how we should start having "binders full of women" at our registration area so that when people are voting for things or need assistance they know where to find all the ladies.
And then we had our first meme. These memes and the dialogue for the remainder of the conference was really about how we needed "a lady band director" to do something. This was NEVER implied in the original statement....but that's where we took it because "lady band director" took on a life of its own.
It started with this meme:
Then we returned home. I couldn't help but tell my jazz band. My students have an amazing ability to use lady band director comments at just the right moments. When leaving the stage at the jazz festival "Ms. Bounds that was pretty good for a lady band director. Your band swings pretty hard." I can be heard when I have to put on my heels for a concert "its hard to be a lady band director." And you know what it is but what's not hard is receiving all of these memes posted on my Facebook! Its taken on a life of its own and somehow I end up on the receiving end of a lot of the commentary via text message and the posting of many memes on my Facebook. A big shout to fellow band director and friend Todd Summers (who didn't even experience the first LBD moment) for never missing an opportunity to create a meme for me. In case we aren't Facebook friends here's a montage of the memes.
They started with:
Then I took my Jazz Bands & Combos to Santa Barbara:
Then I celebrated 10 years at my school:
(I believe this meme was brought to us by a fellow LBD)
Most recently we got new marching band uniforms. Naturally Ryan had to share in his enthusiasm for our new uniforms with us:
 |
| Here's the Thrifty Band Director with some of her fabulous students! |
Monday, September 23, 2013
Layering a Foundation for Change (in grading & assessment)
Disclaimer: This blog is part of a series that summarizes and discusses the book "Grading and Reporting Systems for Student Learning" by Thomas R. Guskey & Jane M. Bailey. Please consider reading the whole book...this is just my summary and thoughts from the text....
Chapter 3: Laying a Foundation for Change
This chapter takes a step closer to the solutions that the book presents for the difficult challenge of creating grading and reporting systems that promote and accurately assess student learning. This chapter of the book bring up some excellent points that begin to lay a framework for a new way of looking at the grading process.
Profound Statement #1:
Grading and Reporting Are Not Essential to Instruction
This is a shocking yet true statement. Great teaching does not require grades.
Profound Statement #2:
The primary job of grading and reporting is NOT to facilitate student learning.
Profound Statement #3:
A requirement of great teaching is to "regularly check on students' learning progress".
Great teaching includes teachers giving students "regular and specific feedback on their learning progress." This feedback needs to have clear direction for how the student can improve. Keep in mind checking is different than grading. When you check with students you are finding out how your students are doing, see what they have learned, and what they still might be struggling with. The book describes this process as "diagnostic and prescriptive." Grading and reporting is different because it involves "judgement of adequacy of students' performance at a particular point in time." It is therefore "descriptive and evaluative."
It is tricky for teachers to wear both of these hats...."one as advocate and one as judge for students." Teachers have to work to find a balance between "the formative, instructional purposes of assessments of student learning, and the summative, evaluative purposes required in grading." You don't have to include all of the evidence that you gather from students as part of their grades either.
This section brings up the concept of Mastery Learning for the first time. Mastery learning really caught my attention as its seems like that is ultimately the attempt of music education....at least it is for me. I want students to be proficient at minimum with the content that I am providing in my class....and I will work for and with my students to get them there. If a student doesn't pass a music theory unit I would rather provide them with further materials to improve their skills then just give them an F and move on. I want them to learn! Students can be given corrective work and once they complete that they can try to pass the assignment again. I also really liked that in this system students must complete the corrective assignments in order to be allowed the opportunity to re-do the assessment they didn't pass.
Grading and Reporting Require Subjective Judgments
Assigning grades and reporting on student learning is a mostly subjective process. Teachers have a lot of choice in how they set up their grading systems and how they assign grades. Its a delicate balance. The more "detailed and analytical the grading procedures" the more subjective it becomes. But the more detailed the systems, the better learning tools we provide our students.
The important things for teachers to consider include making sure that their grading standards, all compentents of the grades, and the criteria used to determine grades are all made clear. When these things are clearly articulated it only enhances the validity of the student's grade since human judgement can not be completely removed from the grading process.
Profound Statement #4:
Grades Have Some Value as Rewards, but no value as punishments.
One of the most helpful things that I read in this entire book was the last section of this chapter that focused on learning criteria...
Profound Statement #5:
Grading and reporting should be done in reference to learned criteria.
This section starts by clearning pointing out that teachers should not be grading on the curve. The book points out a significant amount of research and rationale as to why teachers should stay away from this kind of grading. I highly suggest reading this section. With that being said, I don't grade on a curve and therefore, I focused on other material presented in this section.
What I did take away was an idea presented by John Bishop of Cornell University. He outlined the idea of a common standard and that the goal of the teacher should be to have every student achieve this standard. It then also becomes a common goal of all the students to achieve this standard.
Profound Statement #6: The competition is against the standard and not each other.
This completely resonated (and still resonates with me). That is exactly how I want to be teaching... to defined standards with the goal for all students to succeed.
The book does also discuss some important topics such as the selection of valedictorians. I think for individuals who are academic counselors and adminstrators this is a great section to read and discuss, and potentially revise your current systems.
The final section of the this chapter has been the most influential thing in helping me determine my new grading and reporting viewpoint (and system) for my classroom and it started with clarifying learning criteria.
Profound Statement #7: There are three different types of learning criteria used in grading and reporting.
1. Product criteria
2. Process criteria
3. Progress criteria
Product criteria is what advocates of standard and performance based approaches to teaching and learning use predominately. The focus is on what the students know and are able to do at a specific point in time. Examples are final examination scores, final products (reports or projects), overall assessments, and othe culminating lesson activities.
Process critieria often advocated by teachers who believe that product criteria does not create an adequate picture of student learning. Teachers who value effort and/or work habits as factors in reporting student learning use process criteria. These teachers regularly count classroom quizzes, homework, classroom participation, and/or attendance as important factors in reporting and grading of students.
Progress critiera is used by teachers who believe its important to consider what students have gained from learning experiences. This could also be viewed as "improvement scoring" or "educational growth".
"We believe, however, that if learning is assessed using a well-defined set of credible learning standards that include graduated levels of performance, then progress and growth criteria can be considerd synonymous."
The book does continue to go on to say that progress critieria typically looks at how a student progresses over a particular period of time rather than just focusing on where a student is at one particular given point in time. The result of this can be highly individualized scoring criteria and assignments for each student. Most of the current research in this area is focused on differentially paced instructional programs and those students in special education programs.
This idea of progress critieria really did resonate with me as a music teacher because our students are all at very different places in their musical development and so trying to find ways to customize the students' music education plan or assignments could be highly beneficial to the students' musical growth.
The book recommends that its important to outline "clear indicators of the product, process, and progress criteria and then to report them seperately". While this is simply put it can be very difficult to do....outlining how this can be done in different classrooms is a big focus of what is to come.
My next blog is going to introduce my new course syllabus for my band classes and share some of the trials and tribulations I have had as I embark on this new grading and reporting journey.
Chapter 3: Laying a Foundation for Change
This chapter takes a step closer to the solutions that the book presents for the difficult challenge of creating grading and reporting systems that promote and accurately assess student learning. This chapter of the book bring up some excellent points that begin to lay a framework for a new way of looking at the grading process.
Profound Statement #1:
Grading and Reporting Are Not Essential to Instruction
This is a shocking yet true statement. Great teaching does not require grades.
Profound Statement #2:
The primary job of grading and reporting is NOT to facilitate student learning.
Profound Statement #3:
A requirement of great teaching is to "regularly check on students' learning progress".
Great teaching includes teachers giving students "regular and specific feedback on their learning progress." This feedback needs to have clear direction for how the student can improve. Keep in mind checking is different than grading. When you check with students you are finding out how your students are doing, see what they have learned, and what they still might be struggling with. The book describes this process as "diagnostic and prescriptive." Grading and reporting is different because it involves "judgement of adequacy of students' performance at a particular point in time." It is therefore "descriptive and evaluative."
It is tricky for teachers to wear both of these hats...."one as advocate and one as judge for students." Teachers have to work to find a balance between "the formative, instructional purposes of assessments of student learning, and the summative, evaluative purposes required in grading." You don't have to include all of the evidence that you gather from students as part of their grades either.
This section brings up the concept of Mastery Learning for the first time. Mastery learning really caught my attention as its seems like that is ultimately the attempt of music education....at least it is for me. I want students to be proficient at minimum with the content that I am providing in my class....and I will work for and with my students to get them there. If a student doesn't pass a music theory unit I would rather provide them with further materials to improve their skills then just give them an F and move on. I want them to learn! Students can be given corrective work and once they complete that they can try to pass the assignment again. I also really liked that in this system students must complete the corrective assignments in order to be allowed the opportunity to re-do the assessment they didn't pass.
Grading and Reporting Require Subjective Judgments
Assigning grades and reporting on student learning is a mostly subjective process. Teachers have a lot of choice in how they set up their grading systems and how they assign grades. Its a delicate balance. The more "detailed and analytical the grading procedures" the more subjective it becomes. But the more detailed the systems, the better learning tools we provide our students.
The important things for teachers to consider include making sure that their grading standards, all compentents of the grades, and the criteria used to determine grades are all made clear. When these things are clearly articulated it only enhances the validity of the student's grade since human judgement can not be completely removed from the grading process.
Profound Statement #4:
Grades Have Some Value as Rewards, but no value as punishments.
One of the most helpful things that I read in this entire book was the last section of this chapter that focused on learning criteria...
Profound Statement #5:
Grading and reporting should be done in reference to learned criteria.
This section starts by clearning pointing out that teachers should not be grading on the curve. The book points out a significant amount of research and rationale as to why teachers should stay away from this kind of grading. I highly suggest reading this section. With that being said, I don't grade on a curve and therefore, I focused on other material presented in this section.
What I did take away was an idea presented by John Bishop of Cornell University. He outlined the idea of a common standard and that the goal of the teacher should be to have every student achieve this standard. It then also becomes a common goal of all the students to achieve this standard.
Profound Statement #6: The competition is against the standard and not each other.
This completely resonated (and still resonates with me). That is exactly how I want to be teaching... to defined standards with the goal for all students to succeed.
The book does also discuss some important topics such as the selection of valedictorians. I think for individuals who are academic counselors and adminstrators this is a great section to read and discuss, and potentially revise your current systems.
The final section of the this chapter has been the most influential thing in helping me determine my new grading and reporting viewpoint (and system) for my classroom and it started with clarifying learning criteria.
Profound Statement #7: There are three different types of learning criteria used in grading and reporting.
1. Product criteria
2. Process criteria
3. Progress criteria
Product criteria is what advocates of standard and performance based approaches to teaching and learning use predominately. The focus is on what the students know and are able to do at a specific point in time. Examples are final examination scores, final products (reports or projects), overall assessments, and othe culminating lesson activities.
Process critieria often advocated by teachers who believe that product criteria does not create an adequate picture of student learning. Teachers who value effort and/or work habits as factors in reporting student learning use process criteria. These teachers regularly count classroom quizzes, homework, classroom participation, and/or attendance as important factors in reporting and grading of students.
Progress critiera is used by teachers who believe its important to consider what students have gained from learning experiences. This could also be viewed as "improvement scoring" or "educational growth".
"We believe, however, that if learning is assessed using a well-defined set of credible learning standards that include graduated levels of performance, then progress and growth criteria can be considerd synonymous."
The book does continue to go on to say that progress critieria typically looks at how a student progresses over a particular period of time rather than just focusing on where a student is at one particular given point in time. The result of this can be highly individualized scoring criteria and assignments for each student. Most of the current research in this area is focused on differentially paced instructional programs and those students in special education programs.
This idea of progress critieria really did resonate with me as a music teacher because our students are all at very different places in their musical development and so trying to find ways to customize the students' music education plan or assignments could be highly beneficial to the students' musical growth.
The book recommends that its important to outline "clear indicators of the product, process, and progress criteria and then to report them seperately". While this is simply put it can be very difficult to do....outlining how this can be done in different classrooms is a big focus of what is to come.
My next blog is going to introduce my new course syllabus for my band classes and share some of the trials and tribulations I have had as I embark on this new grading and reporting journey.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Schools making a change!
This is a video segment from our local news about a school is getting outside the box when it comes to grading & reporting.
http://vimeo.com/72352629
http://vimeo.com/72352629
Understanding the Past To Move Forward For the Future
Disclaimer: This blog is part of a series that summarizes and discusses the book "Developing Grading & Reporting Systems for Student Learning" by Thomas R. Guskey & Jane M. Bailey. Please consider reading the whole book...these are just my thoughts on the text.
Chapter 2: Exploring the History of Grading and Reporting
What is clear about grading and reporting systems in general is that there has been tons of talk and research on the topic. What this chapter clearly points out is that we know a lot about grading and reporting students' work and we've known this information for a very very long time. But what's troubling throughout the literature is while the education community has known a lot about student learning and how to evaluate it for this very long period of time that we have had public education in America, this knowledge has not actually made it into the practice of grading and reporting. Its really been since the 1990s that what we have learned is really starting to find its way into the classroom.
Its not a big surprise to educators that we are struggling with this topic in our profession. I know personally I am struggling right now (hence why I ready the book and am writing the blog). What was interesting to me in the first chapter of this book was quotes from reports that clearly listed serious problems with the current grading systems of....1933. This is not a new problem and so it makes it even more troubling that we have an issue at all.
Early Developments....
Grading and reporting systems didn't come about until after the 1850s. Back in the days of the one room school house everyone just learned together and teachers went to a students' home and just shared their progress over a nice meal or happy hour :) (ok I added that part). It wasn't until the late 1800s in which the whole concept of grade levels crept up into education and with this came new ideas about curriculum and teaching methods....and with that came formal student assessments. Back then they were simply a list of the skills a student had mastered and what they needed to improve. Simple enough. My favorite observation about these assessments was that these assessments were done "primarily for students' benefits." This was the first instance of failing students because if they didn't master the necessary skills they couldn't go on to the next level....welcome to our first narrative report card.
Next we find ourselves in a new era of American education....compulsory education. With the influx of students and the growing need to evaluate this large quantity of students elementary education continued to mostly focus on the narrative style of report card while at the high school level grading moved to the more percentage style based grades that were precursors to the grading and reporting systems that we have today.
Problems with Subjectivity in Grading
Percentage based grading may have crept up on American education but not the criticism of it. As early as 1912 a study was released that brought up serious concerns about the "reliability of percentage grades as accurate indicators of students achievement" (p. 26). For me this is what caught my attention early on in the book. Percentage based grades is what I use because I know no other way and the resources that I am given at my job are percentage based grade book systems. What kind of education malpractice am I committing if I am using a grading system that doesn't even reflect their achievement? Well that brought me to the morale dilemma I have been unpacking for the last few months.....here we are....
The book continues to elaborate on this topic through specific examples. You can read the book for more on that but here's what I can tell you....it was shocking....but they were real world examples...from 1912....that sounded an awful lot like now.
Modern Grading & Reporting Systems
In the era of modern grading we see the move from percentage scores to "scales that had fewer and larger categories" (p. 27). This includes scales like "excellent, average, poor" or our modern grading system of "A, B, C, D, F" We also see the emergence of grading on the curve. It was believed at the time that grading on the curve was a good idea because students intelligence scores often resembled a "normal probability curve," it was believed to be fair and equitable, and finally it was easier for teachers. What is easier for teachers might not be what is right for students. "Grading on the curve also relieved teachers of the difficult task of having to identify specific learning criteria (p.27)." The book goes on to say/assume this "Fortunately, educators today have a better understanding of the flawed premises behind this practice and its many negative consequences."
What has happened in the last several years is that we have seen schools abandon the traditional grading systems by getting rid of grades, moving to pass/fail systems, and final the mastery learning approach. Since there is no common ground on what actually works we have a lot of different systems in our education midst. We've got letter grades and number systems. We've got "proficient" and "distinguished". We've got "standards based" reporting systems. We commonly find the more traditional approaches taking place at the secondary level where they are adding plus and minuses to the grades and then trying to lump in a multitude of factors into a single letter grade. As the book quotes "the result is a 'hodgepodge grade of attitude, effort, and achievement" (p. 28). And you know what my response to that statement was....
Great. That's exactly what I have been doing.
The Effects of Grading on Students
One of the my biggest concerns about our current education system is that my students are not actually focused on learning but are focused on getting an A for their transcript (or they don't care about their grades because they don't care about learning and aren't going to go to college). Well, I am a super big dork and one of my favorite things in the world is to learn. I like learning instruments. I like learning about history. I will be the one standing there reading every sign at Yosemite including all the materials they handed us when they entered the park and am disappointed that I don't have service....not because I can't check in on facebook but because I can't wikipedia the hell out of that place to learn more.
Ok ...so back to the kids...they are effected by our grading systems in a profound way, this we may or may not know. If you didn't know that....well they are. Our grades and our commentary that we give them on their papers in our red pens. All of it matters. Students who receive comments with grades achieve higher scores than those just given a mark. Grades aren't essential to teaching and learning people, but here's the big one "grading can be used in positive ways to enhance students' achievement and performance," in other words "grades can be used for good & not evil" (that's my quote by the way). And "positive effects can be gained with relatively little effort on the part of teachers"(p. 29). Crazy......if we give the kids just a little it will go a long way! "The message teachers communicate in their comments to students is vital to its effects on students."
So what do we need to do as a profession? We need to know our "ever-expanding" knowledge base about education. We need to learn and then actually change. We need to know where we came from and move forward. We need to make "thoughtful decisions" because if we don't well....."we are indeed doomed to repeat that history, committing the same mistakes again and again (Cuban, 1990), and will never realize our true potential as educators".
And ain't that the truth! (and just think all of these powerful statements in quotes came from a delightful book with kind of a boring title....I'm telling you....you should really read the whole thing at some point).
What is clear about grading and reporting systems in general is that there has been tons of talk and research on the topic. What this chapter clearly points out is that we know a lot about grading and reporting students' work and we've known this information for a very very long time. But what's troubling throughout the literature is while the education community has known a lot about student learning and how to evaluate it for this very long period of time that we have had public education in America, this knowledge has not actually made it into the practice of grading and reporting. Its really been since the 1990s that what we have learned is really starting to find its way into the classroom.
Its not a big surprise to educators that we are struggling with this topic in our profession. I know personally I am struggling right now (hence why I ready the book and am writing the blog). What was interesting to me in the first chapter of this book was quotes from reports that clearly listed serious problems with the current grading systems of....1933. This is not a new problem and so it makes it even more troubling that we have an issue at all.
Early Developments....
Grading and reporting systems didn't come about until after the 1850s. Back in the days of the one room school house everyone just learned together and teachers went to a students' home and just shared their progress over a nice meal or happy hour :) (ok I added that part). It wasn't until the late 1800s in which the whole concept of grade levels crept up into education and with this came new ideas about curriculum and teaching methods....and with that came formal student assessments. Back then they were simply a list of the skills a student had mastered and what they needed to improve. Simple enough. My favorite observation about these assessments was that these assessments were done "primarily for students' benefits." This was the first instance of failing students because if they didn't master the necessary skills they couldn't go on to the next level....welcome to our first narrative report card.
Next we find ourselves in a new era of American education....compulsory education. With the influx of students and the growing need to evaluate this large quantity of students elementary education continued to mostly focus on the narrative style of report card while at the high school level grading moved to the more percentage style based grades that were precursors to the grading and reporting systems that we have today.
Problems with Subjectivity in Grading
Percentage based grading may have crept up on American education but not the criticism of it. As early as 1912 a study was released that brought up serious concerns about the "reliability of percentage grades as accurate indicators of students achievement" (p. 26). For me this is what caught my attention early on in the book. Percentage based grades is what I use because I know no other way and the resources that I am given at my job are percentage based grade book systems. What kind of education malpractice am I committing if I am using a grading system that doesn't even reflect their achievement? Well that brought me to the morale dilemma I have been unpacking for the last few months.....here we are....
The book continues to elaborate on this topic through specific examples. You can read the book for more on that but here's what I can tell you....it was shocking....but they were real world examples...from 1912....that sounded an awful lot like now.
Modern Grading & Reporting Systems
In the era of modern grading we see the move from percentage scores to "scales that had fewer and larger categories" (p. 27). This includes scales like "excellent, average, poor" or our modern grading system of "A, B, C, D, F" We also see the emergence of grading on the curve. It was believed at the time that grading on the curve was a good idea because students intelligence scores often resembled a "normal probability curve," it was believed to be fair and equitable, and finally it was easier for teachers. What is easier for teachers might not be what is right for students. "Grading on the curve also relieved teachers of the difficult task of having to identify specific learning criteria (p.27)." The book goes on to say/assume this "Fortunately, educators today have a better understanding of the flawed premises behind this practice and its many negative consequences."
What has happened in the last several years is that we have seen schools abandon the traditional grading systems by getting rid of grades, moving to pass/fail systems, and final the mastery learning approach. Since there is no common ground on what actually works we have a lot of different systems in our education midst. We've got letter grades and number systems. We've got "proficient" and "distinguished". We've got "standards based" reporting systems. We commonly find the more traditional approaches taking place at the secondary level where they are adding plus and minuses to the grades and then trying to lump in a multitude of factors into a single letter grade. As the book quotes "the result is a 'hodgepodge grade of attitude, effort, and achievement" (p. 28). And you know what my response to that statement was....
Great. That's exactly what I have been doing.
The Effects of Grading on Students
One of the my biggest concerns about our current education system is that my students are not actually focused on learning but are focused on getting an A for their transcript (or they don't care about their grades because they don't care about learning and aren't going to go to college). Well, I am a super big dork and one of my favorite things in the world is to learn. I like learning instruments. I like learning about history. I will be the one standing there reading every sign at Yosemite including all the materials they handed us when they entered the park and am disappointed that I don't have service....not because I can't check in on facebook but because I can't wikipedia the hell out of that place to learn more.
Ok ...so back to the kids...they are effected by our grading systems in a profound way, this we may or may not know. If you didn't know that....well they are. Our grades and our commentary that we give them on their papers in our red pens. All of it matters. Students who receive comments with grades achieve higher scores than those just given a mark. Grades aren't essential to teaching and learning people, but here's the big one "grading can be used in positive ways to enhance students' achievement and performance," in other words "grades can be used for good & not evil" (that's my quote by the way). And "positive effects can be gained with relatively little effort on the part of teachers"(p. 29). Crazy......if we give the kids just a little it will go a long way! "The message teachers communicate in their comments to students is vital to its effects on students."
So what do we need to do as a profession? We need to know our "ever-expanding" knowledge base about education. We need to learn and then actually change. We need to know where we came from and move forward. We need to make "thoughtful decisions" because if we don't well....."we are indeed doomed to repeat that history, committing the same mistakes again and again (Cuban, 1990), and will never realize our true potential as educators".
And ain't that the truth! (and just think all of these powerful statements in quotes came from a delightful book with kind of a boring title....I'm telling you....you should really read the whole thing at some point).
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