Was it ever useful? Let’s answer that one first. Grading was useful when the school environment was modeled after factories where students were soon to be employed. Workers on an assembly line in the early days of the Industrial Revolution were told to be quiet and work for 14 hours a day.
In the new century, the Internet has brought about changes in how we live and work whether we are connected with it specifically or not. Workplaces are more like a web in their design, even when one person is the face of the organization. All workers, from low salary to highest have a say in the day-to-day operations, and sometimes in the future of their company. Businesses are looking for employees who care about the quality of their work and the success of the organization overall. In the U.S. we are no longer making so many widgets, now we need to focus on inventiveness, collaboration and quality. Will our educational system be ready?
Speaking at the 2010 Midwest Sociological Society, Diane L. Pike purported that the idea that grading motivates learning is dead. She makes a clear distinction between grading and evaluating.
"Evaluation is the process of making a judgment about the quality of work using either an explicit set of criteria or an implicit one... Grading is the step of assigning a summative symbol that represents overall performance."
Are grades really what motivates learning? Pike believes, "Interesting and relevant assignments, timely feedback, connection between student and teacher, connection among students, meaningful use of time — these things motivate learning."
Are grades really what motivates learning? Pike believes, "Interesting and relevant assignments, timely feedback, connection between student and teacher, connection among students, meaningful use of time — these things motivate learning."
In the late 19th century, a founder of schools and a teacher’s college, Charlotte Mason, established a child-centered system of determining whether students were learning. She asked students to “narrate,” or “tell back” what they had learned. It is so simple as to be overlooked. Narration requires that a teacher, with assistance from parents and other volunteers, listen to the student’s answer to a broad question regarding subject matter. Narration measures what a student has learned, not what he doesn’t know.
Among the many benefits of narration, 21st century learners will:
Among the many benefits of narration, 21st century learners will:
1. become clear thinkers,
2. careful speakers,
3. expressive writers, and
4. lovers of books.
What is this magic wand that does away with grades and develops even the youngest of thinkers? I’ll save the description of narration for another post.
What do you say?
