Schooling Magazine

Discussing Instead of Defending

By Mrsebiology @mrsebiology
A colleague of mine passed me in the hallway yesterday and causally asked, 
"Hey, Terie--when are you free to talk about standards-based grading? I'd love to know what you do."
I was floored.  For one of the very few times in my life, I was at a loss for words.  Usually no one wants to hear what I have to say about my crazy little scoring system; if the topic is brought up, I usually end up clawing my way over to the defensive to prepare for my usual justification-fest.  
Frankly, I have felt like a teacher-criminal for the years I have been doing SBG, skulking around in my room with my little 5-point scale and my I can statements in the grade book and my reassessments and my progress checks and scores that change up or down depending on student knowledge, waiting to be "found out" by others who will then form a mob outside my door and start burning me in effigy.  
Picture I think I could handle this angry mob.
OK, so it's not really that bad.  But I always feel like I'm tiptoeing around, trying to do my SBG quietly so I won't get caught, won't get called out by my fellow teachers because I am doing something differently with how I do school and how I report what students have learned.
That is, until my colleague asked me that question and we had a good hour-long discussion about standards-based grading, what it is, what it should be, and the myriad of forms it can take--as long as the focus is on students and their learning.
It was just so refreshing to discuss rather than to defend.  It was nice to be able to bounce ideas off someone else who was actually physically present in my building. Don't get me wrong; I am endlessly indebted to my online PLN for what my current incarnation of SBG looks like (and grateful that they keep blogging and keep me thinking about how to make it better).  However, I guess it's nice to know that, for once, I'm not the only nutball in my building who thinks this way.
And, while I'm  waiting for that mob to show up, at least I'll have company.  
photo credit: gregverdino via photopin cc

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