Testsandgrades are like an absentee landlord - they only show up when it's convenient for them.
Meanwhile, day by day and month by month, it's the teacher and the student who spend time together in the classroom.
Doesn't it seem odd that some would have us shrug at the days and months of learning as if anything gleamed from all that time while the student was learning and the teacher was teaching is some how too "soft and squishy", merely anecdotal and ultimately too subjective - and yet somehow these flash-in-the-pan, one-time, drive-by testsandgrades are more objective?
I object to any assessment that is created and designed by someone who has never, will never, and doesn't care to ever meet the child.
We would never pay homage to the absentee landlords so why the hell do we place so much credibility in these testsandgrades.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
If we don't grade how will we know if children are learning?
Dan Pink organized a very cool project called What's your sentence? The idea is to distill your life - what it's about, why you're here - into a single sentence.
So what's my sentence? For now, this is what I've come up with:
If we want to know if school is addressing it's primary mandate to nurture a child's desire to go on learning, then we need to start asking kids if they like school. While it is important to observe kids during class, it may be even more telling to find out if they willingly engage in learning when the expectations (and often manipulations) to do so are no longer present.
Do kids go on chattering about what they were doing in class when they are out of class? Do they go home and talk their parent's ear off about the cool experiments they did today? Do they beg to go to the local library or book store so they can purchase their next book that they want to read for pleasure? Do you find them Googling cool questions about stuff you didn't think they even knew about?
Asking how we will know if children are learning is a great question, but assuming that learning and grading are synonymous is the first clue that we've been in school for too long. Real learning is found in children not data, and unfortunately, there is no appropriate shortcut to collecting or sharing this information. At best gradesandtests are simply unhelpful in ascertaining whether children are learning and at worst they are harmful towards life-long learning.
So what's my sentence? For now, this is what I've come up with:
He made grading and other arbitrary ranking systems so impossible to justify that parents, students and teachers had to focus on real learning.When I speak or write about abolishing grading, one of the first questions I get in response goes something like this:
If we don't grade, how will we know if children are learning?To this I say, where there's interest achievement will follow.
If we want to know if school is addressing it's primary mandate to nurture a child's desire to go on learning, then we need to start asking kids if they like school. While it is important to observe kids during class, it may be even more telling to find out if they willingly engage in learning when the expectations (and often manipulations) to do so are no longer present.
Do kids go on chattering about what they were doing in class when they are out of class? Do they go home and talk their parent's ear off about the cool experiments they did today? Do they beg to go to the local library or book store so they can purchase their next book that they want to read for pleasure? Do you find them Googling cool questions about stuff you didn't think they even knew about?
Asking how we will know if children are learning is a great question, but assuming that learning and grading are synonymous is the first clue that we've been in school for too long. Real learning is found in children not data, and unfortunately, there is no appropriate shortcut to collecting or sharing this information. At best gradesandtests are simply unhelpful in ascertaining whether children are learning and at worst they are harmful towards life-long learning.
What does this look like in real life? The forward in Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide puts it this way:
Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is one of the few books that appear every year in education. Although the primary focus of the book is on adolescents' reading, or the lack of it, the message is one that will ring true for teachers of grades K-12.
Gallagher defines readicide early on as the "systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." He then documents just how widely readicide is practiced and discusses its outcomes. Citing recent reports from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Assessment of Educational Progress, he illustrates how powerful readicide has been in creating aliterates - people who can read but largely do not.
The data available indicate that we are producing more and more aliterates every year. In many cases, we do so with good intentions. State and national initiatives linked to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 have created schools in which lessons are focused primarily on improving reading test scores. As a result, instruction has been narrowed and made even more mind-numbing than in earlier eras (and those eras did not provide much to celebrate). The end result is that NCLB have demonstrated no improvement in actual reading achievement and instead show a disturbing potential for fostering readicide.
The point to be taken here is that we should care not only that children can read but do read; more generally, we should be concerned with encouraging children to want to learn at least as much as we encourage them to learn.
John Dewey states his case in his book Experience and Education:
What avail is it to win prescribed amounts of information about geography and history, to win ability to read and write, if in the process the individual loses his own soul: loses his appreciation of things worth while, of the values to which these things are relative; if he loses desire to apply what he has learned and, above all, loses the ability to extract meaning from his future experiences as they occur?
If you were to ask teachers to identify an ultimate goal for their students, most teachers might quickly recite something about helping kids become life-long learners. If we can agree that this sounds like a laudable goal, then we need to take John Dewey's question very seriously.
That is why I find it prudent to ask at least one question before I ever consider any plan of action or decision that will affect children in the classroom; be it a principal's new rule, a teacher's new lesson or a government's standardized test or policy, we should at least ask:
How will this affect children's interest in learning, their desire to keep reading and thinking and exploring?A child's love for learning is not a fire we have to light, rather it is a flame we must be careful not to extinguish. Just as curiosity is the cure for boredom, the cure for curiosity is worksheets and testsandgrades. Only after years of schooling does a kids natural thirst for learning dissipate and die... but if we are mindful and reflective, we can ensure that children attend the schools they deserve.
Dave Martin on Professional Development
My friend Dave Martin is running for Professional Development Chair in his local. Here is a quick glance at his philosophy around teacher professional development. You can follow Dave on Twitter and check out his blog here.
by Dave Martin
I, David Martin, am currently running for the Red Deer Catholic Local’s PD chair. On the day
the elections opened up, I put my name forward and since then, have been asked questions about
my philosophy around PD, my goals of PD, and other various questions. Here is a simple FAQ
about my ideas around PD.
1) What is your philosophy around PD?
I believe we should be focusing on teacher learning and not about teacher professional
development. Some teachers may only associate PD days with the term professional
development, and therefore actually believe PD is an event, a workshop, or a program, rather
than an ongoing daily part of a job. How then do we make deeper daily learning a reality for
teachers? Replacing the concept of professional development with professional learning is a
good start; understanding that professional learning “in context” is the only learning that changes
classroom instruction is a second step. Also, recent research shows that traditional methods of
presenting classroom innovations to teachers in workshops does not generally result in either
changed classroom practice or improved student learning.
2) How do you plan to implement PD in the local?
The planners of PD need to avoid the “one size fits all” approach and remember different
educators have different expectations. Mandated PD in top-down programs sometimes does
not recognize the differences required by the teachers it is mandated to and thus can destroy the
teachers “will to learn”. Andy Hargreaves said, “Most teacher development initiatives, even the
most innovative ones, neglect the emotion of teaching.” We need to understand that classroom
practices will improve, assessment will change, and more learning will occur if we motivate
instead of mandate.
3) What does PD look like?
I believe that true professional learning could range from formal credentialed post-graduate
courses to simply having a conversation with a colleague over a beverage. Teachers, myself
included, have learned many innovated educational ideas solely from “googling”. Recently, I
read: “Guest speakers with PowerPoint presentations are the norm and informal learning time
is viewed with suspicion. Administrators with board or school improvement plans to implement
may insist that PD opportunities meet the latest “edu-babble” criteria;”
My response: If professional learning is truly personal then it cannot be mandated to anyone by
anyone. I will encourage that PD stays in the hands of the teachers.
Vote Dave Martin for PD chair!
by Dave Martin
I, David Martin, am currently running for the Red Deer Catholic Local’s PD chair. On the day
the elections opened up, I put my name forward and since then, have been asked questions about
my philosophy around PD, my goals of PD, and other various questions. Here is a simple FAQ
about my ideas around PD.
1) What is your philosophy around PD?
I believe we should be focusing on teacher learning and not about teacher professional
development. Some teachers may only associate PD days with the term professional
development, and therefore actually believe PD is an event, a workshop, or a program, rather
than an ongoing daily part of a job. How then do we make deeper daily learning a reality for
teachers? Replacing the concept of professional development with professional learning is a
good start; understanding that professional learning “in context” is the only learning that changes
classroom instruction is a second step. Also, recent research shows that traditional methods of
presenting classroom innovations to teachers in workshops does not generally result in either
changed classroom practice or improved student learning.
2) How do you plan to implement PD in the local?
The planners of PD need to avoid the “one size fits all” approach and remember different
educators have different expectations. Mandated PD in top-down programs sometimes does
not recognize the differences required by the teachers it is mandated to and thus can destroy the
teachers “will to learn”. Andy Hargreaves said, “Most teacher development initiatives, even the
most innovative ones, neglect the emotion of teaching.” We need to understand that classroom
practices will improve, assessment will change, and more learning will occur if we motivate
instead of mandate.
3) What does PD look like?
I believe that true professional learning could range from formal credentialed post-graduate
courses to simply having a conversation with a colleague over a beverage. Teachers, myself
included, have learned many innovated educational ideas solely from “googling”. Recently, I
read: “Guest speakers with PowerPoint presentations are the norm and informal learning time
is viewed with suspicion. Administrators with board or school improvement plans to implement
may insist that PD opportunities meet the latest “edu-babble” criteria;”
My response: If professional learning is truly personal then it cannot be mandated to anyone by
anyone. I will encourage that PD stays in the hands of the teachers.
Vote Dave Martin for PD chair!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
My de-grading philosophy Q & A
When you talk about abolishing grading, does that mean you don't put letter or number grades on individual assignments even though you still have to turn in a final grade? Does it mean anything else?
I never put letter or number grades on individual assignments. Even when I was mandated to place a grade on the students report card 3 or 4 times a year, those report card grades were the only grades my students ever received.
Not only did I never assign letter or number grades on individual tests, I stopped giving tests altogether and moved towards more authentic forms of assessment such as paper and electronic portfolios that exhibited evidence of the students projects-based learning. These portfolios were never graded.
I also stopped giving final exams and instead provided the students with an opportunity to have a say over not only what they've learned but how they wanted to demonstrate it. Step 1: I provide the students with zero questions; they do all the question asking and answering. In language arts and science, students were provided an opportunity to not only generate a response but also actively construct, with my artful guidance, their own assessments. These final projects were never graded. Interestingly enough, I had many students ask if they could keep a copy of their final projects for themselves. When I did give traditional final exams, I can't ever remember a kid asking to keep a copy of the test - in fact, they couldn't leave the test behind fast enough. When I asked one student how they felt about these projects as replacements for final exams, he replied, "You can't construct meaning in a preconceived bubble."
You mention that you ask students to cite evidence of their achievement, so I'm assuming this evidence is meant to support a particular grade that you've invited the kids to propose about the process. Is that right? Can you say more about the process? Do you tell them at the beginning of the term that they'll be asked to do this?
At the beginning of the school year, I provide the kids with a course description with a section titled Assessment that says:
While it is true that come report card time students use their projects and portfolios as evidence to support a particular grade of their choice, I never go out of my way to sell or frame learning as merely a means to an end. We don't spend one minute more than we need to discussing the grades - in turn, this de-emphasis on grading allows my students to be attracted to learning for its own sake. I describe this process as a kind of detoxing from grade use in a detailed post here. When learning is the focus, rather than grading, my students are free to see their colleagues and their teacher as allies to collaborate with, rather than as obstacles to be defeated or judges-in-waiting to be avoided or kept at arm's length.
Does your own judgement ultimately count for more than what they propose -- meaning you can veto the grade they suggest? If so, how often does this happen? And is that made clear to them at the beginning? Do they negotiate with you -- or just propose a grade (with supporting evidence) that you then accept or reject?
Because it is the adults (parents, administrators, other teachers) that have the hardest time accepting an assessment practice based on bringing the kids in on it, I have found it advantageous (read: reassuring for them) to state that it is my professional judgement as the teacher that ultimately counts for more than what the kids propose; however, it is important to note that I go out of my way to minimize my teacher power and very rarely veto or trump what the students suggest unless I deem the discrepancy too large to ignore.
Most of the time, I find students provide a grade that is eerily similar to what I would have provided them had I chosen to monopolize the process; however, there are the odd times when I do disagree with students enough that I feel it necessary to intervene. But it is important to note that for every student who will over-indulge in self-assessment, there are two or three that sell themselves short. Either way, when I deem a student to have misjudged themselves, I engage in a private conversation with them where we engage in an informal discussion revolving around their learning, the evidence of their learning and our two differing opinions about the resulting grade. I try my hardest to ensure we work together to come to a consensus.
Does this happen at a formal conference toward the end of the term? If so, how much time do you take with each student -- and do you do anything at that meeting other than figure out the grade?
I find children are the most honest and the most accurate when these negotiations remain informal and as low-stakes as possible. I also find that the less time and effort I spend making a big deal of the grades, the more time and effort they are willing to spend on their learning. However, if a student expressed an interest in a more formal sit-down, I would provide them with such an opportunity. Otherwise, I ask students to propose their grade along with reflective comments via a written form or on-line blog post. While it is true that I gather their grade proposals this way, I find far more intrinsic value in their comments where they reflect on which projects and activities they enjoyed and learned the most from during the term. In other words, the quantifiable grade conceals far more than what their qualitative comments reveal about their learning.
I never put letter or number grades on individual assignments. Even when I was mandated to place a grade on the students report card 3 or 4 times a year, those report card grades were the only grades my students ever received.
Not only did I never assign letter or number grades on individual tests, I stopped giving tests altogether and moved towards more authentic forms of assessment such as paper and electronic portfolios that exhibited evidence of the students projects-based learning. These portfolios were never graded.
I also stopped giving final exams and instead provided the students with an opportunity to have a say over not only what they've learned but how they wanted to demonstrate it. Step 1: I provide the students with zero questions; they do all the question asking and answering. In language arts and science, students were provided an opportunity to not only generate a response but also actively construct, with my artful guidance, their own assessments. These final projects were never graded. Interestingly enough, I had many students ask if they could keep a copy of their final projects for themselves. When I did give traditional final exams, I can't ever remember a kid asking to keep a copy of the test - in fact, they couldn't leave the test behind fast enough. When I asked one student how they felt about these projects as replacements for final exams, he replied, "You can't construct meaning in a preconceived bubble."
You mention that you ask students to cite evidence of their achievement, so I'm assuming this evidence is meant to support a particular grade that you've invited the kids to propose about the process. Is that right? Can you say more about the process? Do you tell them at the beginning of the term that they'll be asked to do this?
At the beginning of the school year, I provide the kids with a course description with a section titled Assessment that says:
I am the kind of teacher who strongly believes in creating an environment where students can experience success and failure not as reward and punishment, but as information. I substitute traditional grades with informative feedback that is provided to the students while they are still learning. Report cards will be the only time students will receive a grade in my class. Report card marks will be determined based on (1) the student's projects and learning portfolio (2) my own professional judgement based on what I see and hear while observing and working with the student while they are still learning (3) self-assessments that ask the student to reflect upon their own learning and proposed grade. Assessment throughout the rest of the year will be either written or spoken feedback from me to help the student learn and improve.
While it is true that come report card time students use their projects and portfolios as evidence to support a particular grade of their choice, I never go out of my way to sell or frame learning as merely a means to an end. We don't spend one minute more than we need to discussing the grades - in turn, this de-emphasis on grading allows my students to be attracted to learning for its own sake. I describe this process as a kind of detoxing from grade use in a detailed post here. When learning is the focus, rather than grading, my students are free to see their colleagues and their teacher as allies to collaborate with, rather than as obstacles to be defeated or judges-in-waiting to be avoided or kept at arm's length.
Does your own judgement ultimately count for more than what they propose -- meaning you can veto the grade they suggest? If so, how often does this happen? And is that made clear to them at the beginning? Do they negotiate with you -- or just propose a grade (with supporting evidence) that you then accept or reject?
Because it is the adults (parents, administrators, other teachers) that have the hardest time accepting an assessment practice based on bringing the kids in on it, I have found it advantageous (read: reassuring for them) to state that it is my professional judgement as the teacher that ultimately counts for more than what the kids propose; however, it is important to note that I go out of my way to minimize my teacher power and very rarely veto or trump what the students suggest unless I deem the discrepancy too large to ignore.
Most of the time, I find students provide a grade that is eerily similar to what I would have provided them had I chosen to monopolize the process; however, there are the odd times when I do disagree with students enough that I feel it necessary to intervene. But it is important to note that for every student who will over-indulge in self-assessment, there are two or three that sell themselves short. Either way, when I deem a student to have misjudged themselves, I engage in a private conversation with them where we engage in an informal discussion revolving around their learning, the evidence of their learning and our two differing opinions about the resulting grade. I try my hardest to ensure we work together to come to a consensus.
Does this happen at a formal conference toward the end of the term? If so, how much time do you take with each student -- and do you do anything at that meeting other than figure out the grade?
I find children are the most honest and the most accurate when these negotiations remain informal and as low-stakes as possible. I also find that the less time and effort I spend making a big deal of the grades, the more time and effort they are willing to spend on their learning. However, if a student expressed an interest in a more formal sit-down, I would provide them with such an opportunity. Otherwise, I ask students to propose their grade along with reflective comments via a written form or on-line blog post. While it is true that I gather their grade proposals this way, I find far more intrinsic value in their comments where they reflect on which projects and activities they enjoyed and learned the most from during the term. In other words, the quantifiable grade conceals far more than what their qualitative comments reveal about their learning.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Here's what standardized testing looks like in the real world
Standardized testing is often sold as a given.
Those who are for standardized testing sell it as the saviour for accountability. Yet there are many who do not like the tests but resign themselves to going along with the prevailing wind - unfortunately, the current wind blows in support of standardized testing.
I find it morally indefensible for one to become an accomplice to standardized testing when it victimizes and alienates the very people it claims to be serving.
On paper and in theory, someone might be able to rationalize how essential high stakes testing is - but like Winston Churchill once said, "However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
In this case, "looking at results" does not mean looking at the rows and columns of numbers on a spreadsheet - the "real results" can only be seen by actually visiting the schools and talking with the people who learn there everyday.
Here is a brilliantly insightful post by an actual teacher about what standardized testing looks like in the real world. Here's an excerpt:
If you take anything from this, please understand that standardized testing is not like the weather. It is not something that we must resign ourselves to. Standardized testing is a political movement that can and should be opposed.
We must move from apathy to action.
-Finally, the timing. They had only seventy minutes to finish the test. That's ten minutes per passage. This does not encourage the students to read slowly and carefully. One of my boys is a very slow reader, however is reading on grade level, and when given the appropriate amount of time, can be very successful. When I passed his desk about 45 minutes into it, he had barely finished half of the questions. He had also completely stopped working. I quietly encouraged him to move on. He looked at me and said, "No. I don't want to take this stupid test, and I'm not finishing it." I was powerless to help him because, well, we're not supposed to be talking during the test. Ooooh-kay.
If you take anything from this, please understand that standardized testing is not like the weather. It is not something that we must resign ourselves to. Standardized testing is a political movement that can and should be opposed.
We must move from apathy to action.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Moving Beyond Mindless Math Mimicry
This session will examine traditional math education and its legacy of sit and get, do as your told and get the right answer quickly distracts us with its infatuation with behavioral mathematics.
Good math teachers concern themselves with helping children make sense of math for themselves and understand that we no longer believe that human beings acquire knowledge by internalization, reinforcement and conditioning.
Rather, we develop logic-mathematical knowledge by constructing from within, in interaction with our environment.
This session will tease out some of the pitfalls of teaching math and look at what research tells us about how children learn mathematics. To support the research, actual math games, projects and questions will be shared.
For more on how we need to rethink traditional math instruction:
Mindless Math Mimicry
Stop writing the objectives on the board
Math as a ventriloquist act
9x7=63
Alberta's New Math Curriculum
Harmful effects of Algorithms
Prefabricated vocabulary
Larry's lightbulb
Constance Kamii on constructivism
I'm not a math teacher - but I want to be
Constance Kamii on Math Homework
Math is a dangerous subject to teach
For more information about booking Joe Bower for a lecture or workshop, please contact by e-mail: joe.bower.teacher@gmail.com
Return to Joe's lists of presentations
Good math teachers concern themselves with helping children make sense of math for themselves and understand that we no longer believe that human beings acquire knowledge by internalization, reinforcement and conditioning.
Rather, we develop logic-mathematical knowledge by constructing from within, in interaction with our environment.
This session will tease out some of the pitfalls of teaching math and look at what research tells us about how children learn mathematics. To support the research, actual math games, projects and questions will be shared.
For more on how we need to rethink traditional math instruction:
Mindless Math Mimicry
Stop writing the objectives on the board
Math as a ventriloquist act
9x7=63
Alberta's New Math Curriculum
Harmful effects of Algorithms
Prefabricated vocabulary
Larry's lightbulb
Constance Kamii on constructivism
I'm not a math teacher - but I want to be
Constance Kamii on Math Homework
Math is a dangerous subject to teach
For more information about booking Joe Bower for a lecture or workshop, please contact by e-mail: joe.bower.teacher@gmail.com
Return to Joe's lists of presentations
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Learning as a competitive sport
Every time we cast learning as if it were a competitive sport by ranking and sorting kids where one must conquer another, we fail children more than they could ever fail us.
The best parents and teachers never make success artificially scarce by ensuring that if one child succeeds another must fail - but that is exactly what we are doing when we make learning a competition.
When we encourage children to raise their grade or ranking in comparison to their peers, we are really saying that we want other children to do badly.
Is there any surprise that Alfie Kohn describes this practice as "intellectually and morally bankrupt"?
The best parents and teachers never make success artificially scarce by ensuring that if one child succeeds another must fail - but that is exactly what we are doing when we make learning a competition.
When we encourage children to raise their grade or ranking in comparison to their peers, we are really saying that we want other children to do badly.
Is there any surprise that Alfie Kohn describes this practice as "intellectually and morally bankrupt"?
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