As a teacher, the variation in my students not only affects my lesson planning, but my grading as well. As I climb the mountainous pile of my seniors' essays, chiseling it down four slivers at a time, I come to realize the drastic change in my grading process that I make for every different name that falls before my eyes.
We are challenged, as teachers, to be as flexible as possible, yet still as structured and still leave our students just as challenged. So how do I overcome this feeling of letting one kid off easy, while another is lucky to get a C because I didn't have to adapt my grading for them?
This question bothers me, and the chiseling progress on my mountain slows with each second the question crosses my mind. Every student deserves a chance. Every student deserves to be challenged. Every student deserves the grade for the effort and content they put into their paper, but how do I vary that?
As I struggle with my consciousness on grading fairly in this situation, I looked online for guidance and had a "No Duh!" moment. Bergenfield Public Schools put out an article titled "Grading in Inclusive Classrooms," and the main thing of this article that stuck out to me was the collaboration aspect.
As teachers, we are trained to be adaptive and, in that ability to adapt, we have to be able to collaborate with others and be receptive. This coincides with co-teaching with members of the IEP team. They are there because they know these students, and they know what their effort and their work looks like. I should know it, being their teacher, but that does not mean I should not use that extra resource.
The article bullets different ideas to look at while collaborating with and IEP team member about grading:
• Discuss the purposes of evaluation.
• Use a variety of evaluation techniques for documenting student progress.
• Use multiple measures in evaluating student progress.
• Align evaluation techniques with the desired outcomes.
• Consider alternative grading systems.
• Consider modifying existing grading practices.
• Maintain student confidentiality regarding accommodations and modifications in grading.
• Adhere to school and division policies and practices regarding grading.
Look familiar? Right! These bullets are what we practice every day with ALL of our students. So why was I having such difficulty?
We differentiate our lessons and our activities based on our students, their personalities, their skills, all of it goes into account when we design our lessons…I needed to apply it to my grading too. One student’s effort differentiates from another student’s , but the important matter is that the student is showing progress and putting in that extra effort towards understanding the content.
Effort.
This is what I keep in mind as I grade, and, as I discussed this with my IEP co-teacher, that is a good start. I have been warned to still challenge, and not let the idea of effort overcome the need for the students to be showing progress, meeting content standards, and more.
There is a constant challenge when it comes to variation, whether it be in planning or grading, but that is part of what makes a great teacher. We go above and beyond for our students and for their success, so, yes, there will be times that we question what we’re doing. The important thing is that we have that ability to question ourselves, we have access to the resources to help us through those questions, and that there is almost always a resolution.
