abacus2 Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I think my upcoming 6th grader may find a specific grading plan positively motivational. I realize that grades are not required and frequently not helpful, but for her, I think could be a good way to set goals and work at a higher level. If you do assign grades based on specific grading, how are you assigning grades? What are you grading? Are you assigning accuracy or completion grades for everyday work? Are you grading projects, quizzes, presentations, or tests? Are you grading based on completion by assigned deadlines? Are you grading just part of the work? Are you giving some things more weight in the average? If you use Math Mammoth, how to you grade it? How do you motivate your student to do worthwhile work, rather than minimal effort work (whether you grade or not)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I think my upcoming 6th grader may find a specific grading plan positively motivational. I realize that grades are not required and frequently not helpful, but for her, I think could be a good way to set goals and work at a higher level. If you do assign grades based on specific grading, how are you assigning grades? What are you grading? Are you assigning accuracy or completion grades for everyday work? Are you grading projects, quizzes, presentations, or tests? Are you grading based on completion by assigned deadlines? Are you grading just part of the work? Are you giving some things more weight in the average? If you use Math Mammoth, how to you grade it? How do you motivate your student to do worthwhile work, rather than minimal effort work (whether you grade or not)? If I were to do grades at this age, it would only be on final tests, not everyday work or quizzes. I would probably grade projects, maybe or maybe not presentations; a project would need a deadline, so yes, it would have to be completed by that deadline. And there would be a rubric of some kind. I wouldn't weight anything. I don't try to "motivate" my children to do "worthwhile work," if by that you mean Official School Stuff. Teaching children to do the best they can in everything they do is an important part of being a parent; I don't separate Official School Stuff from anything else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I do not do grades at this age. Grades have not been particularly motivating for us. Knowing the material at a mastery level has been motivating. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 My upcoming 6th grader wants grades. I am planning to only grade tests and projects and major writing assingments. Daily work will be checked daily and immediate feedback given but I don't intend to "grade" daily work. IMHO, daily work is where the student is still working out concepts/skills/implementation. I don't want them fearful of making a mistake. How I grade will depend on the program. For example, in math he will be using CLE as the spine. He will be graded on end of unit tests. All other math work will be checked and reviewed but not given a grade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted July 3, 2015 Author Share Posted July 3, 2015 (snip) I don't try to "motivate" my children to do "worthwhile work," if by that you mean Official School Stuff. Teaching children to do the best they can in everything they do is an important part of being a parent; I don't separate Official School Stuff from anything else. Why do you mention "motivate," "worthwhile work" and "Official School Stuff" as though they are bad things? This is an education discussion board. It seems reasonable for me to ask questions specifically about academic concerns. My question is about how to encourage my child to do her best, the very thing you say is "an important part of being a parent." Surely your children don't just do their best because you hope they will, what do you say or do to help that happen? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Some children are motivated by grades. If your child is one of those then I say go for it, OP. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 How do you motivate your student to do worthwhile work, rather than minimal effort work (whether you grade or not)? I reject subpar work from them and put up with their sulky faces :lol: I grade their work for errors or insufficient working but I don't give grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Why do you mention "motivate," "worthwhile work" and "Official School Stuff" as though they are bad things? This is an education discussion board. It seems reasonable for me to ask questions specifically about academic concerns. My question is about how to encourage my child to do her best, the very thing you say is "an important part of being a parent." Surely your children don't just do their best because you hope they will, what do you say or do to help that happen? Ellie and I have similar teaching philosophies. It is important for me to have learning be part of life and the kids have a lot of say and interest in what they are learning. So yeah, my kids do tend to do their best on stuff that they are interested in. And I teach them to do their best on whatever the job is at hand - whether it is sweeping the kitchen "to mastery" or doing some math to mastery. Does that mean that everything is their absolute favorite? No, not at all. So they might poke around and do a poor job on it. But just like the sweeping job, that math sheet done poorly isn't going away. So I guess you would say they are motivated to do a good job on it so that they can move on to other things they like better. (Though if this is a daily thing then we brain storm together and either choose different material or a different approach.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 My son likes grades because he strives for 100%. I keep it to quantifiable work--end of chapter math reviews and weekly spelling quizzes. He typically assigns himself a number grade-- 9/10 for example--and calculates the corresponding letter grade. Anything he misses gets rolled over to the following week so he can master it. At this point, I don't grade written papers. I don't see that until high school, honestly, and even then I'm not sure how it works. For now, the focus is learning how to write well, and I don't believe in being graded on something you are actively learning to do. Learning requires making mistakes, being messy, and so on and I have to work hard on helping my perfectionist be comfortable with that part of the process. Taking off "points" would defeat the purpose, IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athomeontheprairie Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 At this point, I don't grade written papers. I don't see that until high school, honestly, and even then I'm not sure how it works. For now, the focus is learning how to write well, and I don't believe in being graded on something you are actively learning to do. Learning requires making mistakes, being messy, and so on and I have to work hard on helping my perfectionist be comfortable with that part of the process. Taking off "points" would defeat the purpose, IMO. I heard Andrew pudewa speak on grading papers at our homeschool conference this spring. He talked about making all papers pass/fail. you either did you everything that was asked, and you passed. or you didn't do everything that was asked, you failed. You failed to meet the requirements. the actual body of the paper , the technical aspects of the writing, Those aren't "graded" in the traditional sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wintermom Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I'm not 100% convinced that "grading" is the best long-term solution for motivating a student, in 6th grade or any grade. It has some definite uses, such as learning to ensure that the "required" items are included in the assignments, and that going above and beyond the minimum requirements can raise your grade. It can also reassure both the student and the teacher that the student can complete tasks asked for. Some of the issues with grading are that they can become a negative focus if the grading is too fuzzy (requirements are not clearly defined), early difficullties/failure can turn a child off of a field of study, the grading doesn't show an actual picture of the work a student is capable of (for various reasons). For example, it used to frustrate me as a student, and still does when I hear about, when university professors are being told to adjust class grades to that they are not "too high" or "too low." Then individual grades are meaningless and only relative to the other students in the class. There are lots of other examples of problems with grading that may or may not be relevant to homeschool families, but it's worthwhile to be very clear exactly what you are attempting to accomplish with grading and some potential limitations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 I heard Andrew pudewa speak on grading papers at our homeschool conference this spring. He talked about making all papers pass/fail. you either did you everything that was asked, and you passed. or you didn't do everything that was asked, you failed. You failed to meet the requirements. the actual body of the paper , the technical aspects of the writing, Those aren't "graded" in the traditional sense. Interesting. We do use IEW so he already strives to work in the technical requirements; however, they don't always make the best sense and he has the freedom to leave them out when it's in his best interest as the invested writer. To me, a "good" paper or written work isn't just about checking off boxes. While the structure of IEW has been fantastic for DS, he is by no means bound to the formula. IMO, a good writer knows and understands the rules, and also knows when to break or ignore them. A formulaic paper would not earn a passing grade from me even if all the boxes were checked, but an inspired, creative, well thought paper--no matter how messy--will earn him high praise. I think because things like writing are so subjective especially at this age (when, let's face it, a lot of our kids are struggling just to get comfortable with the process), I'd recommend sticking to grading work that has no gray area. You get 10/12 right on the math quiz, there's no arguing that and it's quantifiable. Of course everyone should do what works best for their kids; that is why we homeschool, after all. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.