Greetings!
In addition to my earlier comments about grades in general, I want to clarify how I have scored and graded my students this semester. Firstly, I've divided the work done in the class into categories: Assignments, Writing, Grammar, and Literature. Each category is somewhat self-explanatory, except for perhaps the "Assignments" section. This is where I put our Quick Writes, vocabulary work, and any other class participation scores.
For the past two years I've been using My GradeBook, an online grade book. With this program, I can assign a category to each assignment, for example, Writing, Literature, Grammar, Assignments (in-class work.) My GradeBook figures percentages for total scores and for scores within each of these categories.
For the past two years I've been using My GradeBook, an online grade book. With this program, I can assign a category to each assignment, for example, Writing, Literature, Grammar, Assignments (in-class work.) My GradeBook figures percentages for total scores and for scores within each of these categories.
However, the four categories used for Writing 1 did not have the same number of assignments, so a straight averaging of the scores does not give an accurate total percentage/grade. For example, the Assignments category had 16 scores, and 15 of them were small, 5-point Quick Writes. Writing section had fewer assignments, but the scores were higher per assignment.
Though the categories are not exactly even, I feel that dividing the scores like this is helpful because it helps parent, students, and teacher have a better picture of the work done in the semester. For example, if a student scores 100% on this Assignments section, I know that he showed up and participated well in class. A low score in the Literature section is most likely a sign of a significant number of missing assignments. Likewise, a low score in grammar could be because assignments were not handed in, or it could be a lack of knowledge in this area. As it is with all homework assignments for any subject area, the scores reflect a mix of quantity and quality.
When you get the grades, you should see a small table like this:
Assignments
|
Grammar
|
Literature
|
Writing
|
Combined
| |||||
Grade
|
%
|
Grade
|
%
|
Grade
|
%
|
Grade
|
%
|
Grade
|
%
|
I hope I haven't further confused the grading for this class. Working with students to help them develop into first-rate thinkers and writers is my primary goal. Points, scores, percentages, and grades are only small parts in the learning process.
Blessings to all of you,
Tammy Prichard
Tammy Prichard
