I need to be recycled

[Pencil]

Hi,

You experts online. I have had great ideas from you all and I love reading all your different perspectives. Is this a good way of thinking as a teacher? I try to be sincere in my teaching and I try to focus on what is my passion when I teach. Is this a good way of thinking? (See below)

As a teacher, I want to help kids learn ESL by helping them with the ESL curriculum. I want to transmit the passion of learning English, getting good marks and getting the best while the student is here in school. I want the student to be happy but going somewhere. If the student fails a test, I'm concerned. If the student is losing interest, I'm concerned.

Is that a good way of thinking for a teacher? Or, should I touch-up my thoughts?

Pencil

[Boxcar]

I think that is an excellant way of thinking. I particularly like the part where you say you want the students to be happy but going somewhere. That is something that I think people often forget. There needs to be a balance. I think that sometimes we worry so much about making things fun and enjoyable that we lose sight of the goal. It sounds like you know how to strike the balance and challenge your students while fostering thier love of learning.

[Pencil]

Hi,

I decided to do this. Can someone let me know if this ethical for a teacher. In my school, many teachers grade differently. I plan on asking many of them what their lowest mark is, so that I can be compatible with them. I discovered that some curve their marks and the lowest mark is like a C. I will try to match the system and do like other teachers do so that the parents don't compare meanfully and get me in trouble. I don't want to look like a tyran in grading, but I want to be honest. I'll be compatible with my colleagues, but I will make the best students get the best grades and the weakest students, lower grades. Not everyone is the same. I'll have to play the same political game as my colleagues do, so that parents don't come bothering me about giving their kid a low grade. What do you experts think about this?

Thanks,
Pencil

[Boxcar]

I think that it is understandable. In an ideal world, you wouldn't have to do that. I don't really like curving grades all the time. In some ways, it feels like giving nothing lower than a "c" is not right. However, you have to be realistic. What you propose is logical. You need to do it this way to have things run smoothly. You seem to have a good compromise here. Good students will get higher grades and weaker students will have lower grades. In that sense, it is still "fair".

[Brit]

be careful with seeing students as "good students: and "weak students", though. To me, we should be grading thier work based on expectations. A weak student can ACE a certain expectation. For example, I have a student who started out weak and really struggled with reading, but when I assessed him in visualization, he really did great! On the flip side, some of my high reader's can't visualize or express logical infrences based on reading, which shows that despite what they can read, they're not really getting into it deeply.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't pigeonhole kids. there are strong kids and weak kids, sure, but that can change, and one of the joys of teaching is to watch a weak kids become a capable or even a strong kid.

I struggle with this whole assessment and assessment politics thing, too. Let me know how things go. I kinda wish I could just give everyone a B or an A and be done with it...

[dsmms]

Pencil, from your original post, I get the sense that you are a more than fair teacher. It never hurts to get another teacher's perspective on grading, but trust your own instincts. Don't feel compelled to give a student a "c" if he or she earned less than that. I think that artificially high grades can invalidate true success. If you have high expectations for yourself and your students, and you are fair with your grading practices, don't worry about what the other teachers are doing.