Lead by Example

Eavesdropping 101

Well, today I had to stay home from school. My one-year old had a sinus infection and had been running a fever last night (24 hours fever free daycare rule, you know). So we got up at the usual time and saw dad and brother off to school. I caught up on email, fed him breakfast, changed some diapers, etc. He seemed to be feeling great, so I took the rare opportunity to call my salon and see if they might possibly have an opening this morning. Bingo! 10:45 appointment! I packed the diaper bag and the little one, snotty nose and all, and headed out. I got there a bit early and was entertaining the little one and happened to listen to the conversation at the check out desk. It went something like this:

“You know we just found out last night that Craig failed a big project”

” Oh really, he just came out and told you?”

“No the school has this online thing that let’s you see kid’s grades. We saw it last night and confronted him. It was on a poetry booklet. He showed it to me. It was pretty thrown together.”

“Well, I think that writing is just totally opinion anyway. I don’t see how anyone can grade something that is your personal thoughts.”

“I don’t think it deserved a good grade. Actually we like this teacher. We have had such better luck at the high school than we did at the middle school. Those teachers just got there tenure and are biding their time until retirement. My kids hated it.”

Now, there are several things I would like to address in this eavesdropping session.

First, the “writing is personal” comment-

Writing is personal. It is a creation. It is the highest level of Bloom’s particularly when you are doing creative writing like poetry. Because of this we must evaluate it. Unfortunately many teachers grade writing and other projects with red marks and a number. I have always used rubrics. My question is this- do parents and students understand rubrics? Does it make the evaluation of the writing more meaningful or more confusing?

Second, the middle school teachers have tenure-

We see this all of the time in professions where one’s job is not totally dependent on one’s accountability and/ or results. I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten behind a slow driver in a work truck and made the comment, “He obviously gets paid by the hour and not by the job.” Are we in a profession now that is filling up with those just biding their time until retirement? I know there are a few out there that go full speed for their students, but are we the minority? Are there any 21st Century Teachers as Andrew Churches points out in his insightful blog post?

Finally, kudos to the school district that uses an online gradebook that parents can view, and kudos to the parents that utilize that privilege!

Filed under: Education Insights, Rants & Raves | Tagged: high school, middle school, rubrics, teaching, tenure, writing