Entrance Slip: October17, 2019
The Effects of Marks and Grades
The Grades and marks may serve as a motivation/reward for some students, but surely is distress to many. As a student, I feel Grades and marks are not real indicators of one's learning, alternatively, grades maybe just an indicator of one's ability of memorization. In fact, it interferes with the process and quality of learning. Studying or learning something just to perform better in the test or to achieve higher grades to meet the expectations of the parents causes too much pressure on young minds which may also result in mental health issues. The constant stress of being graded detaches a student's interest from actual learning. I believe the grades simply serve the purpose of the schools and institutions to publish their standards of achievement. Also, in some cases, the grades are just arrived at by evaluating students' performance in random quizzes and tests. Sometimes students do well otherwise in class but fail to perform in exams due to pressure of being judged. I agree with John Sarte and Sherri Hughes statements in the article that the students can learn better if the focus is not on marks and grades but on personal satisfaction, reaching career goals and basically having a good life later. On the other hand, as a teacher sometimes, I feel that grading and marks do play an important role in the process of learning at school. They serve as criteria not just for the assessment of one's learning but to reward a student's hard work and efforts. I recognize that exams/tests may cause stress in students that may hinder their learning, but they also help in the evaluation of students' learning. Additionally, they also prepare students to be confident and ready to face the challenges in life. Some form of formative assessment before summative testing can be helpful in relieving stress in students.
One of the unintended side- effects of grading may be a feeling of powerlessness in students as they may consider a teacher's authority to control students with threats of grades. This may decrease their motivation to learn and build up an atmosphere of tension in classrooms. Assigning grades and marks to signify one's learning unintentionally classify and label students by categorizing their abilities according to the marks/grade scored. The focus on grades and marks may deviate the students' interest from enjoyable learning towards adopting unfair means to achieve higher grades. The system of grading not only pressurise students but is also a burden for the teacher to spare time for preparing competent tests and rubrics to mark them and still most teachers are aware that the test does not gauges the real intelligence. In the absence of this focus on grades, teachers can devote more time to introducing activities to make learning fun in classrooms.
I acknowledge the importance of deemphasizing the grades and marks in classrooms to alleviate stress in students and encourage active learning. Still, there has to be a systematic way of assessing the students' learning to fill out the report cards which is a part of the school system and also a part of the admission process in universities for higher education which offers limited seats only to high achievers. As a Science and Math teacher, I personally want to encourage my students to learn for better understanding by developing logical reasoning for the world around us. The grades and marks will follow if one is ready to put their best efforts and hard work. The students can be offered choice and participation in planning and designing assessments that can help a teacher determine the students' understanding of concepts. Different forms of testing pathways can be useful such as formative assessments like reflection through entry/exit slip, digital resources like Kahoot to promote fun learning, sample worksheets for practice. Providing students with real-life problems to work on such as asking them the no. of tiles required to fill the entire classroom or some science problems like the importance of the study of density to identify floating/sinking objects and to identify real/fake gold will encourage students to relate the use of their learning to everyday life. A teacher may then observe students' performance in the formative test and modify and reevaluate a few times before summative testing. This will give students several opportunities to show their level of understanding.
A teacher may then also adopt different ways of summative testing like quizzes, projects, open-book test so that everyone gets a fair chance to perform without stress.
The Effects of Marks and Grades
The Grades and marks may serve as a motivation/reward for some students, but surely is distress to many. As a student, I feel Grades and marks are not real indicators of one's learning, alternatively, grades maybe just an indicator of one's ability of memorization. In fact, it interferes with the process and quality of learning. Studying or learning something just to perform better in the test or to achieve higher grades to meet the expectations of the parents causes too much pressure on young minds which may also result in mental health issues. The constant stress of being graded detaches a student's interest from actual learning. I believe the grades simply serve the purpose of the schools and institutions to publish their standards of achievement. Also, in some cases, the grades are just arrived at by evaluating students' performance in random quizzes and tests. Sometimes students do well otherwise in class but fail to perform in exams due to pressure of being judged. I agree with John Sarte and Sherri Hughes statements in the article that the students can learn better if the focus is not on marks and grades but on personal satisfaction, reaching career goals and basically having a good life later. On the other hand, as a teacher sometimes, I feel that grading and marks do play an important role in the process of learning at school. They serve as criteria not just for the assessment of one's learning but to reward a student's hard work and efforts. I recognize that exams/tests may cause stress in students that may hinder their learning, but they also help in the evaluation of students' learning. Additionally, they also prepare students to be confident and ready to face the challenges in life. Some form of formative assessment before summative testing can be helpful in relieving stress in students.
One of the unintended side- effects of grading may be a feeling of powerlessness in students as they may consider a teacher's authority to control students with threats of grades. This may decrease their motivation to learn and build up an atmosphere of tension in classrooms. Assigning grades and marks to signify one's learning unintentionally classify and label students by categorizing their abilities according to the marks/grade scored. The focus on grades and marks may deviate the students' interest from enjoyable learning towards adopting unfair means to achieve higher grades. The system of grading not only pressurise students but is also a burden for the teacher to spare time for preparing competent tests and rubrics to mark them and still most teachers are aware that the test does not gauges the real intelligence. In the absence of this focus on grades, teachers can devote more time to introducing activities to make learning fun in classrooms.
I acknowledge the importance of deemphasizing the grades and marks in classrooms to alleviate stress in students and encourage active learning. Still, there has to be a systematic way of assessing the students' learning to fill out the report cards which is a part of the school system and also a part of the admission process in universities for higher education which offers limited seats only to high achievers. As a Science and Math teacher, I personally want to encourage my students to learn for better understanding by developing logical reasoning for the world around us. The grades and marks will follow if one is ready to put their best efforts and hard work. The students can be offered choice and participation in planning and designing assessments that can help a teacher determine the students' understanding of concepts. Different forms of testing pathways can be useful such as formative assessments like reflection through entry/exit slip, digital resources like Kahoot to promote fun learning, sample worksheets for practice. Providing students with real-life problems to work on such as asking them the no. of tiles required to fill the entire classroom or some science problems like the importance of the study of density to identify floating/sinking objects and to identify real/fake gold will encourage students to relate the use of their learning to everyday life. A teacher may then observe students' performance in the formative test and modify and reevaluate a few times before summative testing. This will give students several opportunities to show their level of understanding.
A teacher may then also adopt different ways of summative testing like quizzes, projects, open-book test so that everyone gets a fair chance to perform without stress.
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