Thoughts on Ch. 1-2
in “A Repair Kit for Grading” Julie
Sjol
While reading this book, I can’t help but have some very
conflicting thoughts go through my head. I do agree with all of the “Fixes” in
Ch. 1-2 so far, but I have also been thinking “Yeah, but…..” as I read it. I guess this is a hard concept for me to wrap
my head around because I wonder “how is a teacher to grade some things that a
student is just learning and they have not developed the skill yet AT ALL. And “how is the teacher going to get some
students even motivated to do an
assignment in a timely manner if there are no consequences at all for late work
or for disruptive and/or dishonest behavior ”.
In the perfect world every student would have his/her own
individual education plan and they would be allowed to move at their own pace
and do their own ‘projects’ or ‘assignments’
that demonstrate mastery of the skill but even then we would still have the
students who have no interest, and/or no motivation due to circumstances in
their lives or due to mental/emotional issues.
Of course, the school addresses these issues the best they can but most
of the time the parents have the ultimate power in whether their child gets
psychological help, whether they have any stability at home, and whether their
child even stays in school after they turn 16.
Being able to connect what the student is learning in the
classroom to the real world can be challenging and for many students they will STILL
demonstrate apathy. So yes, providing
that ‘support’ is critical and that is where we need to be improving. I think that support for the learner, the
educator, and the parent is critical.