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.