This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
How much is too much and how little is too little?
One thing that I really have to work on is my grades for the students. I’m really not sure how many grades to give them. I mean I have an idea, but I don’t want to give them a bunch of tests or quizzes. I feel like last school year I gave them entirely too many grades. So far this school year I have only two grades in, is that not enough? How many should I have? Any suggestions, comments, or advice? I’m all ears.
I try to have one grade per week. This give my students enough grades to balance out the average without having too few causing their average to fall with one bad grade.
ReplyDeleteThis one a week sometimes is just a grade for their professionalism/ethics. Sometimes this is a quiz or test grade.
There are times when I have more than one but I try to limit those weeks as best as I can.
This is definitely something you have to discuss with your administrator over CTAE. We have a school policy that states that we must post at least two grades per week. There are even specifics to our policy that states how many quizzes, tests, projects, and homework assignments we should have per semester. It is probable in your teacher/student handbook for your school system as well. This was an issue for several teachers at my school last year. Parents were contacting the principal because a few of the teachers had not posted any grades or had not poseted any recent grades. I believe it is one of our standards for the PSC to post grades on a very regular basis as a method of assessment and feedback on student performance. The two grades I post weekly are uniform inspections and current events both using a rubric. I also post quizzes about every two weeks and classwork during the week as well depending on the unit and my lesson plans. Hope this helps.
ReplyDelete...sorry for the mispelled words...typing too fast :)
ReplyDeleteAt LSHS, the CTAE program has a required number (15) grades per nine weeks. Our administrator met with us last year because there was no consistency throughout our program. Some teachers were giving 20 or more grades and others only had 6 or 7. I felt like 15 grades would be a reasonably attainable goal, however, I am finding it to be a challenge. I meet with my students 2 to 3 times a week but I don't always have a gradable "assignment" for them to turn in. What I am doing to compensate is doing a notebook check to make sure they are keeping up with notes, vocab, etc. or giving them a participation grade for the day's activity. Hope this helps.
ReplyDelete