Inquiry II Seminar

I noticed in my short practicum and in other schooling experiences that teachers often use a “grades-emphasis” to justify their curriculum choices and pedagogy; what Kohn describes as a “willful refusal to examine one’s classroom practices and assumptions about teaching and learning”. Imagining a class without grades is an important exercise, because if you cannot envision students caring about the class without grades, a re-thinking of approach may be in order.

Saying “grades shouldn’t be the focus of teaching and learning” seems almost cliched at this point and in the context of a progressive teacher ed program. However, the fact remains that many students (the majority I’ve encountered) are motivated by these externalized judgements, and I believe this detracts from their overall learning and contributes to negative attitudes toward school in general.

So, why do teachers emphasize the importance of grades to students? And why do students feel attaining grades should be the focus of their time and energy?

To build intrinsic motivation in students they should be given more responsibility for the topics and modes of inquiry they pursue. The grading process should be de-mystified, and students can be involved in learning how we assess different learning items. Students should be active constructors of their learning, not passive recipients of “well-planned” curriculum. Parents also need to be involved in this co-construction of teaching and learning, so they are not faced with same dilemma as Kevin Arnold’s dad as he searches for a simple value-judgement on the report card.

Promoting intrinsic motivation in school is no easy task. A broad-based, well-communicated approach to assessment is integral; we need to emphasize the value of process and exploration and take the focus away from the final project/test that meets pre-set criteria. This could create a lot more work for teachers (avoiding what Kohn calls “the bunch-o-facts” method), but an emering body of research can help us work toward intrinsic motivation in students as well as ourselves.

Clayton, I totally agree that the statement “grades shouldn’t be the focus of teaching and learning” is both absolutely true and absolutely cliched. Grading is so engrained into our culture’s concept of education and schooling that people become visibly uncomfortable when it’s taken away — see that episode of the Wonder Years or our experiences in this Pass/Fail program. That said, we still get lots of feedback in this program, and I think most of us would agree that feedback is far more important and worthwhile than a letter/ number grade.

A year or two after I graduated high school, I visited one of my favourite teachers from my old school (he taught English/yearbook/newspaper) and mentioned I was thinking about going into teaching some day. He gave me an Alfie Kohn book to read and I remember that I was really impressed by it. (I also remember thinking that the book was *almost* as unconventional as my teacher was.)

I think the book I read was Beyond Discipline: From Classroom to Community http://www.alfiekohn.org/books/bd.htm

I completely forgot about that book until I saw this post. For anybody who hasn’t read any Alfie Kohn yet, I’d recommend it if you’re able to fit it into your inquiry/ other coursework readings.