Welcome Back & What do Grades Mean?

"Get our learning on..." A new video from Kid President

I hope you all had a thoroughly enjoyable CWW experience. I certainly did!

Start the new week by being organized
1) Blog post on your learning: Due Tuesday (see sample below)

2) Parts of Speech practice exercises: Due Tuesday (see last blog post - You are expected to have a basic knowledge of the 8 parts of speech. We will review these in class on Tuesday)
3) Make sure you have made copies of these new files ready for class on Monday and Tuesday
Word Study Unit 2
Thinking Critically about Characters
Unit 2 Grammar Opening and Delayed Adjectives

Memoirs - single anecdote papers - Your grades are in powerschool. If you do not have a grade listed it is either because you did not put your name on your work or  because you have not turned in a PAPER copy to me.

Understanding Grades
Student X scored these grade in Reading Responses  D  D C  C  B A A
What grade do you think is on the report card?

Wrong - It is not  a B or a C. It is an A!
Why? - These grades show a growth in a student's understanding. Grades are NOT averaged.  Grades ONLY show how well you have done on a specific learning target at that time.  The purpose of school is for you to 'LEARN.' If after 5 practices, you can prove that you have 'learned,' then you would be given the grade at that time and not an average of all your previous grades. It is not where you start, or how you go; it is where you FINISH! Does this mean that all you have to do is work hard on the last paper of a unit? No! You need to 'consistently' show mastery of a learning target.

The good news is that teachers are stopping 'averaging' grades from the beginning of a unit when you are learning something new and are giving students more credit for their growth! THEREFORE - If you have scored lower grades so far - DO NOT get disheartened. These grades are only a 'snapshot' of how close you are to a specific learning target at that time. They do not say anything about you as a person. If you do more practice (more work), you will earn the grades where you finish! Ask me in class if you need further clarification.

This short video talks a little about assessments.