Yesterday in ROGATE we had a very in-depth discussion about grades. We were asked what is the purpose of grades? What is our opinion on the grading system? Do we think that the current system accurately represents our skills and knowledge? Do we think that we should stick with the current grading system, switch to standards based grading, or use a combination of the two?
First of all, what are standards based grades? This is a grading system based on previously set standards. We take the test, and it is graded based on where the educators think we are when compared with where we should be. Standards based grading tells us where we are compared to the highest standard. I think everyone knows what the current system of numbers and letters is.
So what is the purpose of grades? I think that the purpose of grades is to tell you where you are on a set scale. A means you are already there and you fully grasp the subject. B means you are there but there is room for improvement. C means you are just barely there and you can do the bare minumum. D means you seriously need to work on the subject, and F means you epically failed and have no idea what you are doing. So there it is. Grades tell you where you are and where you can improve. Finally, they give you something to strive for. The other side to that is that if you don't see the actual test, you have no idea what to improve on. For example, you can see your grades in Powerschool, but you don't know exactly what you got right or exactly what you got wrong.
My opinion of our current grading system is that it is just fine. It tells us exactly what we did wrong, and exactly what we did right. the problem with standards based grading is that you either meet or don't meet the standard. You never know exactly what you did wrong or right, so you can never improve on exactly what needs improving.
I think that the current system accurately represents your level of skills and knowledge because it tells you exactly where you are on a one hundred point scale. Standards based grading does not do this. For example, when you get your NJ ASK scores back, it gives you a little dash on a scale. This does not tell you exactly where your skills and knowledge are, it tells you of you are advanced, proficient, or partly proficient. You never get an exact percentage of what you did right.
I think we should stay with the current grading system because it is the most accurate and grades you on what you individually did wrong and right. This is the only way you will improve.
In conclusion, standards based grading is a grading system that grades you on previously set standards. The purpose of grades is to tell you where you are on a set scale. Grades tell you whether or not you grasp the subject, what you know, and what you need to improve on. Our current grading system works because it accurately represents our skills and knowledge. Finally, we should stick with our current grading system.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Creativity Crisis?
A week ago in ROGATE, we read an artical called "The Creativity Crisis". This article talked about how creativity is declining in schools and what we can do to fix it. This is what I think.
Creativity crisis? What the heck is going on? What happened to the Steve Jobs in our society? Can we save our society from eventually having no creativity at all?
The creativity crisis is what the experts call a decline in society's creativity. Research shows that American creativity is declining. However, other countries' level of creativity is not. What are they doing that they can keep their creativity? Can creativity be taught?
According to Ted Schwarzrock, the accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful. America has created things that are original and useful, so why do people say our creativity is declining? It starts with our education system. Our country's public schools use a system of teaching that does not foster creativity. Other countries, such as China, are fostering creativity in their schools by doing away with the "drill and kill" system. This means that teachers teach a subject, drill it into your head, then give you a test and never mention the subject again. Where's the creativity there? Anyway, we need to to foster creativity in our schools. The hard part is how to teach creativity. According to the article, human beings can actually train their minds to use the equal parts convergent and divergent thinking requires. I think that creativity can be taught if done the right way. In sixth grade, I was making a poster. The teacher thought it was not creative enough; that I could do more with it. She said to be creative. I was like WHAT? So I went back to my desk, and told myself to think harder and come up with creative ideas. It worked.
We also watched a Ted talk by Sir Ken Robinson, who talked about how schools are killing creativity. Robinson said that we all have extraodinary talent, but our education system kills it. The educators aren't concerned about our minds, they are concerned about our amount of knowledge. I agree with this. My sixth grade pre-algebra teacher introduced a way to do a word problem, and I thought of a way to do it differently. He said in that annoying teacher voice, "You have to do it this way or it'll never work." My teacher was actually pretty awesome (for a teacher) but I was sooo mad. My way actually worked! Anyway, Robinson also said that we do not grow into creativity, we are actually educated out of is. This is so true. The article said that toddlers ask about 100 questions a day. This is because toddlers always want to know the whos, whats, and whys to EVERYTHING. Robinson also said that schools are teaching kids that it is not ok to be wrong. Kids are so afraid of being wrong, they never take risks, therefore never using their creativity.
In conclusion, America is suffering a decline in creativity, and unless we change our education system, we will continue to fall into a state of no creativity. This would not only hurt our society physically, but it would make for a very dull world. That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
Creativity crisis? What the heck is going on? What happened to the Steve Jobs in our society? Can we save our society from eventually having no creativity at all?
The creativity crisis is what the experts call a decline in society's creativity. Research shows that American creativity is declining. However, other countries' level of creativity is not. What are they doing that they can keep their creativity? Can creativity be taught?
According to Ted Schwarzrock, the accepted definition of creativity is production of something original and useful. America has created things that are original and useful, so why do people say our creativity is declining? It starts with our education system. Our country's public schools use a system of teaching that does not foster creativity. Other countries, such as China, are fostering creativity in their schools by doing away with the "drill and kill" system. This means that teachers teach a subject, drill it into your head, then give you a test and never mention the subject again. Where's the creativity there? Anyway, we need to to foster creativity in our schools. The hard part is how to teach creativity. According to the article, human beings can actually train their minds to use the equal parts convergent and divergent thinking requires. I think that creativity can be taught if done the right way. In sixth grade, I was making a poster. The teacher thought it was not creative enough; that I could do more with it. She said to be creative. I was like WHAT? So I went back to my desk, and told myself to think harder and come up with creative ideas. It worked.
We also watched a Ted talk by Sir Ken Robinson, who talked about how schools are killing creativity. Robinson said that we all have extraodinary talent, but our education system kills it. The educators aren't concerned about our minds, they are concerned about our amount of knowledge. I agree with this. My sixth grade pre-algebra teacher introduced a way to do a word problem, and I thought of a way to do it differently. He said in that annoying teacher voice, "You have to do it this way or it'll never work." My teacher was actually pretty awesome (for a teacher) but I was sooo mad. My way actually worked! Anyway, Robinson also said that we do not grow into creativity, we are actually educated out of is. This is so true. The article said that toddlers ask about 100 questions a day. This is because toddlers always want to know the whos, whats, and whys to EVERYTHING. Robinson also said that schools are teaching kids that it is not ok to be wrong. Kids are so afraid of being wrong, they never take risks, therefore never using their creativity.
In conclusion, America is suffering a decline in creativity, and unless we change our education system, we will continue to fall into a state of no creativity. This would not only hurt our society physically, but it would make for a very dull world. That's it for now. Thanks for reading!
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