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By Mrs Tan-Tham Kum Chee, GP teacher and Head of English Department,
Hwa Chong Junior College |
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In the time between rushing from one class to the
next, and getting that marking done, have you ever
wanted to just stop, and, write? This section is
just for you. Do write in, and fill up this virtual
space with your poems, personal experiences inside
and outside the classroom, reflective quips on just
about anything that allows others to catch a glimpse
of the teacher’s world!
Write in to contact_online@moe.edu.sg
today! |
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The other day a colleague attended a seminar conducted by Dr
William Glasser, a respected professional for his work in affective
education. My colleague appreciated Dr Glasser’s notion of an
ideal school where students get either an ‘A’ grade or a ‘B’
grade for their work.
If a student’s work does not match the standard expected of
a ‘B’ grade, he will not be given any grade. My colleague was
interested in how the idea may motivate students in their learning.
This reminded me of a class I took when I was reading my masters
in education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. On my
first day of class, Professor Stuart Rankin said, “In this class,
everybody will graduate with an ‘A’ grade. If you are outstanding,
you will get an ‘A+’.”
My jaw dropped. Although I was never a top student in school,
I had done enough to be promoted each year and could be considered
a ‘school success’ if standards were not exacting; but I have
never ever been in a class where I was told I will be an ‘A’
student BEFORE I had done anything to deserve it. How did he
know whether all 13 of us were going to be ‘A’ students?
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In this class,
everybody will graduate with an ‘A’ grade. If you are
outstanding, you will get an ‘A+’. |
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Professor Stuart Rankin |
Stu went on, “You are in graduate school. You are here because
you want to be here; you are here because you want to improve
your classroom practice. Since you are willing, why shouldn’t
I expect you to score an ‘A’?” This first lesson in setting
high expectations for the class was to be reinforced over the
term.
I learnt another lesson about grades in another class on research
and practice. When the mid-term paper was returned to us, I
almost fell off my chair. I had scored ‘97’ out of ‘100’. Not
since I left primary school, which was decades ago, have I achieved
such near perfection!
As Dr Burkam explained the grading system for the mid-term paper,
I realized that he had started with 100 marks for every script,
and he had deducted marks only if you made a mistake. As my
American classmates liked to say, that idea ‘blew my mind’.
I teach General Paper (GP). I work with bands of descriptors
when I grade a student’s essay. My standard mode of operation
is to start students in band ‘C’, the middle band, and adjust
upwards or downwards as I gather more evidence of the quality
of work.
Unlike Stu and Dr Burkam, I have never started students on band
‘A’. Why? Because students must earn every mark; they must work
for it; they must deserve it. Of course there are differences
between the situations I have shared and the classroom reality
at home, but for some months, I could not help thinking that
I have been a mean teacher.
Today, I still don’t start students on band ‘A’ – there is a
long-held habit of exercising caution that is very hard to abandon
– but I am more willing to err on the generous side. Fortunately,
GP is lovely in that one does not only give a grade, but can
also, by way of written feedback along the margins, invite a
student to consider another point of view, push him to imagine
consequences, advise him to draw connections, congratulate him
on a point well-argued or an example well-chosen, and of course,
praise him for improvements made over the last piece of work.
That, to me, is a more effective form of communicating expectations
of standards than the grade alone.
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