Do I give my students all A’s? …no.
Why? …because I don’t want my best students to feel like all their hard work is for nothing. I feel strongly that some of my students would take advantage of an automatic A and slack off.
But within the rubrics I design for each lesson, it is very easy to get an A if they complete the assignment. I try to make them aware of this, but perhaps I should try harder. Perhaps I should regard them all as my best students.
However, I am often frustrated that many of my students feel like they deserve an A, they tell me so, even when their work is average at best and they copy answers from other people. I worry that their parents and teachers who have caused them to feel like they deserve an A are being set up for massive disappointments once they hit the real world. The real world doesn’t care, does it?
Regardless.
My Comment:
The other day we were having a similar conversation in our staff lounge. Teachers were sharing the different bad grades that they received in school. I was a bit shocked to hear many of the low grades that my coworker received. The reality set in- they grades we receive do not form who we are and who we become. As a teacher I have always hated giving grades, but my students needed to know where they stood in relation to the required knowledge level for that grade. I have always tried to take my grades from assignments where students can see that they earned the grade. Work where students either get the problem right or they get it wrong but no gray area. Then came those subjects where grades are more subjective such as writing. Like you i simply created rubrics in which it was completely possible and at times seemed too easy to get an A. I was still surprised when many students still received grades that were unsatisfactory.
I could only dream that one day grades became a across the board meaning the same thing to every one. This, however, will never happen so I will keep on dreaming.
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