Rebecca Thompson, Re. On grading art
Tom, when I was in school 1000 years
ago, I had a painting teacher that had us paint a still-life the first day of class, with no instruction. She told
us that she was going to grade that piece on a "professional level" as if we had submitted it for a juried-show and on
a level of professional critique.... not to be alarmed by the fact that most of us were going to flunk or receive
lower grades than we had ever received in our lives and that we would be humiliated beyond belief. And we were.
She
kept that first painting and give it back at the end of the semester. Then, we discovered later, the same still life
was set-up the last week of class and we spent the class painting it again. Anyway, during the semester on
a M-W-F, we painted "in class" 2 days W&F, learning technique and working on an assigned project. Then on the 3nd
day (a Monday, which gave us the weekend to ditch and start over or continue work on that project) we brought the
finished piece and spent that class in critique... similar to students reading aloud with professor commenting.) We learned from
each other... and from her comments on each work. Then she took those paintings, assigned a grade and returned the painting.
There were no surprises on those grades. Improvement was calculated into the formula as well as the critique, which
was encouraging.
It was an extremely fair way to grade, especially in a discipline that has as many subjective
elements as painting. Most of her students worked their butts off, also, because there was a horizon for improvement,
a reward for improvement and class encouragement for improvement.
Also, since we were turning out 1 or 2, sometimes
3 paintings a week (again, the third graded), there was a % of grades that would be thrown-out and not counted in
the final grade average. Not showing-up or turning-in a piece was an automatic "F." And her words were, 'if you have high
grades the whole semester, it works-out that you don't have to show-up for the last few weeks and will still get an "A"
or "B".... I don't know anyone who did that. There were maybe one or two who would have qualified, but they
loved to paint and always came. There were a few drop-outs, but they were not that interested in the first place.
Finally,
we also kept a sketch journal, that would look through during the 1st and 2nd days while we were painting in class. I
don't think that she ever graded it, she just insisted that it was done and would sometimes make comments or look
bored and walk on to the next person.
I probably learned more in that painting class than I did in any class.
The structure worked for everyone.
Finally, and probably most importantly, she was a brilliant prolific painter.
Loved expressing idea with line, shape and color. I would not write this if I did not think you equally brilliant and
if I were not confident of your love for expressing idea in the written word (especially if you happen to agree
with what is being expressed.) I think that your students have already realized your talent and that they will also become better
writers because of you.
All the best in your semester, Rebecca
...
Dear Rebecca -
Thanks for the encouragement. Thanks also for reminding me that, as the German bootmaker
says of bootmaking in Galsworthy's short story "Quality," writing "iss an ardt."
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Robin Glynn, Re. Gradeless Schooling
This is one of the best things about home schooling. No grades! In my school anyway, some home
schoolers do grade but it's a choice. For me it's all about proficiency. It's the same in Will and Casey's karate, piano,
tap, and acrobatics classes. You don't move on, can't move on, until you are proficient enough to move on. Proficiency isn't
decided by me it's just a fact. You can't add till you know how to count.
Now, there are interesting decisions to be made. Will has a very hard time with memorizing math
facts, but to hold him back from learning the concepts, which he catches on to very quickly, because he can't rattle off the
multiplication tables creates too much frustration. So, he uses a calculator when learning math then spends some time working
on a memory strengthening computer game, and multiplication flash cards. It's an interesting challenge to not let his learning
disabilities, differences, whatever, frustrate him or hold him back. I tried to keep him learning even though he can't read,
write or multiply.
Now at the age of 12 he can finally read! Yeah! He is proficient at it but most important he
LOVES to read! He is also starting to get into writing. He is an extremely creative speller, due to a hearing disability,
but gets the process. So, I have been working hard to "grade" what he gets right and not dwell on his poor spelling or grammar.
It's hard for me to do. It's so ingrained in me that it's not good if it's not spelled right or grammatically correct. He
actually likes it when I read his work phonetically. Sometimes we laugh so hard we cry. He is so amazing to me. He has worked
so hard to just be able to write the letter A. My daughter, Casey, just sits down and writes the letter A.
Will had to go through 2 years of special tutoring just to get his eyes to work right so
he didn't see double. I think he has been able to keep his self esteem intact even though he's not able to do what other kids
his age are doing. Isn't that a big problem with the grading system? Keeping a person motivated and having to judge their
work at the same time.
...
Dear Robin -
Imagine for a moment what would happen to Coffee if it were transformed into an English
class in which I had to rate everyone's writing. Gag. Blort.
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Don Hockaday, Re. Freshman Anguish
Kevin> I got my paper with a large "D-" across
the top he said with great sympathy, "That's probably about the best you can do!"
Tom> Does your story have a happy ending? What was your course
grade?
A subjective test would be -- Did you try harder than if he had written, "You can do better
than this"?
In my first class in freshman English the instructor told us how many themes of what length
and how many would be in-class and out-of-class. I suppose this was a statement of his expectations. As we were walking out
of class, I turned to a fellow student and asked, "What's a theme?"
My second semester English course and both my sophomore English courses had subjective tests,
but none of my four (five?) first semester English101:rhetoric and composition courses did. They were all objective tests.
When I misspelled the third time I got an "F" and a red line terminating the instructors effort on the paper. Sometimes,
the red line was drawn in the introductory paragraph. It was very difficult to improve through each semester, and from semester
to semester, if all I learned from the themes was I can't spell and can't find correct spelling in a dictionary. Actually,
I already knew that. I made mostly Cs in out-of-class themes but there is not enough time in 50 minutes to write a 300 word
theme, find 200 words in a dictionary (many by chance alone) and rewrite it carefully.
English 101 was based on writing themes. In four or five courses in it, not once did any
instructor provide any instruction on how to write a theme. I finally learned how to write themes in about 10 minutes
from June Williams (Bob's wife) who taught high school English. It turns out there is not much to it, assuming clear handwriting
and spelling ability. It would have been nice if an English instructor in my freshman (or sophomore or junior) year had said,
"Your grade will be based on how well you meet my expectations. My expectations for the grade of 'C' are insultingly low,
but firm; don't forget that. Here are my specific expectations for the grade of 'C'."
Tom> It was explained to her that my necessary graduation
trumped her exalted standards.
It worked for me -- I was approved for English 101 in my graduating semester. All considering,
the prof probably said to himself "That's probably about the best you can do!"
Posted at Port Isabel HS Alumni site 9/8/05: "I am a graduate
of Port Isabel High School and very proud of it. I loved my experiencs there. What i didnt like was the teaching. If i went
into a science class i expected to learn science, not a state mandated english course. Which is what we had to do every other
week to prepare ourselves for the tests they gave us. Now if they actually tought the subject they were teaching and
taught well. Then having to do english in science or math shoulndt be needed ..."
...
Dear Don -
Also posted at PIHS Alumni Site, by Don Hockaday, in a note to a frustrated PIHS student, this
anecdote:
I was a second-semester sophomore before it snapped to me that my grades and education were my
responsibility. At that time, my grades jumped two grade-points. Concerning shifting of the blame to individual teachers,
my attitude changed with a one-liner from another student. I was voicing a similar complaint as yours about one of our professors.
My classmate casually said, "The university offers the opportunity for an education; what you do with that opportunity is
up to you."
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