So I am sitting here trying to figure out the best way to incorporate Capstones into my chemistry class. I am mostly doing this by studying what John and the Minions are doing in their classroom. I am definitely requiring these this year, I just hope that I can help guide my kids enough so they are able to do the assignment, but little enough that it is still their project.
What I had not noticed in John's post was a link to Kelly (a year ago today) where she describes how she grades her physics classes. If I had noticed this when it was posted, I could have saved myself quite a bit of work. As it happens, a lot of what she does is what I ended up with. Only better. Seriously, how did I miss this??
I like that she has a No Data option as well. I have had kids who could use an entire piece of paper to not answer a question.
I adore her checkoff list. This is something I have struggled with when a skill appears multiple times on the same assessment. I have always sort of made a judgement call on which number to actually assign. I had never thought about just assigning the lowest score, but that makes a lot of sense, especially when you allow reassessments.
I think I understand how she figures her scores into a final grade, but I am pretty sure I need something more cut and dried. I am trying to convince my admin to let me do this, and if he has to stop to figure it out, I'm not sure it will fly.
All in all, I am loving this set up. I think my big roadblock right now is how my standards are written, but hey, I have a whole week to get that figured out :)
Good luck! Please let us know how we can help. :)
ReplyDeleteI have your previous post sitting open in my browser because I need to comment on it, but don't have time just yet. In any case, just let me know if you'd like to chat more about grading. I'd be more than happy to do that if you want a sounding board/etc over IM or google hangout or whatever.
ReplyDeleteFiguring out how everything will meet the needs of all people involved (students, teacher, admins, parents, etc) is definitely tricky, and there's no one right way to do it, of course. Also of course, totally worth the hassle! :)
John - I have so many questions, I'm not even sure where to start. I'm sure that will turn into an entire post one of these days! Thanks for sharing what you do.
ReplyDeleteKelly - I would love to sit down and chat with you sometime. I know every classroom will look differently, it's just so nice to look at it from different angles. I tend to stare at things for so long I forget where I was going :)