Beliefs regarding grading

Examine your beliefs about grading.  State your belief, justify why you believe what you believe.  At this point, how well aligned is your grading system with your beliefs, and what are your goals to more closely align them? What specific actions do you need take in order to make this happen?

Belief: I believe that grading is a necessary thing with regard to education. If students don't feel as if they are being graded, the quality of their work usually goes down, as does their effort, with exception given to the minority of students who want to learn for the sake of it. I think that there is a more altruistic and beneficial angle to learning for the sake of knowledge, but until we undergo a massive societal shift in thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs about and surrounding education, as well as improve the socioeconomic conditions that play a huge role in said circumstances, we as teachers aren't going to be able to exact that kind of change in the system that we all would like to see. I realize that grading is a subjective act that varies from person to person depending upon teaching style, student expectations, etc. Still, it is a perhaps unflattering reflection of how our society operates as a whole. 

I try to vary my assessments with regard to rigor, quality, type, learning style, and presentation so that as many students as possible feel as if they got a fair shot at the grade they hope to attain. My goals to closely align them are simple: I want to craft the most accurate assignments possible with regard to expected learning outcomes and student achievement; I want the learning to be relevant, accurate, and unable to be manipulated by cheaters and / or technological access to knowledge / information that students don't themselves demonstrate or have; I want to make sure that students are invested in their own educations, and are working hard to achieve high grades and meet high standards; Etc. 

Have Dots and Have Nots

Actions I've been taking:
1. Making sure he doesn't fail.
2. Posing questions and such as a means to engage in conversation.
3. Showing interest in his answer to the question of the day.
4. Lingering by his desk in hopes he asks me a question regarding his writing.

Impact I'm having / results of said actions:
1. Success...barely!
2. Receiving a series of "I don't know...""I have no idea...""Good."-type answers to said questions. They were open-ended!
3. Apathy!
4. Nervous switching away from games on iPad, followed by fleeting glances and nervous plotting.

What questions are being generated:
1. Why do students not care until the final minutes of the trimester if they will pass or not?
2. Why doesn't this guy want to engage in witty banter with a cool guy like me? I'm even asking him about stuff I know he's interested in: wrestling, hunting, shooting mammals, camouflage, etc.!
3. What's with the apathy? More pointedly, "come on, man!?"
4. What is so freaking good about "cookie crunch?" The game is literally something that a monkey would get bored with. It is tapping the screen repeatedly. It is inane. It is useless. It is a sign of the apocalypse, Fahrenheit 451, and everything that's bad.

I would say that I did not succeed at "putting a dot by his name." I gave it the old "college try," but he was resistant to my efforts. The trimester ended 1 1/2 weeks after I began my conquest of his personality, so that's unfortunate. But, I know he likes cookie crunch.

LEAP!

As far as taking on leadership roles that are extra in the school year, I'd say my dance card is quite full. I co-run the student council with Drew (shout out). I coach JV girls basketball. I mentor a new teacher (that's the new thing I am doing). I lead sessions for the mentors of the 9th graders and the transition team for them. On top of all of that, I also had overload this trimester. So, I think I'll just call the last 3 months the "Oh Shit!" months, as that was pretty much my state throughout.  I know for a fact that I was a less effective leader throughout this time, but what can one do when faced with insurmountable odds than do what one can? So, I tried my best, and am now through the worst of it. I grew a very small amount through the experiences, I'd say, but mentoring a new teacher is a satisfying experience that leads to good team cohesion, friendliness, and fresh perspectives. It also helps that we're re-doing the 10th grade curriculum, and having 2 new members of our department to help flesh it all out is a great thing - it allows us to re-make it into something that is current, relevant, and modern; it also has the added benefit of allowing the new teachers a voice in what and how they teach, and that is something that I think they are excited about and thankful for.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8ZCkazrvXtgUUJmTGcxR3JnT0E/edit?usp=sharing

Here is a link to my Review of Literature essay, as it appears currently. Changes at this point have been fine-tuning and cosmetic in nature. I look forward to updating it with some research-based findings, but have yet to complete data collection! Blammo!

1. action research / data collection

My original plans were to collect data for every section of the English classes that I was writing; I was going to have so much, and it was to be so smooth! However, I ran into a buzz saw known as "the overload" and was so besieged by essays to grade at the end of the trimester that I found out it was not only impossible to teach the essays the way that I wanted and intended to, but that I couldn't very well gather data for the essays as they'd just be irrelevant to what I was trying to do. So, I got data from two different classes: Pre-AP English 10A, and Composition 12. I am, however, thinking that if I can extend the period of data collection to december I could perhaps gather data on an extra 2 classes - so that'd be rad!