So here is a slightly more in-depth explanation to my new grading practice in Math 11.
Here is the section taken directly from the course outline I provided to everyone in class.
Grades
In this class you will earn credits for things you do. Your grade will be dependent on how many credits you earn by the time you reach the end of the semester. What follows is how many credits are necessary to earn a particular grade.
The attached sheet gives details on how you can earn credits as well as how you can lose credits. All credits are tracked on the Class Dojo website (https://www.classdojo.com/) and smartphone app.
My reason for marking this way is quite simple. It mirrors many things students would encounter in life outside of school. For instance, the idea of getting credits (or as I refer to it, getting paid) for doing something is basically what our entire lives are built on. You do work you get paid.
The idea of starting at 0 is common place in a lot of things as well, most notably games. Most games you start with nothing and work your way up by doing stuff. You do something in a game and you often get rewarded if it's completed.
The idea of starting at 0 is common place in a lot of things as well, most notably games. Most games you start with nothing and work your way up by doing stuff. You do something in a game and you often get rewarded if it's completed.
I based the credit requirements on a lot of factors, how many days of school, the number of assignments, labs, projects and tests I would give as well as the number of achievements. I left a little room for flexibility and added the idea of overtime assignments to make up or gain extra credits (what a novel idea, extra pay for extra work). I also only took account one block per day when calculating the credits based on days and since we have a double block day once a week, the students have the potential to earn 6 credits for that day instead of the usual 3.
Below is a short sampling of what students can do to get credits
and listed here are things students can do to lose credits
I tried to mirror the losses to things that might reflect a workplace. So I keep referring to if you go to work late you make less, Similarly if you leave work early you make less. Test rewrites were meant to mirror tests you take outside of school like driving tests and professional qualifying tests. They all require a fee to write and if you write them multiple times you have to pay the fee multiple times. I also know many work places have negative consequences surrounding inappropriate technological use or disrespect towards employees, employers or customers.
Disrespect
-1 per incident
One of the neat things about doing this is that it actually meets a few of the Prescribed Learning Outcomes for this class.
- C2 - Solve problems involving personal budgets
- The students have an actual income and can budget it appropriately. They have something they have to save towards (a grade) and have expenses (test rewrites, lates, leaving early, etc)
- E1 - Solve problems that involve creating and interpreting graphs
- ClassDojo does a great job of displaying their data in a nice circle graph that I can use to run analytic exercises with the students once we have accumulated enough data.
- C1 - Analyze puzzles and games that involve numerical reasoning using problem-solving strategies.
- The whole class is now a game involving numbers and it's up to them to solve it,
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