very interesting, caused me to really think about what I am doing

holaolah: How do you feel about it?

GingerTPLC I changed my grading practices DRASTICALLY several years ago.

I sincerely believe that the students grade HAS to reflect what they KNOW. Not if they are lazy, difficult, irresponsible, etc.

I don't give 0's for incomplete assignments. They MUST do something to show me what they know. A 0 lets students off the hook too easy!

Parents always ask "why does x have a c" and I can easily explain because that is what he/she KNOWS. Not that they missed x assignments

It takes the conversation away from behavior and lets us focus on what we can do to help the student be successful in my class.

Of course the conversation often does go to the fact that the student needs to PRACTICE more (meaning DO HW)

but the conversation never gets away from what the student know and really parents can't argue with that!

P.S. if student absolutely refuses to do ANYTHING that I can objectively grade I give 50%

holaolah: I'm liking your thinking so far. What's your justification for the 50% for nothing?

I have found that given all other factors a 50% doesn't really change the students real grade. It shows the student and paren

that I can't assess what the student knows since she wouldn't complete the assignment (I'd be happy to change the 50% if they completed it)

It isn't a hole so deep that the student can't recover. The 50% is mostly just a wake up call to students and parents to start a dialogue

about the academics of the class - not the students behavior.

holaolah: Not bad! You use consequences and not punishment. Focused on growth, not making yourself feel better about a kid's misbehavior

I'm also probably overly hopeful that even though a student wasn't successful at an assignment they learned SOMETHING!

When a kid doesn't turn something in for us (knowing, of course we're in a different situation), they're not finished. They don't get to

A zero means they learned NOTHING! How depressing!

call the year finished until they're finished. That being said, it's not about worksheets and assignments, but about projects that demo what

they learned. We're very similar in our approaches.

It seems so. For me it really wasn't about the grading and the rubrics...it is about a change in the way I thought student learning