Reading Standards...the incarnation of the devil. Oh wait, I'll save those words for a different post about the hybrid learning model. I digress; those two words, READING STANDARDS, have been haunting me these last few years since our English Department switched over to standards-based...well, everything. If you look at my gradebook, it's quite easy to see how your student is performing in argumentative, narrative, explanatory, and research writing. You can also clearly see how your student performs in collaborative discussions and presentational skills (speaking and listening), and language isn't a problem either! BUT-- reading, well umm, yeah umm, they are--reading, like a lot, mmmkay.
This is what has bothered me since our monumental transition from a hot-mess of a gradebook to a standards-based gradebook. It's not difficult to set up the writing category for product assignments and skill sets because the standards in writing each lead up to their own essential product. For example, this semester my gradebook will have one assignment (product) for explanatory, one for argument, and one for a research paper. This is the same with speaking and listening. In the gradebook, I have products (assignments) for collaborative discussion and presentational skills. Language skills are also clearly reported in either the writing category or its own category under "Vocabulary Acquisition and Use." The standards in writing; speaking and listening; and language are simple to report in a gradebook, but the reading category just isn't that facile. Most of us English teachers like to read novels as a whole class and when reading those novels we cover a multitude of standards at one time that fall under Key Ideas and Details; Craft and Structure; and Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. In fact, one assignment, like the analysis of a particular excerpt from a novel, can assess multiple standards within each of the categories at one time. So how the hell do I report that in a grade book? Oh, I know--I'll put every reading standard known to man in the reading category of my gradebook and then pick a part every assignment that assesses multiple standards and somehow report that in the gradebook. Right, because that won't be the definition of laborious hell and that won't confuse parents. Maybe I should throw in a few acronyms as well to really confuse people. Ugh...so what do I do?
Now that you have been waiting a whole space in this blog for the answer, I'll give you, well-- a sort of answer. A few years ago I had our whole department comb through each novel and non-fiction unit that they taught, and they used the document below to check off what they covered throughout each unit.
After we completed one of these for every novel and/or non-fiction text we taught, we figured that we pretty much covered all of the standards. Great, yes! We did it. But umm, how do we report that in a gradebook? I figured that when I created a product assignment (summative) in the gradebook entitled The Catcher in the Rye Test I would just know that there were a lot reading standards covered in that test. That was clear enough, right? Yeah, uh no--said my gut. So my gradebook looked really clean for all of the other categories, except for reading. This has been the bane of my existence for the last two years because it just didn't feel right, until recently.
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| Reading Standards Reflection Sheet |
After we completed one of these for every novel and/or non-fiction text we taught, we figured that we pretty much covered all of the standards. Great, yes! We did it. But umm, how do we report that in a gradebook? I figured that when I created a product assignment (summative) in the gradebook entitled The Catcher in the Rye Test I would just know that there were a lot reading standards covered in that test. That was clear enough, right? Yeah, uh no--said my gut. So my gradebook looked really clean for all of the other categories, except for reading. This has been the bane of my existence for the last two years because it just didn't feel right, until recently.
One of my colleagues and I, who love to nerd out on all things English, had a really great conversation about this very thing the other day. Don't worry--I won't transcribe the whole thing right now, but we arrived at the conclusion that we need to stop reporting the standards in the gradebook with the novel or non-fiction text as the lead. Instead, we need to report in the gradebook with the standards in mind. Oh yeah, backwards-design model for gradebooks. Hello--take me back to freshman year in college. We did this for every other standards category, so why not Reading, duh? Although this is how we planned each unit, that's not how we have been reporting performance in our gradebook. This was also the problem with the previous exercise I had our department complete by thinking about the literature we teach and then checking off what standards we cover throughout that literature unit. Instead we needed to think about the standards and when we cover those standards within different literature and non-fiction units. So here is the new activity I have planned for our next PLC. My department is so lucky (insert sarcastic tone).
Notice that I've changed the formatting to have the standards lead, and also notice that I use the guiding question "When is the standard ASSESSED?" Although we may COVER a whole lotta reading standards in one unit, that doesn't mean we assess all of them. I completed this activity myself already, and now I have a better understanding of how I'm going to organize my gradebook. Here it is--are you ready for this life altering change? Instead of my reading category being organized by each literature unit, I will organize it by which standards are covered in that unit. I know, mind blowing yes? But seriously, after filling out this document I know that I effectively assess citing textual evidence, theme, complex characters, and the importance of POV while teaching The Catcher in the Rye (stop with the judgy eyes; kids can relate to a wacked-out teenager). This means that I will have a product assignment for each of those standards (total of three summatives) when I teach TCITR. I will entitle those product assignments Analysis of POV w/textual evidence, Determining Theme w/textual evidence, etc. In the notes section under each particular assignment in Infinite Campus I will write the numerical representation for that standard and the book: 9-10.1 and 9-10.2 in TCITR, so I'll remember the exact standard and when I covered it. No need to confuse the parents with this information. This new way of reporting in the gradebook will make it so much easier for students, parents, and myself to understand where students are thriving and where students are struggling when it comes to standards. This is so much better than reporting The Catcher in the Rye Test; you got a 70% which means that you are lacking somewhere in the reading category. Insert me pounding my head against a wall.
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| Reading Standards Reflection Sheet |
Notice that I've changed the formatting to have the standards lead, and also notice that I use the guiding question "When is the standard ASSESSED?" Although we may COVER a whole lotta reading standards in one unit, that doesn't mean we assess all of them. I completed this activity myself already, and now I have a better understanding of how I'm going to organize my gradebook. Here it is--are you ready for this life altering change? Instead of my reading category being organized by each literature unit, I will organize it by which standards are covered in that unit. I know, mind blowing yes? But seriously, after filling out this document I know that I effectively assess citing textual evidence, theme, complex characters, and the importance of POV while teaching The Catcher in the Rye (stop with the judgy eyes; kids can relate to a wacked-out teenager). This means that I will have a product assignment for each of those standards (total of three summatives) when I teach TCITR. I will entitle those product assignments Analysis of POV w/textual evidence, Determining Theme w/textual evidence, etc. In the notes section under each particular assignment in Infinite Campus I will write the numerical representation for that standard and the book: 9-10.1 and 9-10.2 in TCITR, so I'll remember the exact standard and when I covered it. No need to confuse the parents with this information. This new way of reporting in the gradebook will make it so much easier for students, parents, and myself to understand where students are thriving and where students are struggling when it comes to standards. This is so much better than reporting The Catcher in the Rye Test; you got a 70% which means that you are lacking somewhere in the reading category. Insert me pounding my head against a wall.
This might have been painfully obvious to you and your gradebook--stop rolling your damn eyes--but for me this has been eye-opening. I know I cover and assess the standards but I've never been comfortable with how this has been reported in the gradebook. I think I've found my answer. I'll let you know.
Keep on keepin' on,
Michon