Power Dynamics: Grades and Writing (For 11/22/17)

For this week, I explored two blog posts from different blogs of my own interest. The first is from  Cult of Pedagogy titled, "Could You Teach Without Grades?" I was actually expecting this to be a traditional written post, but the majority of its content came from a 53 minute podcast episode. This didn't bother me though, considering how much I enjoyed the last podcast we got to listen to earlier in the semester. In addition to that, I was too interested in this hot topic have hearing LC's little secret about not grading papers.

Overall, the podcast is about one teachers journey from going grade-less. Starr Sackstein, a teacher of 13 years, made this move with her high school students in a public prep school in the Bronx. After listening to this podcast, I feel like I'm much less intimidating by considering this approach in my own way. There were a plethora of golden nuggets, so for the sake of attempting  a way of reflecting on my readings, I'm going to tackle my thoughts via insightful bullet points

• "Once you put a grade on something, the learning stops."
• I can't remember if this directly came from Sackstein or someone who inspired her, but damn did this seem to ring true in most traditional teaching cases. I mean the only exception I thought of was when students are given the opportunity to revise papers, but then again, a lot of the comments and markings that teachers leave are these revisions and edits that students should be doing on their own. So yeah, I can see how the learning stops, even when we might think we're keeping it going
• teachers must separate behavior & achievement
• This distinction made the shitty dynamic of traditional grades much clearer for me. Because if we want students to be achieving these standards that we set, why is the grading system not reflecting that? If we really sit down and look at the way school works now (and has worked for a long time in this country), it's all about compliance. You do the work, you get the grade. However, if student achievement is the ultimate goal, why are two totally different students who happen to "meet standard" getting the same grade if the difference between them is that one is hardworking and the other is slacking off and is good at pulling things out of his/her ass at the last minute? When Sackstein gave this example of the two students, I felt like the lightbulb in my head exploded with insight.
• prioritizing  communication
• One of the most essential aspects that drove a lot of the successes in Sackstein's classroom was her ability to constantly exchange feedback with students, parents, and administration. I was shocked to hear that the principal of her school was supportive of her when she first started this journey. In addition to that, I found her use of making Youtube videos to answer parent questions and concerns resourceful and an effective new way to open up the doors of communication to the families of the students. But most of, I found her continuous conferencing and conversation with her students inspiring, especially considering that she has 5 completely different preps and class sizes maxing out at 30 students! Plus, being a parent on top of that!? Man, this teacher is a warrior.

The second blog post I read (yes, actually got to read words this time) was from the Writers Who Care blog titled, "Power Dynamics: Writing Up, Writing Down, Writing Across." Finding this reading turned out to be perfect timing with the "Voices in the Margins" assignment, seeing that when teachers comment on student writing, we're writing down. Before I get into it more, basically these directional idea of writing have to do with the relationship of power between the author and the audience, because depending on the audience, the author is not always the authority. In the case of most traditional writing in schools, particularly essays and standardized writing in exams, students are writing up to figures of power. However, until this reading, I never realized how little students get chances to write across, say to peers or other people whom are equal in terms of their power, whether that be status (student to student) or levels of knowledge. 

Moving forward, I think that I am going to try and best incorporate different opportunities for my students to practice their writing in all different directions. I think this is a crucial way for incoming teachers like myself to practice at this stuff because I can already see it parallel with social justice teaching. Also, I can't get enough of this taboo of no grades, definitely more reading and reflecting on that to come too!

Also, the links to the blog posts if you want to take a read yourself!

https://writerswhocare.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/power-dynamics-writing-up-writing-down-writing-across/

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/starr-sackstein/