On 8/12/16 1:00 AM, Chris Green wrote:
> Students can get obsessed about grades, and their emotional reactions to them
> can interfere with their motivation. But the solution to that problem is not
> to change the grades, but to undercut the widespread misapprehensions about
> grades.
>
> I sometimes wonder if we have completely forgotten why we give grades at all.
> Grades are not “rewards” or “punishments.”
Except when they are... we don't control this; if grades motivate or
demotivate (i.e., strengthen or weaken responses), they are rewarding or
punishing. Unfortunately. Student obsessions and misinterpretations
overpower my interpretations of grades. I try (to alter their
interpretations), trust me - I'm old-fashioned in this respect. And of
course I don't know when a student experiences C- as punishing or even
A- as punishing (or B as rewarding); sometimes they express an emotional
reaction in class in front of me and sometimes not (or I don't notice).
And unless they say something, I don't know what attributions they're
making about their grades; and these might change later in the day/week.
Suffice it to say there are many students who experience grades as
punishing.
Also, I am at a community college: my students have IQs that span a wide
range. I'm somewhat concerned that tests and homework essays are repeat
measures of IQ in addition to being assessments of the acquisition of
understanding psych topics. I allow rewrites on homework essays, but not
tests; the grading is all a lot of work because I read what they write
closely and I comment on many things and grade their grammar. I don't
want more work. I'm looking for some legitimate - pedagogically
meaningful - credit for students who improve their performance over the
course of the semester, independent of the limitations placed on them by
/g. /
I want something to get these students past the frustration of low
grades, to reduce the likelihood of their making external attributions,
to reward the right behaviors (whether these be related to persistence
or study habits or seeking tutors, etc.), but to do it formally
(explicitly, esp. so students know it's happening) and fairly. I think
if this problem were simple to solve I'd still just be lurking. :)
Thanks, everyone, for the thoughtful replies.
--> Mike O.
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