tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post6260064306853221201..comments2024-02-23T05:11:31.034-08:00Comments on Always Formative: Picard, not DataJason Buellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03029995715142652159noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-60853773095502485242011-01-29T15:40:57.556-08:002011-01-29T15:40:57.556-08:00Love it! I'm going to put a Captain Picard pic...Love it! I'm going to put a Captain Picard picture somewhere in my class - just for quiet inspiration!enzuberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15258424253649444449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-32351106227737397732010-08-16T22:03:41.779-07:002010-08-16T22:03:41.779-07:00Once upon a time (this was before the Internet but...Once upon a time (this was before the Internet but after Paris), when I was working for a major national laboratory, we needed to know the density of liquid hydrogen. We didn't have a CRC or couldn't find it therein, so we made a circuit of the halls, asking scientists and engineers what they thought. The distribution of answers was interesting (You should try this! Don't look it up! What do you think the answer is? Ask your smart friends!) BUT averaging would have been a very bad idea. <br /><br />—Tim EricksonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-53852125652375614342010-07-07T11:44:01.768-07:002010-07-07T11:44:01.768-07:00@David Agreed. I think anything we do to distill i...@David Agreed. I think anything we do to distill it down to a single score is going to be an ugly kludge. I've wrote about what I do <a href="http://alwaysformative.blogspot.com/2010/03/translating-to-letter-grade.html" rel="nofollow">before</a> but I don't have a problem with averaging final grades, since at that point they're summative and no longer a moving target. I'm pretty sure Shawn establishes a few topics as must haves and then averages the rest. It's up to you/dept/school to decide on something that makes sense for your context. As long as there's a solid justification for what you're going with and aren't just number crunching. If your school/district established a single method for converting to an overall grade for all subjects/grade levels you're definitely on the wrong track.<br /><br />@meandthedoor I definitely agree that whenever you can offer feedback, without a numerical or letter grade, you should. That's one of my reasons for entering in grades by time, rather than by assignment. <br /><br />The larger issue that perhaps should be an entire post on its own:<br /><br />Philosophically, I do think there's value in a grade as a useful measure to track personal progress. I am not a "all grades are bad and can only be used for evil" person. It doesn't have to be a grade per se, you could use a giant goal thermometer like in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086999/" rel="nofollow">Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo</a> but a numeric grade works. I think the more abstracted learning is, the more you need some sort of external measure to see your progress. So for writing, I can compare previous papers or in art I can compare my old art work. It's not quite as straightforward to compare my improvement in solving quadratic equations without some sort of external indicator. <br /><br />Basketball example: I need feedback to improve my shot. A coach will guide me and I could video tape myself to compare my form as I go. But ultimately I would like to know that my shot percentage has gone up. The grade in this case wouldn't cause my improvement, but I'd need it to know if I was actually improving.Jason Buellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03029995715142652159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-91326885216499914862010-07-07T10:08:55.374-07:002010-07-07T10:08:55.374-07:00I think you've hit the point where you could j...I think you've hit the point where you could just stop marking. Period. The numbers are actually less information than you know about, so why use them?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-70557172319673214072010-07-07T09:20:02.816-07:002010-07-07T09:20:02.816-07:00You had me at the journey digression. Nicely done...You had me at the journey digression. Nicely done. Where does averaging come in with respect to determining an overall grade? It'd be moot if we all used SB reporting, but most still have to somehow distill it to A- F.David Coxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06277427735527075341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-78234385166398233112010-07-07T09:12:52.547-07:002010-07-07T09:12:52.547-07:00We've now been assimilated in the blog roll.We've now been assimilated in the blog roll.Jason Buellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03029995715142652159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5053151003977377665.post-15901808245906887892010-07-07T05:32:54.053-07:002010-07-07T05:32:54.053-07:00Let's just be honest. We are the SBG Borg. Res...Let's just be honest. We are the SBG Borg. Resistance is Futi... I mean, met with compassion and explanation.Shawn Cornallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09620691956505222640noreply@blogger.com