Marks, Marks, Marks!!!
Reporting period comes around and everyone gets stressed. The teachers compile the work that they have done over a period of months, the kids anxiously await the verdict and parents peruse with beating hearts the report that comes home!!!
We think of reporting with a variety of hats (teacher, observer, parent, philosopher).
As a teacher:
• Our first aim is to provide learning situations for our students to become life long learners. If we can determine how best we learn then can we not work successfully? Now in saying that, school does not always provide situations that best fit our learning styles, so we have to learn to adapt to our environment, taking advantage of flexibility within the system.
• Our second aim is for students to learn to think and problem solve for themselves, question what they are asked to do, how they do it and communicate their thoughts, feelings and frustrations with their teachers and parents (their support system).
• Our third aim is to be transparent with students and parents about the evaluation and reporting process by implicating them in the process as much as possible.
As an observer:
Teaching in intermediate grades, we do a lot of thinking about how we feel about evaluation from our observations of students and our own children. We want to make evaluation real to students so that they feel empowered to make changes themselves…. It doesn’t happen to them, they make it happen!
As a parent:
The report card is a snapshot of where your child’s skills are at this period of time; what they demonstrate that they can do and what they cannot yet do. It is by no means who your child is. At home, you may have the either two extremes (or not):
a) the child who is organized, plans out work, responsible in completing work on time, focused, motivated and engaged. and/or......
b) the creative, intellectual capable child who is more rebellious (“why do I need to learn this! I’ll never use it!”) has more difficulty being organized, has great ideas but poor follow through, disorganized with school materials, gets anxious and shuts down with pressure and heavy work loads.
Both of them are intelligent students who are reacting to school in completely different ways. How can school support different types of children?
As a philosopher
We have to take a step back to look at the big picture. Frankly, marks “do not count” until grade 10. So what is our purpose in evaluating and reporting? We want students to have a positive and inquisitive attitude towards learning. We want them to make an effort to learn, be engaged in their own learning and develop good work habits that will serve them throughout their life. If we look at reporting as a means to an end, we want students to identify their areas of strength and weakness to feel empowered to make positive changes. If we want all those things, we need to be ready to let them make their own experiences, their own mistakes, their own changes and successes. We essentially become their number one cheerleaders, not the judges.
The December report is a snapshot of where your child is at this point in time….. it is essentially our base line for the year. The students can only go forward in their learning by feeling that they are in charge of making changes in their own learning.
We have a broad spectrum of student personalities, abilities and interests within our class. They all approach learning in their own individual and unique way. We are impressed with the connections they are making, the learning that occurs…. So much of those learning situations are not necessarily measured or reported on in any way.
You child is adjusting to a new grade level, two teachers, different teaching style as well as a plethora of subject areas and skills, all this in two languages!!! Quite amazing for 9 and 10 year olds.
We implore you to take a moment with your child and celebrate their successes, help them deal with their disappointments and encourage them in the development of their goals.
The December report card is coming home to you Friday December 7. The students will have had a chance, before the report goes home, to view their marks and their report card, complete a self-evaluation and prepare a portfolio of work to share with you as you both look over their report.
We speak to the students about being responsible for understanding work and assignments that need to be done, doing their best work, putting forth their best effort... basically, evaluation is an ongoing process..... !
Grade 4 & 5 students receive criteria, and examples of performance standards as well as descriptive language for evaluation of assignments and work. Please note below the descriptors used in our classroom
Excellent (Excellent)
Bravo / Très Bien (Very Good)
Bien (Good)
OK (Satisfactory)
Attention (does not meet criteria and needs to be redone or completed)
Grade 4 students will be receiving letter grades for the first time and we realize that many students and parents are nervous. Here are the Ministry descriptions of letter grades (These letter grades are assigned in relation to expected learning outcomes for the subject and grade level.):
A Excellent or outstanding performance
B Very Good performance
C+ Good performance
C Satisfactory performance
C– Minimally acceptable performance
Please note the relationship between the Ministry letter grade descriptions and the evaluation descriptors used within our classroom. We use descriptors and / or letter grades when marking student work, assignments or tests.
Just a few more thoughts to ponder:
• elementary school is a time for students to begin to make the connection between the effort, attitude and work
Reporting period comes around and everyone gets stressed. The teachers compile the work that they have done over a period of months, the kids anxiously await the verdict and parents peruse with beating hearts the report that comes home!!!
We think of reporting with a variety of hats (teacher, observer, parent, philosopher).
As a teacher:
• Our first aim is to provide learning situations for our students to become life long learners. If we can determine how best we learn then can we not work successfully? Now in saying that, school does not always provide situations that best fit our learning styles, so we have to learn to adapt to our environment, taking advantage of flexibility within the system.
• Our second aim is for students to learn to think and problem solve for themselves, question what they are asked to do, how they do it and communicate their thoughts, feelings and frustrations with their teachers and parents (their support system).
• Our third aim is to be transparent with students and parents about the evaluation and reporting process by implicating them in the process as much as possible.
As an observer:
Teaching in intermediate grades, we do a lot of thinking about how we feel about evaluation from our observations of students and our own children. We want to make evaluation real to students so that they feel empowered to make changes themselves…. It doesn’t happen to them, they make it happen!
As a parent:
The report card is a snapshot of where your child’s skills are at this period of time; what they demonstrate that they can do and what they cannot yet do. It is by no means who your child is. At home, you may have the either two extremes (or not):
a) the child who is organized, plans out work, responsible in completing work on time, focused, motivated and engaged. and/or......
b) the creative, intellectual capable child who is more rebellious (“why do I need to learn this! I’ll never use it!”) has more difficulty being organized, has great ideas but poor follow through, disorganized with school materials, gets anxious and shuts down with pressure and heavy work loads.
Both of them are intelligent students who are reacting to school in completely different ways. How can school support different types of children?
As a philosopher
We have to take a step back to look at the big picture. Frankly, marks “do not count” until grade 10. So what is our purpose in evaluating and reporting? We want students to have a positive and inquisitive attitude towards learning. We want them to make an effort to learn, be engaged in their own learning and develop good work habits that will serve them throughout their life. If we look at reporting as a means to an end, we want students to identify their areas of strength and weakness to feel empowered to make positive changes. If we want all those things, we need to be ready to let them make their own experiences, their own mistakes, their own changes and successes. We essentially become their number one cheerleaders, not the judges.
The December report is a snapshot of where your child is at this point in time….. it is essentially our base line for the year. The students can only go forward in their learning by feeling that they are in charge of making changes in their own learning.
We have a broad spectrum of student personalities, abilities and interests within our class. They all approach learning in their own individual and unique way. We are impressed with the connections they are making, the learning that occurs…. So much of those learning situations are not necessarily measured or reported on in any way.
You child is adjusting to a new grade level, two teachers, different teaching style as well as a plethora of subject areas and skills, all this in two languages!!! Quite amazing for 9 and 10 year olds.
We implore you to take a moment with your child and celebrate their successes, help them deal with their disappointments and encourage them in the development of their goals.
The December report card is coming home to you Friday December 7. The students will have had a chance, before the report goes home, to view their marks and their report card, complete a self-evaluation and prepare a portfolio of work to share with you as you both look over their report.
We speak to the students about being responsible for understanding work and assignments that need to be done, doing their best work, putting forth their best effort... basically, evaluation is an ongoing process..... !
Grade 4 & 5 students receive criteria, and examples of performance standards as well as descriptive language for evaluation of assignments and work. Please note below the descriptors used in our classroom
Excellent (Excellent)
Bravo / Très Bien (Very Good)
Bien (Good)
OK (Satisfactory)
Attention (does not meet criteria and needs to be redone or completed)
Grade 4 students will be receiving letter grades for the first time and we realize that many students and parents are nervous. Here are the Ministry descriptions of letter grades (These letter grades are assigned in relation to expected learning outcomes for the subject and grade level.):
A Excellent or outstanding performance
B Very Good performance
C+ Good performance
C Satisfactory performance
C– Minimally acceptable performance
Please note the relationship between the Ministry letter grade descriptions and the evaluation descriptors used within our classroom. We use descriptors and / or letter grades when marking student work, assignments or tests.
Just a few more thoughts to ponder:
• elementary school is a time for students to begin to make the connection between the effort, attitude and work
habits they are developing and the completion of a task (ie: quality)
• it is very difficult to have a clear demonstration of ability and skill when effort, attitude and work habits also affect
• it is very difficult to have a clear demonstration of ability and skill when effort, attitude and work habits also affect
the end result
So, when all is said and done, we encourage you to take the time to go through the report card with your child when it comes home, have a discussion of how we, as a team, can best support your child and also have your child focus on what they can do to improve areas that need improvement. Reflection and goal setting are essential to progress in learning!!
So, when all is said and done, we encourage you to take the time to go through the report card with your child when it comes home, have a discussion of how we, as a team, can best support your child and also have your child focus on what they can do to improve areas that need improvement. Reflection and goal setting are essential to progress in learning!!
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