Gradebooks… by Rick Wormeli

So I’m asking some questions in #isd186…   Do we count late work?  How much is homework part of a grade? Do we average points out of points possible to determine a grade?  Is it better if we categorize grades into assessments, homework, projects, etc…?   At some point in a career every teacher struggles with the sacred cow – the GRADE BOOK…  How do we record points – or better rather – how do we record the level at which a student has demonstrated mastery of a standard in order to communicate those results and use them for instructional planning?

These are thought-provoking questions and not ones that our college courses prepared us well for.  So… Here are a few thoughts from respected expert @RickWormeli on grading:

So how do you calculate grades?  Does your software get in the way?  How can you work around that?  Guskey says – if there is one thing he would get rid of it’s using averages.  How will you get rid of averages in your grade calculations?  How do you define what a grade actually is?