It all started innocently enough . . .

622 Views 6 Replies 7 Participants Last post by littlest birds, Apr 4, 2006

lilyka

Discussion Starter · Mar 31, 2006

it was a joke. I forget what we were even doing but I gave my 9 year old a grade. no it started with a "spelling test". which she absolutely loved. then to take the joke further I graded it. and it has turned into this mess where they want a grade for everything.

Is it ok to indulge this? I feel like I have broken something. we have never done grades, Incorrect answers are not left with a poor grade next to them. they are corrected. therefore there is no reason for a grade. Its just silly. I feel like with one silly joke I have turned my children into a slave to the grade. Is there some way to stop this? does it need to stop? maybe I should just go with it. has anyone else had children that demanded a grade (they want it complete with red ink by the way)? did they grow out of it?

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rumi

· #2 · Mar 31, 2006

could you ask them to grade their own papers?

havent btdt (yet) but i can totally see it happening with my dd...

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alegna

· #3 · Mar 31, 2006

Make up fun grades- ah, that is 2 chocolate cookies. Mmmm, I think that paper earns a green circle. Well, with 2 Rs for punctuation, that comes out to a Q.

I had a sick sense of humor as a teacher in my past life too....

-Angela

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PancakeGoddess

· #4 · Mar 31, 2006

Around here, with things like math or spelling, we work together until it's all done correctly, so maybe if your dc just keeps getting A+ on everything, it will get boring quick.

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numom499

· #5 · Apr 1, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by PancakeGoddess
Around here, with things like math or spelling, we work together until it's all done correctly, so maybe if your dc just keeps getting A+ on everything, it will get boring quick.

thats pretty much how we do it, and yes, i have a strraight a student

he still ikes hearing it though

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Brigianna

· #6 · Apr 1, 2006

I would let them grade their own work, if they feel the need. But I think if there's no significance attached to the grade, it gets old fast. They still might want you to give them a tangible sign that they're doing good work, but you can do that without grading.

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littlest birds

· #7 · Apr 4, 2006

It sounds like it is fun--you don't take it seriously so why would it become a stressful thing to them?

My dd liked percentages sometimes, and it seemed interesting enough to do a bit of.

I think grades are simply measurement, and measurement can be really engaging to kids of course. Your "stigma" about what grades can mean as far as self-worth and other things is not something they have exposure to. They have no reason to feel it to be a bad thing to measure their accuracy on something. Why wouldn't it be fun? It sounds quite harmless--I think you should do it as long as it adds to your kids' feeling of engagement with the activities they do.

Even if they got competitive or said something negative to each other about a grade (this probably would not occur to them, I hope), it would be something you should talk through about how we treat each other and not really have anything to do with grades and measurement so much as being kind to one another. If that becomes an issue it won't be because of grades but because somehitng else needs some attention.

Grading should be treated as a game. Like every other interest in such a thing, it will wane as it is explored and understood and "mastered" through play.

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