FREEDOM....and form

Of course I would love to have freedom be the only form, but if that were the case, this world would be chaos. Therefore, finding a perfect balance will keep everyone happy. In my life, I've seen freedom and form the most playing sports. Soccer is played on a field of certain size and has some conduct rules, but when it comes to strategic plays and competiveness, there is freedom! Both teams can do whatever it takes and as creatively as they want to get the ball in the goal, as long as the rules are followed.
I also see playing an instrument as having freedom with some form. A page of music is already created with notes, however, the tempo and what instrument someone plays that sheet of music is up to them. This goes for written plays as well. Shakespeare for example. Shakespeare wrote a play but how the play is depicted is up to the director. Freedom and form are all over the world and I have yet to see a small fraction of them!

Grading

All of the teachers I have had and professors that I have had have used the grading, A B C D F, scale. There has been one professor that I have had that used the check or check minus system for small assignments. Because of the article, Ranking, Evaluating, and Liking:Sort Out Three Forms of Judgement by Peter Elbow I have changed my perspective of grading. I thought the A B C D F system was the only way to grade. Now that I am thinking like a teacher and have been in the shoes of a student, that grading system, for a lack of better words, sucks. I hated getting graded on papers and assignments like that. I can see how it discourages students. Students will begin to focus on getting a good grade rather than benefiting from the assignment.

I also strongly agree with the idea of "liking". There is a lot more to grading and liking than I ever thought before. I had no idea that liking my own work or not would affect how I grade my students' work. Also, I love the idea of the portfolio. The idea was brought up in class that student would possibly put the easiest papers to correct and or write into their portfolio rather than put in ones that are more appropriate. A solution that was conjured up was that the students are required to put in at least one paper from all types of writing. For example, one persuasive paper, one argumentative paper, one creative paper, and so on. This gives the students an opportunity to gain more confidence in themselves and their writing.

With this same concept of confidence building, having no evaluation zones are genius! As a student, I have always been self conscious about my writing. By having chances to write without having judgement and evaluation, students can gain more confidence and have more chances to correct their own work. This is just the peak of learning how to grade, and I'm excited to continue!

One Observation

I am trying to experience every teaching style. As of this semester, I am able to have both extremes at once. I have had both a strict lecture class and a whole group discussion class. I grabbed the opportunity to observe other students. My own feelings count also, but I am very opinionated and decided to leave myself out of this little experiment. The strict lecture class is exactly what it sounds like...BORING. This class only meets once a week which puts the students in the seats for 160 minutes. Imagine sitting in a cold, hard school chair for 160 minutes listening to a professor speak about a topic that is not all that enthralling. This becomes more of a nap time rather than a class time. Lecture can be good for specific classes and at specific times; however, I would stay as far away from it as possible. On the other hand, a whole class discussion - my favorite - brings the entire class to be hands on and participate. The professor will begin the discussion by posing a question and then the class will take off with the idea. The class can have a tendency to get a little off topic and that's when the professor will step in and guide the class back on track. Students were engaging, having an elaborate discussion, seeing different perspectives, debating, and keeping a learning environment. Students benefit more from a hands on, whole class discussion rather than a lecture. Brains are working when having to discuss and analyze. Someone should probably inform the lecture teachers that students aren't benefitting!!!