At the ACT conference in Ames yesterday, I again had the privilege to learn from Sarah Brown Wessling, Iowa Teacher of the Year and National Teacher of the Year. And, of course, she's an English teacher!
One statement she made in her presentation stood out to me above the others. She was recounting a trip she made to Finland, and a conversation she had with another high school teacher there. Sharing stories about frustrating students, outstanding students, and students in between, the Finnish teacher was expressing disappointment that some of her students weren't turning in homework.
Sarah responded by saying that, yes, in the US some of our students don't turn in homework either, making it very difficult to grade.
Interestingly, the Finnish teacher asked with a confused look on her face, "Why would you grade the homework when that is the student's time to make mistakes?"
The gravity of that statement has stayed with me, and I suspect it will stay with me for a very long time. Why would we want to grade a student's practice? This article illustrates the concept of focusing on summative assessments for grades, while allowing homework to count only as practice toward an excellent performance on that summative assessment.
I welcome your comments.
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