Informes - A New Approach to Grading

This week students did not come to school.  It was the end of the first term and so they had a break while the teachers spent the week completing grades.  For some people this post might be SUPER boring, but I thought others might be interested in the unique way grades are done at my school here in Colombia.

At Gimnasio La Montaña (GLM) students do not receive a letter grade or a number grade.  There is no such thing as an A or an F, an 85 or a 65.  At GLM, the report cards that students and parents receive are very detailed.  Students are still given a rating of Superior, High, Basic, or Low but these ratings are much more subjective.  For every course the student takes, the report lists the large objectives or learning goals and the individual indicators or skills.  For every student, for every indicator, teachers have to determine at what level the student is able to perform the skill and then provide feedback explaining the strengths and weaknesses the student is demonstrating for each overall objective.  Additionally, as teachers we then provide general feedback about each student's behavior and socialization in the class.  It is a LOT of work but after completing reports on each of my 113 students,
I have a very clear understanding of each my students and their needs for this next term.  It is truly amazing.

In addition to the valuable information that these reports provide to students, parents, and teachers, there is great bonding that takes place among teachers during this week.  All our desks are in one large room.  Normally we are all coming and going, following our individual teaching schedules and there is limited socialization between the teachers during the work week.  During this week of grading we are all in it together.  For 8 hours a day, for 5 days, we are all plugging away at this important task, and while it is an arduous, time-consuming activity, we know that we are not alone.  On Friday, we celebrated our work by having a pot-luck breakfast with fruit salad, meats, cheeses, breads, marmalade, and more.  For the first hour of the day, we all just sat around a table and told jokes and laughed and relaxed.

Overall, I've learned more clearly the value of objective tracking on a new level.  It is something that we talked about all the time in the United States but it was always at a very numerical, black and white, objective level.  Here the performance of each student, for each objective is know at a deeper level.  The reports are descriptive and provide suggestions for how the student can improve.  This is something that "80% mastery of objectives" or an A in the class simply does not offer.  Awesome learning experience.