Why I Don't Grade Everything

We all know how it feels, that moment when an assignment comes back and the icky red number makes you want to cry. Now as teachers we brace ourselves with justification for every grade we assign our students, knowing that some of them, and their parents, will protest. Then there is the sheer magnitude of grading every assignment, and ensuring that each grade is fair. Do we really have time to do all that and still have a life? And honestly, does every single piece of paper our students work on need a grade assigned? My response would be, no.

Now, before you freak out thinking that I don’t believe in grades or giving students feedback, that is not what I am saying at all. I believe in giving students feedback for the work they do, but that does not mean that it needs a score attached. As a matter of fact, students can get so focused on getting good grades that they actually are unable to learn the material (Mcdaniel, 1970). I have seen this first hand in my classroom of 5th graders. They can get so worried about failing a difficult assignment that they are afraid to even try. This fear elevates their stress levels to the point that they are unable to learn when I try to help them.

My suggestion is to decide what things are important to give an actual score to, which items can be graded in a more alternative way, and which items can be used as extra practice or a tool to develop deeper understanding. Are there some things that you can tell students to give their best try, and that they do not need to worry about the grade as long as they give it their best try? I understand that there are some students who will hear that there is no grade and decide that they are not going to do anything. For those students, I often have to get creative. I may assign points for participation. Did they attempt the work? Did they do their best to complete each task? Did they offer to answer questions during class discussion?

Let me give you an example of a different way to grade an assignment, and then I will give you an example of an activity that I would not grade at all. One day during math class, I decided to challenge my students. I took a lesson that we had already learned and took it a step further. I knew the work was at a challenge level for them, and I also knew that many would not earn a “good grade” if I graded the actual work. So, I told them their grade was based on how they followed the correct steps in solving the problems, and in their overall effort. They received points for showing their work and following sound math strategies when attempting to solve the far more difficult problems. This allowed students to feel less stress as they did not have to fear failure.

An example of something that I do not actually grade would be their free essays. There are times when I let them choose a topic and just put words to paper. The point of the exercise is to help them overcome writer's block and get practice writing at the spur of the moment. This is not an activity that needs a grade, but instead an activity to build writing fluency and skill. To assign a grade to this particular activity actually would go against the purpose, as a grade would cause the students to stress about spelling, grammar, and sentence structure. While those things are very important, a free essay does not need those items to be perfect.

The best advice I can give you for this topic is before each task ask, “Why am I asking my students to do this?” If you need to truly assess understanding of the material and how skilled they are in demonstrating understanding, then a traditional grade is probably appropriate. If you are trying to teach work ethic or problem solving then a participation score or other form of nontraditional grade may be more appropriate. Lastly, if you are trying to help build brain “muscle memory,” grades are less important and may actually be detrimental to your overall goal.

Reference:

Mcdaniel, R. (1970, June 10). Grading Student Work. Vanderbilt University. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/grading-student-work/.