6th Grade Week 2

I had my first group of Choice 6ths this morning. The difference in the enthusiasm and concentration in many of these kids is amazing. I had several kids who, for pretty much the whole first trimester were more interested in talking and would actually rather sit and do nothing than try to do the assignment that we were working on. It's a different story now. Almost all the kids (there were maybe 2 today that weren't engaged to the same level as the others) were working and excited about their work. Love it.

I also found out that this is the grade where parents start freaking out over grades. The classroom teacher of this class mentioned to me that several parents had questioned her as to why their kid got a "2" in Art on the report card. First of all, "2" means that their child "Partially meets standards." How vague is that? When I began grading in this "1-4" way, I decided that a kids would have to solidly meet the standard for them to get a "3". If there was any question, it had to be a 2. It was hard sometimes to stick to that, because I like a lot of the kids. But a big thing for grades was effort. If I feel that the student was not putting in effort, that is a big deal. But I have a feeling that concern is drastically changing, at least at this level, with allowing the kids Choice.