Chapter 11

Grading is something that teachers will more than likely always disagree on. Honestly, I have always felt that zeros should not be put into the grade book. A student may miss one little assignment and their grade will suffer greatly due to one zero. A ninety-one percent can turn into sixty-eight percent because of ONE zero! I think as a teacher I will encourage students to hand in work late and I will not advertise to students that sixties will be given rather than zeros. If students think a zero will be given if they do not do an assignment at all, they are more likely to simply hand it in late. The book points out that grading scales do not really support the learning goals that teachers have. Wormeli says that students should only be penalized for late work if it is a re-occuring issue. I strongly agree with this. I feel that every one forgets something at one time or another and that it is silly to lower a student's grade a full letter because of a mistake. However, if a student is continually turning work in late, then it is time to have a talk with the student and to lower their grade if this behavior continues after the conversation.