Why Don’t You Just Tell Me What Grade You Want? Posted on January 13, 2014 by A+ Brooke Lester, CuratorWant an “A”? Okay. Shake on it. In “contract grading,” the student and instructor agree at the outset what grade the student is going for, and what is needed to earn that grade. Of course, this could describe the point of many syllabi. What distinguishes “contract grading” (at least the examples I have seen) is that the student decides which assignments she will do and which assignments she won’t do. Also, in most examples I have seen, the work is assessed on a “satisfactory/unsatisfactory” basis. I have been looking closely at “contract grading,” and am planning to implement some version of it for my 2014–15 courses…
“I know it when I see it”: Pedagogical Scaffolding—2 of 2 Posted on July 23, 2013 by Jane S. Webster“I know a good one when I see it.” These words haunted my experience as an undergraduate student. No doubt my professors intended to reassure me that they had some reasonable expectations of my work product, but they failed to enlighten me what those expectations might actually be. I groped around in the dark until I would accidently get it right. I was an anxious mess. I vowed to let my students know the secrets of success right from the start. But what is the best and easiest way to do it?