Sharp,+Arlitt

The Friedman article highlights ways for our students to perform better and places self-motivation, grit, and persistence high on the list. Schools where teachers have ownership of their practice and standards are better serving their students than those who have to follow a canned curriculum. We Early Adopters foster a culture of curiosity in our learners. But valuing education has to be the starting point.

In the Wiggins/Hattie article, they list factors that affect student progress and home life is on the bottom of the list, much to the surprise of some readers. I have considered and implemented self-grading in my classroom, as well as peer-grading (after the first semester). The students are actually more critical of one another and often themselves than I would be. We start with peer grading, and students have to justify the score that they give their peers using the AP rubric. This has helped them understand the criteria of the assignment better because this is the same rubric we use for all the essays they write. It is also invaluable for them to see how others write. Teacher/peer feedback is important in the English classroom, especially at the rough draft stage. Students have the opportunity to bring their rough drafts in and analyze someone else's and confer with me. Students usually give each other useful feedback but it is a matter of students actually taking advice from each other that makes this a meaningful activity or not.