One More Time

This year I allowed students to resubmit work for a better grade. My grading practices have come a long way since I started teaching. The work resubmission policy is part of my continuing effort to let the students take over more of the control of their grade. Truthfully, the students have always been the one in control of their grade, it's just they don't see that. Even sixth graders, who have been getting letter grades for three years, often fail to see that grades are something they earn, not something the teacher gives.

I was hoping that the kids would see the resubmission policy as a way to get the best grade possible. In my "perfect classroom world" all students would resubmit work until they got the best grade possible. Classrooms are not perfect. In fact they are often quite imperfect. They're chaotic, messy and unpredictable. So I shouldn't be surprised that only a few kids took me up on the offer to resubmit their work.

Even though the policy was met with limited response I think I'll keep it in place next year. Who knows how next year's class will respond? I'm anxious to find out.