Guest Blog

By reading this blog it got me to realize more about the life of Alexander and where he is coming from with his topic. Its not that studyng changes a persons’ creativity so much but that teachers subjective grading style can affect a students success. At a young age it is hard to change your ways. Kids want to be young and little but in todays society and methods of teaching there is a lot more work that is concentrated on class and studying, this leaves students with a choice; to stay young or to go out and play. Alexander mad the decision to stay in and study even though he didn’t want to. His sisters and dad have all achieved a high status and that made Alexander want to achieve a high status as well, not to not fell left out but to feel that self achievement and succeed in life.  Students fight an everyday struggle on whether or not to study or hang out with friends. This is also a harder decision if you are in a different type of major. Some majors are harder than others and all professors are different with their subjective grading so new methods always have to be learned. But from this whole experience Alexander believes that hard work and discipline are important in achieving overall success. Without studying and proper habits a persons life can change in an instance. 

Personal Narrative

When I was younger, school was not my favorite place.  I would rush through assignments, completing them as quickly as possible, so I could play outside or with friends.  This boyish mentality was cute and typical while younger; after all, boys will be boys.

During fifth grade was when I started to mature (on a minuscule level of course). Deciding to take more interest in schoolwork, I realized by really paying attention during class, I could do well on the tests.  Although these tests were not the most challenging, due to being fifth grade material, getting an “A” felt great.  As that year progressed, my grades and interest in doing well increased. 

Following fifth grade came the big deal, junior high.  Junior high is a serious time in a young kid’s life; they feel they are really moving up in the world.  Along with the new cool junior high attitude came an increase in the difficulty of schoolwork (or so it seemed at the time).  Different from fifth grade, schoolwork took more than just paying attention in class to get good grades.  From this point on, everything changed.  I was introduced to something that I heard of, but never truly experienced, studying.  Studying was a very foreign approach to me.  Although new to me, I decided to give it a shot.  After trying studying, I quickly realized I was not very interested in it, but kept trying since I took school more seriously at the time.  Even after studying for the first few tests I did not receive high grades.  Putting all the effort in studying and not getting good grades was very frustrating.  Since my efforts did not reciprocate good grades, I lost motivation.  When complaining to my parents that I was not doing well, even though I had been studying, my dad made a suggestion.  He said, “Maybe you’re not studying the right way?”  I did not understand what he meant by studying wrong.  Being a kind, loving, and supporting father, he offered to help teach me to study.      

Boy was he right; I had no idea about real studying.  He taught me how to strenuously go through chapters and really understand and focus on each and every word and idea while reading.  My father stressed promptness and discipline.  After studying with him, my grades improved tremendously.  I received among the highest test grades in the class from that point on.  By no means was the way he studied fun, but was really effective.  As I mentioned earlier, felt getting good grades felt great.  Throughout the rest of junior high and through high school, I successfully used the newly learned study method.

Being successful was very important to me.   Doing well was now a big part in life.  My father always put a high value in education, since he worked hard to become a periodontist with a master’s degree in histology.  Knowing the seriousness of school, my father once told my four sisters and myself when entering college, “How you do your freshman year will determine your success in college and perhaps affect your whole future.”  If you start successfully, you will want to maintain the success.  This was the lesson he taught me when I was young without even realizing what I had learned.  So, I plan to currently use his advice wisely during my first year of college. After all, following my father’s advice, my sisters did well their freshman year, each achieving their own successes.  My oldest sister has become a teacher with a master’s degree, my second sister has received a doctorate in psychology, my third sister has become a Doctor of Dental Medicine, and my fourth sister is doing well in college with intentions of become either a dentist or psychologist.             

The importance of doing well and taking education seriously bestowed on me the interest to research the subjectivity behind grading.  After all, since teachers control your grade, consequently can control your opportunities and future success. 

Student Failed English Class? Maybe it’s not teacher’s fault By: Roger Baker

Reading this article, the student provides information why the English teacher does not like him.  Honestly, I do not like this student either.  His comment clearly portrays a clue towards why a teacher could dislike him and be subjective in grading.  The student went out of his way, beyond normal politeness, to express his feelings.  He makes comments such as, “Yes, and I also told her I hated English classes…” and “…I told the teacher when I was going to be absent” and “I would have to turn some assignments in late.”

We are not sure if he was a good writer or not.  Taking his position momentarily, if his grade depended only on the quality of his writing and not on other factors, such as, attendance or handing in assignments on time, we can understand why the teacher can dislike him and be subjective in grading.  Although the comments he made may not have been appropriate to say, it still should not have influenced the grade he received if the end result was all that counted.

This article presented an extreme viewpoint with the students not performing under the rules that other students follow and was completely obnoxious.  However, under more subtle conditions, just having a different opinion than a professor could make the difference between an “A” or a “B” even if you were obedient and a rule follower.  This was my experience last semester.

Baker, Roger. “Student Failed English Class?  Maybe it’s not teacher’s fault.” Deseret News [Salt Lake City, Utah] Sunday, May 15, 1994. News Bank, Access Word News. 02/2/13 

Some parents concerned about new grading system at Spaulding By: Danielle Curtis

In New Hampshire, Spaulding High School is trying out a new grading system –the competency-based system.  The new system includes a new type of grade called a student professionalism grade.  The professionalism grade was designed to make the grading system fairer, by removing subjective aspects of grading, such as extra credit, participation, and effort from a students academic grade.  Grading subjectively can greatly affect students in a positive or negative way.  However, the problem I see with the student professionalism grade is that this grade would also be subjective.

The article continues that students should be graded on their knowledge of course material and not by teacher’s perspective of the student.  The new competency-based grading system displays the life long lesson that practice makes perfect, as suggested by Jason Talon in the article.  Student should complete their assignments merely for the purpose of better understanding the course material.  They should not have to be rewarded for every little task they accomplish. Students should do their work for themselves personally and not for their teachers.  This all sounds good, but I believe there is still some benefits to encouraging extra credit, participation, and supporting a students effort, or why do it.  If a student is willing to write an extra paper for a few points, why discourage it because something additional is learned.  I do not believe separating the student professionalism grade from a student’s academic grade removes the subjective aspect in grading.  I still think the problem exists.

Curtis, Danielle. “Some parents still concerned about new grading system at Spaulding” Foster’s Daily Democrat [Dover, NH] Wednesday, September 28, 2011. Access World News. 

http://infoweb.newsbank.com/iw-search/we/InfoWeb?p_product=AWNB&p_theme=aggregated5&p_action=doc&p_docid=13AA595ACC3FE128&p_docnum=3&p_queryname=2. 02/2/13