Week 5

Vignette 4: What Counts?

Mr. Sanchez is well within his right to be upset. It doesn't sound like Juan's teacher is differentiating between achievement, progress, and classroom behavior in his grading practices. If he is, however, he did not communicate that clearly to Mr. Sanchez. The teacher's explanation that Juan "just doesn't listen during instruction" strikes me as mildly uninformed; does he really know for a fact that Juan isn't listening? Is it possible to "just not listen" and consequently turn in exemplary work as Juan has done?

I've heard a few times this term that we cannot be graded for participation, and now I am confused about if that is the case for us university students or if this is the case in the Alberta Education system. I don't disagree with having a participation component, but this again is something for which the standards must be clearly set forth in the course outline. As I write this, though, I flip flop. I also do not think it is unreasonable that grades be based solely on learning outcomes. Participation fits better into the Physical Education POS because there is a lot of 'citizenship' inspired outcomes in it, but at the same time there are tinges of these outcomes in the ELA POS also - effective communication skills for example.

I understand where Juan's teacher is coming from and I don't think he's out of line, but it was his spotty communication of standards to Juan's father and perhaps to Juan himself that have caused an issue here.