This past Monday night, I walked into the lecture hall and was told to close my eyes along with my fellow students. A dot was place on our foreheads. We were then told to get with our groups without using sign language or speaking. After we found our groups, Oreos were handed out. The group with the most people (and who were sitting in the back), got the least amount of Oreos. The group with the least amount of people (sitting in the front) were given the most amount of Oreos. There was a middle-sized group (sitting in the middle of the lecture hall) with an average amount of Oreos. We started to wonder if we should eat the Oreos or save them until we were told we could eat them. Our group (the mid-sized one) decided we each can eat one. The activity proceeded with a small group of people from the other class giving a lecture. I still didn't get what was going on.
The last half of the class we spent discussing about what this activity was about. When we were told to get in our groups, we automatically assumed that our groups were supposed to be based on the dots on our foreheads. We weren't told to get in our groups with the same dot color, we just have been conditioned to do so. Also, why did the group with the most Oreos not share with the large group with the least amount of Oreos? The thought never occurred to them.
The main point to this activity was to point out that we as teachers need to be careful how we assess our students. It is often said that within the first week teachers know what their students will be getting in their class, but how? Better yet, how do we prevent this? It is so easy to grade based off of how we expect them to do (or want them to do). There are times where teachers make excuses for their students: oh they must have had some troubles, I know they can do better so I'll just give them an A anyways. I've seen this done before.
As a future music educator, I will have to be extremely careful about my grading. I will have to pay attention to not favor one student over the other because of the musical abilities. I'll have to grade them based on other factors which doesn't necessarily include how well they sing. I know I will struggle with this when I first begin teaching, but I will eventually come up with a consistent way of grading.
The last half of the class we spent discussing about what this activity was about. When we were told to get in our groups, we automatically assumed that our groups were supposed to be based on the dots on our foreheads. We weren't told to get in our groups with the same dot color, we just have been conditioned to do so. Also, why did the group with the most Oreos not share with the large group with the least amount of Oreos? The thought never occurred to them.
The main point to this activity was to point out that we as teachers need to be careful how we assess our students. It is often said that within the first week teachers know what their students will be getting in their class, but how? Better yet, how do we prevent this? It is so easy to grade based off of how we expect them to do (or want them to do). There are times where teachers make excuses for their students: oh they must have had some troubles, I know they can do better so I'll just give them an A anyways. I've seen this done before.
As a future music educator, I will have to be extremely careful about my grading. I will have to pay attention to not favor one student over the other because of the musical abilities. I'll have to grade them based on other factors which doesn't necessarily include how well they sing. I know I will struggle with this when I first begin teaching, but I will eventually come up with a consistent way of grading.
1 comment:
One of the most important tools we have to keep ourselves in line is constant self-reflection. It's our responsibility to stop every once in a while and think, "am I being biased?" We're hoping the answer is no, but that's not always going to be the case, so we'll have to be constantly readjusting to be fair in grading.
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