No Grades? Tell me more!

Teaching Without Grades: A year of lesson's from a no grades classroom 

As a student AND future teacher this article spoke to me as I am living on both sides of this. In the article the author discusses how he does not enjoy grading students writing pieces because he realizes that the students care more about the grade than the actual piece they are writing. It makes you think, are we teaching students to get good grades or are we teaching them material and skills? It seems like grades have always been of utmost importance, and I can speak from experience that I often remember my grades on work than the actual work I did. I have had several writing courses that I really enjoyed the process. To me, writing is something that makes me feel vulnerable because I really have to open up a part of me that I dont access all the time. So when I feel I have opened up and then got a grade that did not reflect the effort that I put into it, it is more than disappointing.

I think having students self assess is very important in the learning process. This keeps the students engaged and accountable for their own education.It forces students not only remark on what they still need to work on, but also to point out their strengths. As a student I have difficulty pointing out my own strengths but my weaknesses are much easier for me to point out. We tend to be hard on ourselves, but its important that we recognize we have strengths and they matter.

I am not surprised that some students liked no grades and that some were not as thrilled. Some of the students said it helped them focus more on the work and not the grade, and others said not having the visual of their grade caused them to slack off a bit. That was reflected in the teachers feedback- as some students handed in late work often once this method was implemented in the classroom.

As a teacher I do not know if this is a method I would use. I would most likely discuss it with my students and possibly have a class vote to see if it was something we should try. Just from this article you can see the amount of work that goes into not using grades. So my question is would it pay off to not grade or would it end up making my job even more difficult?