So many times, we teachers get labeled as being judgmental when we correct papers. "You just don't like me!", students may say. They may look at you with those mean glares when you hand their papers back. Parents may hound you: "Why did my student get this grade?" However, so many people forget that we're more than just graders! In the article "Responding, Evaluating, and Grading" by Steven Zemelman and Harvey Daniels, the authors addressed this ultra-important topic.
Just as students are so much more than the sum of their grades, teachers are so much more than the sum of the grades we give! Here are some of the crucial roles we play as teachers, as cited by Zemelman and Daniels:
- Listener and Learner
- Adult/Protector
- Coach
- Encourager and Guide
- Expert
- Copyeditor
- Judge
This is so important to recognize because we, as teachers, have to recognize the fact that some roles do naturally come first. That prioritization certainly depends on the individual teacher's philosophies of education, and we all put some roles above others. Personally, I see myself as an encourager and guide first and foremost, followed by an adult/protector, followed by a coach, and so on. I honestly really dislike the word "judge" as one of our roles as teachers because I am many things, but a judge is not one of them.
I may give grades, but it's never a judgment.
That brings me back to the article we read last week called "Papers, Papers, Papers" by Carol Jago. She explained, "Do students become so discouraged by bleeding essays that they give up? Not if you let them know that your red marks are not a judgment of them or their ideas of them or their ideas but of the piece of work at hand". This is such a crucial distinction. Students often feel discouraged and insecure about their work, and being a "judge", as Zemelman and Daniels call it, can be a detrimental role to play. I think you can combine that with the role of being an encourager and guide by putting your judgments in that category. Instead of judging my students, I'm simply encouraging them and guiding them to do
better.
Chelsea, I agree with a lot of the points that you are making about students thinking that we are judging them or that we may not like them based on a grade. I went through that a lot in middle school and high school, because I had a lot of assignments that I felt I worked really hard on and would turn it in and not do as good as I thought and then I would think that the teacher didn't really like me. To be fair, these classes didn't give any opportunities to correct papers but I can see why some students would think the same way. We as teachers need to make that clear that we aren't judging the student and show them that we care about them as students.
ReplyDeleteTeachers do have to "wear a lot of hats" and I think that as long as we can keep a pretty good balance of them, we don't have to come off as the heartless judge, jury, and executioner. I think it's important that you see yourself as an encourager first :)
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