What students should do about a 'bad grade'

[ruthschapira]

Students often miss the opportunity to discuss a disappointing grade with their teachers.

 

I recently wrote a post to teens encouraging them to 'work it' when they received a bad grade. The full post is here,

 

Why not engage in a dialogue about it? This is often a missed chance to gain information.

 

Do students talk to you about their grades?

 

 

[Miss L]

That's so interesting you say that. I never thought of it that way but it is true, even in university I will ask, "What grade did you get".

[ruthschapira]

Thank you for sharing your comments about how important it is to dialogues about the grade earned.In my work with teens, even the language I hear them use, as in: "What grade did you get?" reinforces the idea that a grade is 'given' without their input. We both agree, we need more focus on the learning process itself.

[Miss L]

I definitely think that all grades (good or bad) should be surrounded with open dialogue, private conferencing, and class discussions based on the specifics of the assignment. It is the learning process that is important and for students to receive a grade and never be able to have a discussion about it is a negative practice. I like the points that you summarized in your post, I think they all represent life skills that students need to practice as much as possible.

I recently read a post on Dante Luciani's blog that talked about the "bump it up" opportunity where students receive constructive feedback on their assignments and have an opportunity to apply the feedback to their assignments to "bump up" their mark. Although I don't like to have the focus be specifically on getting a higher mark as opposed to displaying their understanding, I think its a good system that represents open discussions about classroom expectations.