A Teacher's Guide to Standards-Based Grading and Reporting

I enjoyed the two articles we were to read. I really liked A Teacher's Guide to Standards-Based Grading and Reporting. One part that stood out to me was in section 5 when the author's explored concepts of homework. I read an article several years ago and one quote has stuck with me: "We can't expect students to hit a target without shooting some practice arrows first". I wholeheartedly believe this. This article also mentioned how homework should not impact student's academic performance. I feel that students should be assigned homework but that it should not be graded. I feel that if students do not feel they need the practice, then they should not do it. However, if students feel completely lost, they can do the homework and learn how to do it without any consequences. I remember I was completely lost and overwhelmed with homework in an AP European History course I took in high school. The homework was simply busy work. It was hours of vocabulary and note taking in very specific ways. I can honestly say that I did not benefit from that at all. Because of the immense amount of work, I either did not do it or depended on trusty google. I am planning on not grading homework in my future classroom. Homework will be assigned and kids can do it if they feel they need more practice. However, when the summative assessment rolls around, if students get less than a 70% (or some percentage) they can retake the assessment if they complete all their homework I think by constantly shoving homework down students throats, we're doing nothing but making students dislike school. When high school students have up to 8 classes and an hour of homework per class each night, they aren't going to do it. I think that homework is always a topic that teachers will disagree on and continue to find the best way to hold students accountable for doing it. From the article Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning, I really liked when the article mentioned using a portfolio to evaluate growth and reflection. I think by having a student compose a portfolio throughout the year that they will see their growth. I think portfolios are a great final project for students to really see what they've done this year and reflect back on. Sometimes I feel like final projects can be somewhat disingenuous. By creating a portfolio, students can truly see what they've done throughout the year and how much they've grown as a writer and as a student.