I may be a minority in this, but I don't believe in the myth of the bell curve. According to current best practicesm including RtI (Response to Intervention) and PBS (Positive Behavior System) both of which I subscribe to, and participate as part of our campus leadership team in implementing, modern education systems must be set up for all students to succeed, but without diluting quality of delivery of instruction or student products. Which is why I made the decision to have my semester midterm and final exams be projects, and not paper/pencil exams. I want kids to show me what they do know, learn to meet a set standard of expectations, and showcase their best work. In my opinion, it is better for a student to show me, through modern media, how they holistically understand Macbeth and therefore Shakespeare's work, for example, rather than show me that they can memorize in which scene Macbeth has his best friend assassinated.
So, imagine my confusion when engaged in a conversation with a colleague, but not confusion in a bad way, like the conversation was unpleasant at all, just confused, as in, "What the heck am I doing? OMG, I'm a horrible teacher!"
Colleague: Ugh, almost half of my kids failed my final. How did yours go?
Me: Oh no, how frustrating! Mine were great, a lot of A's, a lot of B's, a few C's. I was thrilled with how they turned out.
Colleague: How did you manage that? Oh, you don't have a district mandated final, do you.
Me: Well, no, thank God. My kids do a project.
Colleague: Oh, that's great! But how do you justify giving them all A's and B's? I mean, doesn't anyone challenge your grades? What about the whole bell curve and everything?
Me: (...silence...)
I really, truly didn't know what to say. I mean, colleague is the sweetest person, great colleague, super person, and there was no hidden backhanded commenting here, the tone was very friendly and honest. But what ABOUT the bell curve. How can I justify that most of my seniors, who are going out into the world in just a few short months, got A's and B's on their final projects? This gave me much to chew on this long weekend.
The answer became clear yesterday as I ventured out to my parent's house for some much needed quality time with them. The normally 30 minute drive became a grueling hour long drive, so I had some time to think when I wasn't belting out Jason Mraz's Sunshine Song or Melissa Ethridge's part of her and Bruce Springsteen's version of Thunder Road. Nevertheless, clear it was- I started to think like an employer. The truth is, if I give a paper pencil test, let's say with a passage from Beowulf, and ask questions about the literary elements used, or the concept of oral storytelling, then my student friend who is still struggling with English a little bit, might get a question or two wrong because he didn't read the question correctly, or he missed an idiomatic phrase in the passage. Therefore, I may or may not get a clear picture of what he does or does not know. As an employer, the factiods of Shakespearean literature may not come in handy. But, having someone on my team who can look at the perameters and expectations, come up with a plan, and execute it successfully, is a slam dunk.
On the flip side, with the project I assigned, which covered all of the state standards, and asked students to identify one literary element in the text they chose and use it to portray the text using modern media (movies, comic strips, fake facebook pages, etc), my friend did a terrific rendition of Beowulf, turning it into a kung fu styled comic strip. Likewise with my friend who rewrote Macbeth as "Gangsta-Mac: Greed in tha 'Hood," directing and editing the first act in Spanglish with English subtitles. Or my friend who re-wrote "How Do I Love Thee, Let me Count the Ways" as a rap video. You get the picture. My advice to teachers working with English Language Learners, or students with an IEP, tapping into their multiple intelligences and learning styles is a magical thing. So I DID do the right thing. My kids succeeded, and it was no easy task for them. Their presentations were amazing, brought me to tears, but then again, these kids never cease to amaze me.
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