Revising Power Standards in Preparation for Going Gradeless

Two years ago, I began combining and rearranging the English Language Arts content standards that I would utilize in my courses. Since then, I’ve made developments in my assessment practices, and as I prepare to begin on a hybrid schedule this fall and utilizing grade conferences (where students will present evidence of their work and pitch the grade they deserve), I wanted to further refine my work. My plan to is post much more frequently in the coming days and weeks as I articulate my own journey in preparation for the school year (our students begin on September 8^th, 2020).

Since my first post on this in August 2018, I reduced my eight standards to six to make it more manageable. Last school year, I utilized to the following six standards (reduced from the Pennsylvania Core Standards):

1.     Standard 1: Applying Literary Elements & Devices

I can define and apply various elements of fiction (characterization, setting, point of view, conflict, plot, tone, mood, etc.) and literary devices (similes, metaphors, imagery, personification, etc.) to both my own writing of stories and my analysis of stories.

2.     Standard 2: Applying Nonfiction Elements & Concepts

I can define and apply various text organizations (cause-and-effect, procedural, problem-and-solution, etc.), text features (boldface, italics, headings, charts, etc.), and elements of nonfiction (facts, opinions, objectivity, subjectivity, audience, author’s purpose, etc.) in both my own nonfiction writing and my analysis of nonfiction.

3.     Standard 3: Utilizing Evidence & Research

I can select, include (with proper in-text citations), and analyze word-for-word citations or paraphrased ideas from one or more texts by linking the evidence with my claim to build a compelling argument.

4.     Standard 4: Crafting Focus & Organizing Ideas

I can craft a focused claim (topic sentence or thesis statement) that guides my reader through my writing, and I can utilize the conventions (dialogue, paragraphs, line breaks, etc.) of my selected genre or form (essay, narrative, drama, poem, etc.).

5.     Standard 5: Developing Speaking & Listening Skills

I can clearly and confidently utilize physical (body position, gestures, eye contact, etc.) and verbal choices (volume, rate, articulation, etc.) when orally sharing my ideas, and I can actively listen in order to engagingly respond during presentations and conversations.

6.     Standard 6: Employing Mechanics, Vocabulary, & Style

I can utilize the English language (grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, and style) to craft a variety of sentence types (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) and lengths in order to develop my own voice as a writer and clearly share my ideas.

CHALLENGES AND REVISIONS

The reduction from eight to six was helpful, but I came across some challenges still. In an analysis paragraph, for example, the difference between students providing evidence of Standard 1 or 2 had an overlap with Standard 3 (if a student was writing about setting, the ability to analyzing the fiction element of setting in Standard 1 was tied to their use of evidence from the text in Standard 3). The list below (which I plan to begin using this fall) separates fiction reading from fiction writing (and nonfiction reading from nonfiction writing).

Standard 1: Reading Nonfiction and Informational Texts

Standard 2: Composing Nonfiction

Standard 3: Reading Fiction and Literature

Standard 4: Composing Fiction

Standard 5: Developing Speaking and Listening Skills

Standard 6: Employing Grammar, Style, and Mechanics

At the start of the second semester in the 2019-2020 school year, I had plans for students to gather evidence and pitch their grades for Independent Reading, Grammar and Style, and also Vocabulary. While our shift to distance learning put those plans on hold, the grade pitch for Independent Reading really helped me conceptualize the (now-separate) categories of Reading Fiction and Reading Nonfiction. In addition, notice that I removed “vocabulary” from Standard 6. Vocabulary will now be integrated throughout—it may show up as words learned via reading, or the diction selected for writing, or even some stylistic choices more broadly (in Standard 6). Standards 2 and 4 will differ from Standard 6 in that Standards 2 and 4 can look more toward structure and genre. Standard 6 can look at writing style across all writing, while Standards 2 and 4 can focus more on ideas and development. This may still prove to be repetitive. If so, I would consider subsuming Standard 6 into Standards 2 and 4 in future iterations of my class.

IMPLEMENTING THE STANDARDS

These six standards will serve as the categories in my gradebook (we use Infinite Campus at work). Thus, rather than labeling categories as “formative” or “summative” assessments or “classwork” or “homework,” these six categories will serve as guideposts for our work in developing our literacies.

While I plan to discuss student reflections in a future blog post this week, these standards will also serve for students to reflect upon. They will be able to select one from a dropdown menu and write a brief reflection on their progress, development, and work within that standard. This learning journal will then be able to help students track their progress. I will discuss this more in an upcoming post. However, these larger categories will be more helpful than digging through over 50 standards in our state standards for English Language Arts.

NEXT STEPS

In my next blog post, I’ll detail my process of developing subtopics and learning targets that will be associated with each of these six standards (an extension of the work that is posted underneath each of my previous six standards). Those subtopics and targets will serve as our teaching points and areas that students will gather evidence on and reflect upon. However, maintaining these consistent standards throughout the year will allow us to engage with our learning more deeply and meaningfully.