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Making the Grade |
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A Practical Guide For Grading & Evaluating Homeschooled Children |
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Take the mystery out of grading
and never feel
Mary Pride’s Review |
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Please don't confuse this Making the Grade with Barron's "Making the Grade" series of "what kids ought to know" books. They both have excellent features, but they're about completely different topics. Making the Grade: A Practical Guide to Grading and Evaluating Homeschooled Students is quite simply the best book ever written on this important topic. And there's much more to the topic of grading and evaluating than you might think. Author Lesha Myers, who you Californians may recognize as the author of His California Story, a history text from a Christian perspective, starts off by asking a bold question: "How does God Himself grade us?" She answers this by analyzing the criteria He used when judging the kings of Judah. She next explains why grading is "hard, but worth it," and the "Three Grading Components" (definitions of each grade, how to use your course plans and objectives as the standard for creating grades, and how to use both "objective" and "subjective" grading criteria). She fully explains the pros and cons of testing and of other evaluation methods such as the point system, mastery requirements, narration a la Charlotte Mason, portfolios, and "prepared rubrics" (don't worry, the book explains what this means!). Now she looks at the tough issues: should we grade attitude? Effort? Ability? What about reducing grades for late work? And so on. Finally, a chapter on record-keeping gives examples and how-tos. That was just the first half of the book. The second half takes you chapter by chapter through how to evaluate different subjects: math, Bible, language art/speech/literature, writing (the process), writing (composition), history, science, fine arts, and physical education. A helpful set of appendices then provides grading definitions and scales, contact info for all the resources mentioned in the book, and examples of charts, course descriptions, narration evaluations, report cards and transcripts, and how to calculate a GPA. This all might sound complicated, but Lesha makes it easy. Once you've read her book, evaluation and grading will never faze you again! Here are just two samples of wisdom from the book: Instead of grading them, are we really, at least partially, grading ourselves? ... Are we giving ourselves that A? ... Although we must teach, children must learn ... Grading concerns this second half, the students' responsibility. When we grade, we measure our students against the objectives we set for the course. We measure our own efforts elsewhere ... Grading transfers responsibility for learning from the parent to the student. Objectives may be unattainable for other reasons. To illustrate, say plans for a history class included the following: "Develop a love and appreciation for the rich heritage of our nation." This worthy, admirable objective might be reachable, but it has another problem. It falls outside the teacher's control. Teachers may not dictate their students' thoughts. The more times I look at this book, the better I like it. Every homeschooler, from every wing of homeschooling, can learn something immediately useful from Making the Grade. And homeschoolers aren't the only ones who can benefit from it: if you're a schoolteacher at any grade level, including university, this book could shake up (or give you ammunition for) your thinking. Very highly recommended. COPYRIGHT 2005 Home Life, Inc. · Overview
© 2008 by Lesha Myers and Cameron Publishing. Web site designed by Cailin Andruss.
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