Old Habits Die Hard

My class just finished up Unit 1 (on DC Circuits) after 7-8 weeks. I was scoring the first test and found myself kind of upset that the kids didn’t seem to do very well. So I paused, wondering why I felt that way.

So here is the rubric that I used for this test. Note that for Unit 1, the learning targets for Creating Explanations and Problem Solving are Developing, while Graph Interpretation and Graph Creation are at Beginning. That’s why they are shown in white. The gray boxes represent the next levels, which some students may be starting to attempt. The rest are blacked out because we haven’t even begun to discuss those. I want students to focus on the relevant target levels for now.

Out of the 43 students who took this test, here’s how they did:

It turns out that 51% of my students met or exceeded the learning target for Creating Explanations, 91% of my students met or exceeded the learning target for Problem Solving, 98% of my students met or exceeded the learning target for Interpreting Graphs, and 79% of my students met or exceeded the learning target for Creating Graphs.  That’s really awesome! Right?

So why was I upset?

Let’s take the Creating Explanations as an example. Earning Developing simply means that the students are using the terminology from the unit when explaining their response. It doesn’t have to be correct. This is the “throw paint at the wall and see what sticks response”. The question was:

A switch is placed in front of resistor 3 in the circuit shown in the diagram to the right. If this switch is opened, what would be the effect on the current in resistor 1?

The student’s response was the following:

There would be no effect on R1 since it is a parallel circuit. Since the switch is in front of R3, it will only effect R3. R3 can turn on, while R1 and R2 are off. The current and voltage will flow through the R1 and R2 normally, but the open switch will only effect R3.

Whether you know physics or not, perhaps you can see the vocabulary and terminology he is using: switch, parallel circuit, current and voltage. He adds in some specifics that are correct: “Since the switch is in front of R3, it will only effect R3. R3 can turn on, while R1 and R2 are off.” He also has some mistakes, such as saying that “voltage will flow” and “the open switch will only effect R3“. I can see that he definitely has learned something, but the depth and breadth of that knowledge is unclear. And since I feel like we did a dozen labs and activities, 20 practice sets, 4 quizzes, and a plethora of Kahoots and Pear Decks… My first instinct is… disappointment. Anger. Maybe even some resentment. He SHOULD know this! 

This initial feeling can lead a teacher to punish. Grades can be used as punishment. Easily!  I’ve done it. I’ve wanted to do it, even after all I’ve learned. I want to take off points, communicate my displeasure, and make him feel bad (just a little) so that he would do better next time.

But the LPM doesn’t have room for that. It pulls me back to my goals. LPM acknowledges that it takes time for students to learn a skill. LPM also comes from a strengths-based perspective; positive, descriptive feedback results in more improvement and motivation. In this case, they have to use the unit vocabulary in the response. If they’ve done that, they have succeeded in meeting the learning targets for this unit. Only once they use scientific terminology in their response can I prompt them to expand on it. So I wrote several comments like: “True, but why?” and “Next time, can you define any of the underlined words?” I have to remind them that I don’t know what they mean when they use those words… if they add definitions, then I can tell what they actually know. I usually tease, just a little, that I failed Mindreading 101 in college, so they have to help me out by putting their thoughts on paper. And that will be further assessed at the end of Unit 2.

OK, so now I don’t have to be upset. I can see what they can do and what they know. I can give these tests back informed about their strengths and weaknesses, both as an individual and as a group, so I can make decisions about what to do next. And isn’t that what assessments are for?