End of the Year Wrap Up!

 Dear CHAT Writing 1 & 2 Students & Parents,

I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox in just a few minutes.  As tutors, we give you suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.

Grading Thoughts:

Allow me to share my thoughts on grades.  As I homeschool my own children, I don’t give them grades.  I feel that grades are far too subjective, especially coming from their mother.  Instead, I teach my own children for mastery, and we don’t proceed with a topic until they are ready, no matter how long that takes.  In a class setting, knowing where each student is with regards to his/her understanding of a topic is not always possible, so any grade given is not a complete representation of what the student learned or accomplished this year.

Letter grades are a funny thing.  For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well.  For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as people or as academic learners.  I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system.  On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.

When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.

Essay Grades:  “Trigger Warning!”😉

A unique aspect of this grading system is that each student can earn 100% on each essay if they simply complete the checklist.  I find if they have met all the requirements on the checklist, their writing is poised, polished and sounds pretty darn good!  

On the other hand when a student has missed a required element (or two), the checklist has not been completed.  Therefore, the assignment has not been completed.  Therefore the essay cannot be graded.  🫠

When (not if) this happens, the essay is returned “In Process”-- aka 0 points.  But hear me out!  This zero is due to the parameters of the Google Classroom grading system and is temporary!  Don’t get frustrated at this point!  Simply stick with the revision process.  I like to emphasize that the “0” in this case is like the oil light on the dashboard of your car.  It simply indicates that the essay needs your attention—perhaps only ten minutes to sit down, look at your work and your checklist.  Any missing element is pinpointed and very specific.  

The feedback I have gotten from students is that even though it might be super ANNOYING to see a “0” on an essay that you’ve sweated over, it has really helped to force the editing process. They have told me that once they are over the initial shock, the revision goes really fast and, in the end, they have earned 100%--and have an essay they can be really proud of. As a writing tutor, I have seen huge improvements in students’ writing and I have appreciated the objectivity the checklist presents—no guesswork for students or tutor.  You either do the checklist or you don’t do the checklist. By the end of the year, students become very familiar with the mantra:  

Do what you check; check what you do!

Grading Categories:

For this class, I gave points for Quick Writes & Visual Vocabulary, short assignments, literature assignments, grammar exercises, and longer essays. The final drafts of the essay assignments were graded using a checklist that included style elements, structure, organization, and formatting requirements that varied for each assignment. 

The scores for class work are divided into the following categories:  Quick Writes & Visual Vocabulary, Writing, Literature, and Grammar.  A student may have been strong in one area and not in another, and this will be reflected in these categories.  These scores are also weighted; in other words, not all of the categories have the same importance.  The Quick Write/Visual Vocabulary points are 15% of the total grade, the Writing assignments are 30%, the Literature homework is 28%, and the Grammar work is 27%. 

The grade breakdowns for Writing 1 & 2 are as follows:

98% - 100% (A+), 93% - 97% (A), 90% - 92% (A-),

87% - 89% (B+), 83% - 86% (B), 80 % - 82% (B-),

77% - 77% (C+), 73% - 76% (C), 70% - 72% (C-),

67% - 69% (D+), 63% - 66% (D), 60% - 62% (D-),

55% - 59% (Pass), 50% - 54% (Fail); 0% - 49% (Incomplete)

Each student (and parent) will receive an email with percentages and a suggested overall grade for this semester. Though I have had to part ways with the external grade book that I’ve used to send reports in the past, I trust the reports I do send will be just as easy to understand.  If you have any questions, first check Google Classroom.  If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.  

Blessings to all,

Mrs. G

Writing 2 Class Notes–Week 15 (May 8)

 Greetings everyone!

We had a marvelous final day of Writing 2 at CHAT for the 2024-25 school year.  We have covered so much over the course of the year, that our heads are full; but the weeks go by so quickly that it seems hard to think that we're at the end.  

As the culminating event, students have been working towards staging our class Poetry Event.  They all had a role to play on on a committee and they worked collaboratively to make this event a success.  I am proud of the way they communicated, split up the work and let their talents shine as they organized and then performed their poetic pieces.   I was especially touched by the quality and the authenticity of original poems that were shared.  What a talented bunch!

After the Committees met to put the finishing touches together and we had a short class business meeting, we were ready to begin.  I must say, the Ambiance Committee really outdid themselves:  the “club” theme really shone through with the music (Julia), and mixed drink “mocktails''!  Very impressive and festive! Using the club-themed program (designed by William and Nate VanOss) our Emcee duo of Vivi and Ben took charge and explained the judging criteria and the flow of the event.  The judges (Evangeline, Lydia & Sam) did a great job of evaluating the poem and the delivery style–and though it was difficult, they did come up with a winner!  

The top 3 won a beautiful 3-D printed trophy and some candy.  First place won all that and a sweatshirt. (Thanks to Nathan for making those amazing prizes!) 

Congratulations to first prize winner Abby Bochnicek!

Please watch Google Classroom for a link to the photo album from this event (thanks to Caleb R. for putting that together!)

Now that it is all over, I want to let you know that I am working on getting all the grading finished.  I have given students until Friday @ 11:59 PM  to hand any work in.  Final Grades will be out sometime next week.  If for some reason that won't work, please contact me. Look for 2 emails from me:  one that explains how I grade and then the grades themselves.  In the meantime, you can look at Google Classroom to get a pretty good idea of your grade.

This has been a great year with these students.  They're bright and engaging, and they've worked hard this year. I will truly miss them as they move on to their future academic endeavors.

Blessings,

Mrs. G

Writing 2 Class Notes--WK 14 (5/1)

 Greetings!

This week was our penultimate class for the year -- the one before the last one!

We had a lightning fast round Visual Vocabulary today in order to get our last two in before we took the Spring Visual Vocabulary Quiz.  Our words today were languid and florid.  We talked them through and students jotted down the definitions.  This was great, because the vocabulary quiz was “open worksheet.”  What a great reward for taking great notes all semester!

After that, I gave the students five minutes to review for the Grammar Test and to make sure all was in order for the Vocabulary Quiz.  Since their homework was a Mastering the Comma Review that they finished and corrected, they should have done really well on it!  I had them help me correct it when it was all over and then we were ready to switch gears.

The rest of the class time was dedicated to committee work for the big event next week.  As we discussed, it takes a lot of work to pull off a successful event.  When students have “skin in the game” with planning and organizing an event, I find there’s a high level of ownership and engagement.  After discussing how the committee work should flow,  they were split  into groups and got busy dividing and conquering their committee’s punch list.  I encouraged them to exchange contact information.  The theme was decided upon:  Game Show!  I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with–it should be fun!

Their final writing assignment, a Reflection Paper, is due next week.   For this paper, they are to write about what they learned this year, what they learned about themselves this year, and what did and didn't work well this year.  At the bottom of this email is a link to an article about the value of reflection as a part of learning.

Next week is the final week, and I will accept homework until Sunday, May 11 at 11:59 PM.  My experience is that once the CHAT classes are done, students really lose momentum for completing late homework.  My plan is to get final grades out within the week.  

Blessings on your weekend!

Mrs. G

Assignments for Next Week:

-- Any old homework

-- Reflection Paper

–Practice your poems!

–Committee work