Students Interact With Grades Using a GTDS

To provide his students with more practice in working with numbers, this author has his young scientists take responsibility for tracking and calculating their grades. Students learn the im... See More

To provide his students with more practice in working with numbers, this author has his young scientists take responsibility for tracking and calculating their grades. Students learn the importance of good record keeping, gain extra practice in basic math calculations, and observe mathematical systems in action. At the end of each grading period, the students check their own GTDS (Grade-to-Date Sheets) with their computer grade book printout for accuracy. They then create a graph that shows their overall grade as a baseline drawn with a horizontal line. They then plot the individual assignments and connect the assignment dots with another line. Students then analyze their results and draw five conclusions from the data. Students also look for trends in their performances. They take their documents home to explain to their parents and return them after their parents have signed them. The benefits of the GTDS include students being more comfortable with data collections and analyses during science lab activities and students taking ownership for updating and tracking their own learning. Sample GTDSs and Student Progress Reports are included.

Understand How You Are Progressing

Students learn to use a Grade-To-Date Sheet (GTDS) to scrutinize their class performance as well as to understand a mathematical system. As the author states this GTDS serves to enhance reco... See More

Students learn to use a Grade-To-Date Sheet (GTDS) to scrutinize their class performance as well as to understand a mathematical system. As the author states this GTDS serves to enhance record keeping, analytical thinking skills, and act as a communicator of performance for both students and parents. The reader learns what this GTDS might look like and a student sample is also provided. Students then can graph their progress in the class and write an analysis of their progress to show how they are doing. Having tried that in the past, students not proficient in math have a hard time doing this although it seems simple to an adult. Furthermore, some students may not be interested in this information. This is based on 15 years of middle school teaching in an urban middle school setting.