Scott Benedict

This is the time of year that all teachers think about that first day and how they are going to start the year off right. I'm no different.

I have really given even more thought to what do grades really mean? Are they an indicator of work given vs work completed? Are they an indicator of correct answers vs incorrect answers? Are they just a number on a scale of 0 to 100? Or do they—or more accurately—should they mean something more?

Having presented for hundreds of people and dozens of school districts, there's nothing that seems to get people riled up more than the concept of the minimum F.

We all know how important comprehension checks are as we are teaching. Without them, we lose guidance on how our lesson is going. Are we going to fast? Are we going too slow? Which students are with us? And which students are lost?

For me, assessing anything boils down to "what can a student DO with what they know?" with the emphasis on DO. So effort and the like have no bearing.

I'm always searching for better ways to teach and numbers are one of those things we all need to teach, but are difficult without resorting to teach them in order.