My class and I had a very interesting discussion today about whether I should grade the book groups. They were split about half and half as to whether they wanted it graded so we moved on to how to grade. We opened a Google doc and one of the guys typed the ideas that came up. It became an animated discussion as we gradually moved to what would be graded. I want to make sure they have read the book, but not just to have got it done but to have engaged with it as well. I was trying to emphasise that it wasn't the level of understanding I was interested in but the personal interaction with the novel. One student couldn't handle this and one of his hang-ups was the fear that he would be graded by comparing his understanding to another student's understanding (I assured him this wouldn't happen).
Overall, this was a useful exercise as it made my students reflect on what and why they were reading the novel; what the grade was being given for and gave them ownership of the grading.
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