Laura Ingalls Teaches the Lit Maven a Thing or Two....Creating a "Just Right" Classroom

Yesterday I tuned into an episode of LHOTP (Little House on the Prairie). As in most episodes there was an image of the one room school house. Generally smaller kids were in the front rows and bigger kids in the back. Kids were first sorted on size but instructed on their ability.

In the 21st Century...we sort by age.
For example: Six years old in grade one.
By sorting kids by age, the assumption seems to be, rather foolishly, that the kids are all the same in everyway. Teachers bang their heads on the wall and are astounded by this fact year, after year when the kids are reading at different levels.


Was it tough teaching in a one room school house. I guess. But at least the teacher met the kids where they were at and didn't have the illusion of "age" grades to deal with.

SO what does this mean...
I think it means a shift in thinking about how we group during the day. Perhaps flexible groupings, through the day, through the building. Teachers no longer teaching a "grade" but teaching children.

Until Next Time,
Lit Maven Out!

Do Grades Matter?

It's standardized testing season in our district. You know those tests that don't mean anything but mean everything..

While planning with a teacher she mentioned the book
Report Card by Andrew Clements
The basic synopsis: a gifted child, hides her "giftedness" at school and at home to prove that grades don't matter.

Last night I dreamt I was taking a course where the marks were given online...not just mine but everyone else's, was there to see and compare.

Grades did matter in my dream.

In my dream, it mattered that the highest mark was not my own.

It mattered who got the lowest.

It mattered how many other students did better than me.


BUT...Grades don't matter in the way we would like to think.

They don't make us learn something better.

They don't always reflect what we know.

They don't tell us how to do better.

They don't really tell us what we do well.

So...do grades matter?..they matter to some.
But...should grades matter?...depends who you ask.
Who is the sheriff of grades? and Where can I get a hold of him?

Until Next Time,

Lit Maven out!