Randy Wisehart and his team partner at Hibberd Middle School in Richmond, Indiana ask their eighth-grade Humanities students to suggest and defend their own course grade, using a number of instruments including this final exercise:
Please indicate your self-assessed grade of ____, and support your opinion with your work from the nine weeks??specifically, your written work, book reviews, daily assignments, tests/assessments, and projects. You must attach two pieces of your written work (one of which can be your project). You must complete this self-evaluation with your guardian or another adult. Your guardian’s signature is required at the bottom of the document. As you discuss with your guardian what your grade should be, have the following available to support your decision:
Book reviews
- Spelling and vocabulary list
- Writing folder
- Book list
- Final drafts
- Writing list
- Daily assignments
- “How am I doing?” sheet
Use these questions to guide your discussion with your guardian:
- What were your writing goals?
- Did you acconplish them?
How do you learn best? - Do you arrange given assignments so you can build on your strengths and weaknesses?
- Do you need to make any adjustments in your study habits?
- What are the most important things you do as a reader?
- What connections have you made between people and events in your study of U.S. history?
- Are you always pleasant, cooperative, and helpful?
- Do you always try to do your best?
- Do you turn everything in on time?
- Do you use your time well (teachers almost never remind you to get work; you never bother other students)?
When you have completed your evaluation, please turn these things in to your teachers:
- Complete written evaluation
- Writing list
- Spelling-vocabulary list
- Book list
- Your two best pieces of writing
- Your “How am I doing?” sheet
- What have we forgotten?
Comments from your guardian:
Guardian signature ______________________Student signature
Teachers complete this section: We are pleased to support your self-assessed grade of ___ , as you have presented and supported it in this document. We think this grade is appropriate because:__________________________________________
We are unable to support your self-assessed grade of ___ , as you have presented and supported it in this document. A more appropriate grade, we believe, is ____ . We think this grade is appropriate because:__________________________________________