One of ways students have and use their voice is during the process of evaluation.
http://www.ethicalela.com/7-reflections-quiet-ghosts-gradings-past/
by Sarah J. Donovan, PhD on January 8, 20
Here is a short excerpt from an article well worth reading about one teacher’s approach to student evaluation. In her approach, students become collaborators.
“Grades are letters that conflate the learning from the entire semester or quarter. I have to assign a grade for my seventh and eighth grade readers at the end of every quarter, and I struggle with this every time because their learning defies such neat, confining symbols, which is somewhat ironic because we talked a lot about symbolism in literature this term. Such is my perspective of grades.
Some students, however, see grades as part of their identity….
Students in junior have been carrying around these identity markers for many years and have, in some cases, committed to this the identity of a perfectionist or failure or resigned to the good enough “C’ or passing “D.” When it comes to final grades each quarter, I find myself battling these identity markers like they are ghosts hovering over and among us. The Ghosts of Grading’s Past.
In the portfolio process at the end of each quarter, I invite these ghosts into our individual grade conferences to see if we can illuminate the narratives they are whispering in our ears in the hopes that I can make space for some new, healthier perceptions of learning and self.”
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