Okay, so I have noticed that only one person has even ventured to brainstorm on their Opinion piece, so I will dive in, and hopefully others will soon swim.
If I had to write an Opinion piece tomorrow…I might talk about…
How Grades are Failing Us. (Okay okay, it’s a working title.) Over the pandemic, I learned a lot about “ungrading.” I attended a couple of webinars on my own time. I wondered why CUNY couldn’t address this more, and educate teachers about it:
https://wvupressonline.com/node/844
https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxecyJCVUUMUvTQlphNiAYZvI49tAbamSM
I got this idea when my son first told me that a couple of his English classes had gone grade-less. He said that he performed even better in those classes than in others. He felt more engaged.
I know this would get a lot of push back. Frankly, CUNY isn’t at all set up for this. My approach might be that it would be great to compensate adjunct teachers like me for taking the time out of their work to try to make classes more engaging and to learn the latest issues. I would also talk about how much work this puts on teachers because they would have to re-structure their class.
I would also have to say that, frankly, much of the student population really likes grades, no matter how much they complain about them, and that they are not really given a skill set in high school that would leave them equipped to handle a self motivating environment. In other words: many students are just not ready for this. They actually really like tests and quizzes and quantifiable assessments, even in a class like English Composition.
So: I know it won’t work. But. I feel that we ought to talk about it. Thanks for your comments, and yes, I am probably thinking about it because of Mid-Term Grades and how hard it is to make conference time for people when all the administration really wants is for us to give students a vague “P, BL, U” and not really a human touch.
Hey, I could put that last part in the piece! : )
P.S. I probably wouldn’t write this for just any newspaper. A lot of people have written about this before. I would have to do some research and see if there was some kind of CUNY newspaper where it might really be targeted.
Another topic might beĀ how I use my cell phone. I am less clear on this topic, but I have a sort of cranky theory that by beingĀ an older person, I can, and should!, get away with not always having to text and use my phone. I imagine myself writing a short sassy article about how using a cell phone should have a ātipping point.ā I feel like if I have responded quickly to enough texts and emails and other stuff over the years, that it should all add up somehow. Now, if you write me, and I wait a few days to get back to you, you know: Iāve earned it, Honey. Donāt expect much.
That last one is silly.
Okay, please comment if you have any thoughts. I appreciate it.
P.S. Oh, and part of that last one is kind of based off Malcolm Gladwellās pop culture notion that if you do something for 10,000 hours, you are a master.
