Earning or Learning?

Just over a week ago, we distributed first term report cards to students. In the days that led up to this, many of the comments I overheard students say reminded me of the question, "Is the focus on earning or learning?"

Here are a few examples of students comments:

"I have to get the assignment done. I need the marks so I pass the term!"

"I'm already getting an ok mark in that class. I need to spend time studying for the test in the (other) class so I can raise my mark for the report card."

"It's marks cut-off time. I have to finish it before the cut-off otherwise it'll be too late and won't be counted towards my report card mark."

"Whatever...I totally don't know what I'm doing in that class. I'm failing anyways. What's the point in doing the assignment?"

"Seriously, why does every teacher have to give us a test right before marks cut-off? Couldn't some of them wait until next week? I need to keep my grades up and this is stressing me out!"


When I hear comments such as these, a number of things come to mind about these kids.

Their motivation to do the work and study for tests is marks and grades.

Not even the threat of a low mark/grade is enough to motivate some students.

Our obsession with marks and inflexibility about due dates is causing stress for some students.

Sadly, these kids seem more interested and concerned about earning marks than learning.
Is their focus on marks something they have arrived at independently or have we, as educators placed such a high value on marks that we have coached them into this thinking this way?

I think back to the beginning of my career, full of energy but very inexperienced. I remember wanting my students to believe that every class period is important. So, I attached marks to almost everything my students did. This would teach them to come to class and hand in all their work...so I thought! By the end of a term/year my marks book was bursting with entries. Of course, I figured the mark I would assign each student would have to be valid. I'd have so many entries as evidence to back it up.

But what I started to notice is that my students were asking lots of questions about their marks, how to gain more and how much an assignment/test would be worth. Fewer and fewer of my students'  questions related to their learning. Rather than motivating my struggling learners, many were getting overwhelmed and turned off by a lack of success. They were disengaging, withdrawing and some were avoiding class. The impact on the higher achieving students was no better. They were becoming so consumed with point gathering that they were afraid to make mistakes and they were no longer asking deep questions. The constant pressure of meeting deadlines and having their work judged was contributing to leading to anxiety and in some cases caused them to cheat!

As I look back, I realize I was really missing the point.

I should have placed much greater emphasis on formative assessment.

I should have provided greater opportunity for students to make mistakes without punishing them in the gradebook.

I should have provided much more descriptive feedback that would point out to students what and how to improve.

I should have been more flexible with my arbitrarily decided due dates.

When determining grades, I should have exercised my professional judgment when looking at the data I had collected on each student. Data should be nothing more than a guide.



So now think about the students in your class..."Is their focus on earning or learning?"

Why don't students read my comments?

Let's be honest, we've all been there! Out of frustration, we've all asked, "Why don't students bother to read the comments we take so much time to write on the assignments we've just marked? 

There are a range of factors that may impact whether students read all of the comments made about their work, but I believe three factors play a big role.

1. Student view the mark as more important.
2. The feedback isn't timely.
3. Students see no opportunity to demonstrate improvement.

I'll go back in time to when I was in high school and learning how to drive. As a student driver I was offered lots of feedback on how I was progressing and what I could do to improve. Much like any teenager, I was highly motivated to learn and knew that it was important to do so in order to pass my road test.  The feedback was descriptive, specific, immediate and all along remained very supportive. Not once was I graded while I was learning and in no way was the feedback provided in a way that seemed judgmental. I always knew the feedback was designed to help me improve and I also knew I had opportunities to demonstrate my improvements. Because the feedback was so immediate, I did everything I could to apply the feedback and make the necessary improvements.

Eventually, the day of my road test came up on the calendar. To the best of my ability, I followed all of the evaluator's instructions and executed what was asked of me. When I finished my road test, I anxiously awaited the decision of the evaluator. When he told me the result (and yes, I did pass!) I remember feeling ecstatic yet relieved. I know the evaluator offered a number of comments about my driving, however, as much as I am ashamed to admit it, at that moment I didn't really listen too closely to his comments. Why not? For starters, my focus on the result overshadowed all of his comments. Second, because the evaluator's comments came at the conclusion of my road test, they weren't as helpful as they could have been if he provided them throughout the test. Third, I knew that my road test was complete and I wouldn't have to, nor would I be afforded the opportunity to demonstrate improvements based on his suggestions.

So, let's bring this back to our students who seemingly can't be bothered to read our comments. The problem probably doesn't lie in our comments themselves. In fact, on their own our comments would probably be very helpful and offer great suggestions for improvement. The problem likely lies in the fact that the work was 'marked'! The mark signifies that a judgment was made about their work and overshadows the importance of the feedback. How can we blame students for focussing on the 'mark' rather than the comments when we have made a judgment about their work? 

Assigning a mark also indicates a certain degree of finality. If students believe they no longer have an opportunity to demonstrate improvement, what incentive and motivation do they have to read the comments?   Our students viewed all the valuable comments we've taken the time to write as little more than a justification for the mark we assigned.  Why do we too often wait until the end of an assignment to provide the suggestions that students could use to improve their work?

So, what is the purpose of feedback?
Feedback should tell students what and how they can improve in their learning. It must be formative. The types of feedback offered by a teacher will differ based on the subject and learning task it pertains to. It might consist of suggestions on how to improve a draft of a written submission, point out how to correct a mathematical process, how to place one's fingers in order to play a note more clearly, etc.

And what can we do to increase the effectiveness of our feedback?
In order for students to act on our feedback, it must be timely. Feedback, being formative in nature, must be consistently provided during the process of learning so that students can incorporate the suggestions into their work and into their ongoing practice. Regardless of the type of feedback, what's crucial is that students be provided the opportunity to apply the feedback to their work.  This means that a mark should not accompany feedback. Feedback must precede the mark. This tells students that the feedback is designed to help them improve their work before a judgment is made. Students should not be penalized in the gradebook for errors they make while learning. We must provide opportunities for practice without penalty!

What's missing in a mark...

Imagine one of your students sees a mark at the top of an assignment you've returned to him/her. The student may gain a general idea of his/her performance. The student may react with a comment such as "I did ok. I guess it wasn't too hard.", "That was sooooo hard. I didn't have a clue what I was doing!" or  "It was easy!"

While the mark may be an overall indicator of the student's performance, the mark will not...

• identify WHAT the student can improve upon.
• indicate HOW the student can improve.

In order for a student to know what to improve on and how to improve his/her work, descriptive feedback is necessary. Descriptive feedback, either verbal or written, supports the learning process because it is formative in nature. It enables a student to apply his/her efforts into improving specific skills and knowledge before proceeding with subsequent learning.

• increase the student's intrinsic motivation towards learning.

Unfortunately, marks are too often used to extrinsically motivate students to comply with the teacher's directions. Most students will complete satisfactory work but many of them appear to lack passion for their learning. Years of completing work has stolen the joy out of learning. A small number of students complete exceptional work, but even for some of these students the goal is to achieve the highest mark possible rather than to satisfy their curiosity and thirst for knowledge.

Our goal should be to foster curiosity and a love of learning that leads to deep knowledge and understanding. To support this, we should be helping students identify what and how they can improve their learning.

So before the next time you choose to assign a mark to student work, I urge you to ask yourself the question, "How will this mark support student learning?"