Kirstin Zona, English
Having spent my primary school years in a public school that relied on written evaluations instead of grades, I began my teaching career wary of – and determined to avoid – the homogenizing, numbing effect that grades can have on a student who has learned to settle for As instead of plumbing his potential, or the withering effect of grades on the C student whose idiosyncratic style of learning cannot be measured by grades alone. In my presentation I will discuss how, over the course of my nine years at ISU, I have harnessed my resistance to conventional grades into a successful individualized system of evaluation. My presentation will include an overview of my concern with grades, my initial approaches to grading, challenges I encountered in my first few years at ISU with regard to evaluation, and a description of the various strategies I have developed in response to these challenges.
