Forever Is A Pretty Long Time

My Grandma Bailey used to often say to me that you don't have to worry about the folks that talk to themselves, only the ones who answer themselves. If that is true, then I guess folks are going to have to worry about me.

I visited my page and noticed I had not posted in two weeks, and, although there is plenty that has happened since then that I could write about, what should  I write about?  Immediately the problems with portfolio assessment popped into my mind. I heard myself thinking: "Grading those things took forever." Then a voice answered back: "Forever is a very long time." See? Time to worry...

Anyway, last marking period, instead of an end of the unit test and essay, I assigned a portfolio project for the poetry unit. Students were offered various modes to show what they learned in the project: lessons, reflections, original poems, explanations of the poems and, of course, the dreaded compare and contrast essay. When I added up all the points for each section, the assessment accounted for 110 total points. No pressure.

To keep the grading organized, I created a live, self-marking, assessment tool, through Excel. Even with a computer program aiding me, grading these alternative assessments took weeks to grade. That is why I am giving another portfolio project, but this one will be a group project.

The problem with group projects is avoiding one person to be saddled with the majority of the work. Why? 30 projects are easier to grade than 105. Yet, group projects offer even more challenges to the assessor. How do you balance between group and indivnual accountability? How do you prevent one student from having to do all the work?

Monitoring helps. If you're out of your seat observing, listening, and interacting with the groups, it becomes clear who has read and  is pulling their own weight. The slacking student is also easy to recognize if you are closely monitoring. This is the time of the year when the good-natured ogre rears his head. Those who are not doing their daily work are oftened removed from the group and have to complete the project as an individual project. This way, the group is not penalized because they have one or more group members who won't work.

The best part? Grading these things won't take me forever.