Participation grades as management tools

Hello everyone,

I've been considering a variety of management techniques that might be useful to you all. I recommend that you investigate "Logical Consequences" (make sure you're looking for classroom management techniques, not general logic/philosophy) and the Fred Jones website. Here are two links that might be of service:

Logical Consequence

http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=behavior&section=main&subsection=classroom/natural

Fred Jones classroom management website

http://www.fredjones.com/index.html

I have recommended to some of you the use of a participation grade as a tool of management.

I give a certain amount of points to my students for daily classroom participation. I have discovered over time that it is easiest to give the points on a weekly basis. I construct the points so that they are worth the combined amount of the students' general participation in class plus all the classwork. At the beginning of the week, I give each student the maximum number of points available, and I leave that point total unchanged as long as the student comes to class, does the work, and participates appropriately.

This way of treating the points makes grading work much easier. I don't have to enter a grade for every single assignment done in class; I simply subtract a portion or all of a day's allotted points when the work is not done.

If a student is absent or tardy, I subtract points. If a student sleeps or is distracted, I subtract points. Whenever students come without the proper books or materials, I subtract points.

I suggest that it would annoying to you and your students to announce too frequently that you are taking away points, but it is essential to occasionally let it be known. If a student came without a book, I would say, "I will loan you a book, but you need to know that you are getting a fail for the day," and I would then deduct 50% of the day's possible points. By the way, I always try to emphasize that a fail is better than a zero. Once a student has a zero for the day, there is no motivation to continue doing anything else; a fail was still worth points even as it was a logical consequence for being unprepared.

I must also emphasize that these grades are not for behavior, but behavior influences the grade. If a student were to talk the entire period, but do all the work in the process, I wouldn't feel justified in deducting participation points (unless I made it clear in my rubric that points were rewarded for "appropriate participation," in which case I might drop a letter grade at most). Absence from the class or tardiness of course become reasons for deductions, but excused and unexcused absences are equivalent zeros. Excused or unexcused tardies are worth varying deductions based on the length of the tardy.

I think it's important to point out that the teacher's perception of the grades (deductions as negative consequences) need not be the same as the student's (rewards for appropriate behavior). Feel free to emphasize the positive side of the participation grade more than the negative side ("I gave you an A for the day!"), but think of deductions as a way of simplifying your grading.

It's just another way of making sure that there is accountability in the classroom that is easy for you to manage.

Jeff Combe