Nate’s Notes — by Nathan WaiteHappy New Year. Happy New decade actually. Amazing how much has happened, and is happening in the past 10 years. There is so much to see, learn from and consider. Here is something else to consider. Encouraging kids to pass their classes isn’t usually a good thing. Here are two reasons why.“Passing” is a term that means different things in different places. It might mean earning a 60% grade, or 62%, 67%, or even 70% in some places. Which of these marks is ‘real passing?’ Who knows. No matter what grading scale a school is using, it is a mark for the least possible learning. It is the bare minimum that is needed to be ok. Is that really what we want to have students shooting for?“Passing” sets students up for long term failure. What? Think of this. Let’s say a student gets in the habit of shooting for a passing grade as a young kid. Just passing means they are theoretically missing 30ish to 40ish of the information deemed important at each grade level for each subject. After 3 or 4 years like that, think of all that is missing in background information needed to learn more advanced ideas and topics, to be able to perform and understand more complicated tasks. It gets pretty tough. So what is the alternative. Getting in the habit of focusing on what students are learning and able to do is a good start. Instead of being focused on the number that reports a student’s grade, we can focus on asking them what they are learning, what they are doing, not what they are getting. Getting implies something is given by someone in authority. Learning and doing implies personal abilities and growth and shows individual accountability. Always encouraging students to be their best, rather than make a certain mark is the way to go.Like they say on the AT&T commercials, ‘OK is not OK.’ Helping kids see that perspective might be the most important thing we can help them learn in 2020.Support local, independent news – contribute to The Fallon Post, your non-profit (501c3) online news source for all things Fallon. Never miss the local news -- read more on The Fallon Post home page.
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