Humanities and the DY/DAN Method
May 18th, 2008 • Categories: Educational
Dan Meyer has a famously-interesting perspective on grading and homework. In a recent post, he offers a scenario of a student (Aaron) who has only attended 20% of the classes but whose grade is a C+. This is possible in Dan’s class because he’s only concerned with assessing a student’s comprehension. In his words:
I chase one metric at the expense of all others: a) what the student knows.
The party icebreaker question is this: what do you do with a student who can demonstrate mastery of every standard on the list but has a) completed no homework, b) completed no classwork, c) shown up only enough days to avoid expulsion.
from comment 11
He adds some balance, but reinforces the point later:
Education is called to more than simple credentialing (eg. the College Board’s function with the SAT) but, when it comes to declaring a kid’s entire year a do-over, lack of comprehension is the only justification that’ll satisfy me — not class participation, not active citizenship, not good manners, not compliant behavior, or any of their friendlier, equivalent categorizations.
from comment 30
What interests me is how all this (the attendance/grade issue, but also Dan’s approach to assessment and homework) translates to courses in the humanities in general and the English discipline in particular. Most of it seems to make good sense in terms of the math classes Dan is teaching. I’m not sure it all fits in other disciplines or types of classes. I’m working through my thoughts, but would love to hear from others in the meantime.
Any comments?
Tags: assessment
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Your timing has me jumping the gun on a post in draft, so pardon my dust.
First, as to homework, no way can you avoid it in the humanities. Whether reading or writing a text, class hours aren’t enough. I’m fine with math homework, too, but I’m very suspicious of problem set like #1-30 (odd) or problem sets which don’t indicate any differentiation at all or problem sets in a class where management is extremely poor or problems sets in a class where time is wasted constantly.
But in all those other classes, have at it.
As for assessment, I have no idea how the dy/dan method (um?) works in the humanities. I can guess: not well, especially the way I have it set up. I think then, it’s best to start, not from a gradebook schematic, but from two guiding principles for grading & assessment.
1. A student’s grade should reflect her current understanding of the course, not last month’s.
2. Assessment should direct both teacher and student to remediation. (An F on “Chapter 2 Test” when we’re in Chapter 7 doesn’t tell us anything.)
I guess those will do for a start. Traditional assessment in most courses fails on both counts.
Thanks for the comment, Dan.
I strongly agree with your critique that too many assignments (homework or not) are given in order to have something to grade and with no real sense of purpose. I also agree that a grade should tell the teacher and the student, as precisely as possible, where the student is succeeding and where s/he is struggling (#2 on your list).
I’m with you on #1, also … the English discipline has both concepts and skills. The student’s work throughout the course should focus on mastering the concepts and skills deemed relevant/appropriate for that course, and hi/r final grade should reflect hi/r level of mastery by the end of the course.
I’m drafting a post outlining the major concepts and skills that English has to wrestle with, and then will consider options for effective assessment.
This is fun stuff. I have the luxury to re-think all of this without the pressure of having to implement it immediately, so I’m taking my time and looking for as much input from others as I can get.
Thanks for the impetus.
I’m eagerly waiting to see where this goes. I have some ideas as well, but I need to stay focused on getting through this year before I can start doing some grand theorizing. There’s got to be a better way of assessing students’ progress in English class. There simply has to be.
In the meantime, I’m glad that top men are working on this right now.