Grading Policy for Media
This year we are using the Synergy grading program, and using standards based grading. This will allow parents to view the grades students are earning throughout the year. Standards based grading is grading actual evidence based learning, not grading everything, and it does not include behavior. So you will not see that many grades for media. Standards based grading really leans away from actual grades for things and only scores real evidence of learning. Being that media is only once a week, this can sometimes be challenging, and it is my opinion that for media we should be getting away from grades and actually just getting done as much as we can! Assessing is key, but I only see your children approximately 36 times a year for 50 minutes and I would rather teach during that time than assess!
When you log in you will potentially see scores for things like policies and procedures, technology, and library responsibility as well as major projects that we do. Items like these are placed in usually every two weeks. I am NOT perfect, even if the children tell you I am, and may miss things we do. I try to have a score for all students every two weeks, but keeping up with 590 friends is sometimes a real challenge. It isn’t that we aren’t doing anything that is grade worthy, I just sometimes do not grade them on what we did that day, but maybe on a future project or in a week or so when something has been completed. I utilize Synergy on an iPad and can make adjustments to scores immediately during class, so I try to stay up to date.
Much of what we do is technology based, so there will be scores appearing in the parent vue that are scored on the performance that the child has done in class for that day, such as “log in for pebble go” or “log in for computer”. This means that your student was able to log in without any assistance and followed the log in protocol for that day.
You will see some assignments for research projects and writing that we do when in class. These will still show as classwork because we try to complete everything we need to do in the media center. When we complete a large finished project like a Google Slides or Document, this will be a different color so that it stands out for you and is easier to view.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time with questions about a project, a score, or if you need simply to check in. I do my best to track all 600+ students we have, but I am human and can make mistakes. I am relying on the Synergy to do its job, but as with all technology, it isn’t perfect. Get in touch and we can discuss any issues and if you have any questions!
4 exceeding the Standard (these are earned when a child is ABOVE grade level standard)
3 Meeting the Standard.
2 Progressing toward the Standard. ( Do not panic if your child has 2's that just means they are working towards a higher level of standard on the next report card!)
1 Making limited or no progress toward
Mrs. Rubisch (rubispam@wcps.k12.md.us)
National Board Certified Teacher of Library Media
Washington County Teacher of the Year 2000
Maryland Technology Educator 2006
Updated August 16, 2018 by Pamela Rubisch
