DRUM ROLL, PLEASE!

Grades can be a tremendous motivating factor for some students. However, the amount of student emphasis placed upon these “letters” depends on the amount of importance an educator links to these grades. The two scenarios below highlight the different levels of motivation grades can have, depending upon the emphasis of the educator.

Scenario One: Why am I doing this?
In Tyler Livingston's class, students were asked to fill out Reading and Metacognitive Inventories. Each of us in the cohort created individualized inventories for the students in our group. Previous to splitting into groups, Tyler assured his class that these inventories would not be counted towards their grade; the students were merely “helping out the U of M kids”. Kelly and Michael (my two students) quickly became frustrated with the quantity of questions on the inventories:
“Why are we doing this?” (Kelly)
“This doesn't count for our grade, so can I just fill in any answer?” (Michael)
Kelly and Michael quickly realized this assignment would not affect their grade, making it “obsolete” in their eyes. No additional scaffolding had been provided to fill this gap, so the students came to the following conclusion: If they weren't being graded on the activity, why were they wasting time completing it?

Scenario Two: This matters?
During Intersession, students were under the impression no grades would be awarded. Our class made this apparent the second day:
“Why do we have this packet? We aren't being graded!”

"It's only a few days and we're on break!"
Kim and I worked quickly to squander this assumption. Students were informed that despite popular opinion, grades were being submitted the last day of Intersession. If particular students continued to get poor grades during these Intersession courses, it could influence their future Intersession eligibility. Many students quickly got the message: If they wanted to do the crime and hang out with their friends during Intersession, they needed to do the time and complete activities in our class.