This is my goodbye to Candlestick Park post.
The Niners are playing the Falcons tonight. It's the last game ever at Candlestick Park. The over/under is 46.5. I took the over because the Niners are going to light it up.
I'd like to start with my most favorite Niners of all-time. In no particular order, they are Bill Walsh, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Terrell Owens, Deion Sanders, Vernon Davis, Frank Gore, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Ken Norton Jr., and Mike Singletary.
This is it for me with the Niners. Yes, I did leave them to go to the Super Bowl with Jerry Rice and the Raiders, but even so, the Niners remained my second favorite (or tied for first favorite team with the Raiders). After tonight's game, the Niners are going to be like the Cowboys and the Giants. A new stadium should have been built in San Francisco, not Santa Clara. The Niners are no longer the San Francisco Forty Niners, rather, they are the Santa Clara Forty Niners. Just like the Giants are (or should be officially named) the New Jersey Giants and the Cowboys are (or should be officially named) the Arlington Cowboys. If I was the NFL commissioner, every team would be named after the city they actually play in, or be forced to stay and play in the city the team represents. I'll never go to Santa Clara for a Niners game. I'm not spending gas, lodging, parking, food, tickets, etc. Santa Clara is soooooo far away. If I want to go to Santa Clara for anything, it would be Great America. I think the seat licensing for the new stadium is ridiculous too.
I'll end with my most favorite Candlestick memories (again, in no particular order):
1) Niners v. Raiders pre-season. August 20, 2011. Yes, I wore my Warren Sapp Raiders away jersey and my friend and SF native, Ronnie, wore a Terrell Owens Niners home jersey. Even though there were fights and gunfire, we had a great time! I saw Frank Gore give a kid his gloves in the third quarter.
2) Niners v. Rams. October 6, 2002. Niners win 37-13. Best tailgate ever, ate what turned out to be a "bad burger" with my friend Peaches on the BBQ.
3) Giants v. Diamondbacks. May 29, 2001. My friends and I sat in the bleachers. The tickets were $8. Even though the Giants lost in the 18th inning, we were happy because we basically got two games for the price of one. There was also a red-headed streaker who got pretty far in his attempt to run across the field. Late in the game someone in the bleachers yelled, "Kids run the bases after the game!"
Some of my best memories of my life were at Giants night games, wearing my Giants beanies at Candlestick. I never left a game early. A Giant's night game at Candlestick was always the best time ever.
Goodbye Candlestick. Thanks for the memories. The Oakland Coliseum is where I'll make the rest of mine w/ the Raiders, Warriors and A's, exactly how and where major league sports teams play.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Standards Based Report Cards v. Letter Grades (Game On)
I have been waiting to write this post since August. I'll probably need to revise it at some point. I'll state my opinion at the beginning of this post. That way, if you are no longer interested, you won't end up wasting your time. (Kinyatta, stop reading now.) I think all teachers, K-12, should use standards based report cards. I feel so much better, just having typed that! My voice has been heard! That's all people really want half the time anyways, right? LOL, I digress.
Five years ago, I was on a committee that created a school district's elementary (K-6) Standards Based Report Card. It was technically a "STRANdards Based Report Card," because when read, it only listed strands, not specific standards. To me, a Standards Based Report Card is only such if ALL the standards are listed, at least core standards anyway. The report card committee that I was on lasted two years. Every time the committee met during year two, I would make one request, "Can we please list all core standards on the report card?" It never happened. I was told the document would be too long, parents wouldn't understand it, etc. This type of reasoning doesn't transfer anywhere else in the real world. For example, when I take my car to get serviced, the dealer doesn't tell me, "I just printed out parts of the report because you aren't a mechanic and you wouldn't understand it." Or, "I want to save paper, so I'm only printing out half of the report." Doctors and lawyers don't operate this way with their clients either. I think a lot of the undermining that goes on in the teaching profession is done by ourselves. We are to blame- either directly or indirectly.
The district provided a lot of informative documents for teachers about standards based reporting and education for parents as well. At one meeting, we were deciding if we should have a 3- meets standards and a 4- exceeds standards. We decided to go with the 3 and label it "meets and/or exceeds standards." I thought it was a good choice. It took me about one year to understand that I could not relate letter grades to meeting/exceeding, approaching, or below standard. In other words, a 3 does not equal an A, nor does 2 equal a C, and 1 does not equal an F. What does an "A" tell a parent or a student? In my opinion- nothing!
In a single subject, what does an A, B, C, D, or F mean or even represent? I teach soooooooo many standards that an A means nothing to me. Maybe the A represents that the student turns in his or her homework and classwork consistently. Maybe the A represents that the student tests well. I don't really know how a letter grade associated with each subject is more informative than assessing and reporting out on the specific standard. And what about the student who turns in all their homework, yet fails every type of assessment - they get a B? What have they learned? Where are they at in terms of mastering the standard? What is going on at home during homework?
Here is an example from 6th grade math: "CCSS.Math.6.NS.B.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation." This is how I would assess the standard: I would look at data from Edusoft and Renaissance Place, as well as work done in class by the student. My definition of fluency is 85% and up. If the data shows the student does all of these operations with decimals with what I have defined as fluency, that student would get a 3. If the student adds decimals fluently, but is not able to fluently subtract, multiply or divide them, the student would get a 2, and consider the student's mastery of that standard as approaching, since the student is at least able to add decimals. If a student is not able to fluently complete any of the operations with decimals, I would give them a 1- below grade level standards. Standards are black and white. It's kind of like deciding if a number is odd or even. It is or it isn't. A student can either do the standard (3), kind of do the standard (2), or can't at all (1).
At this point you might be asking, "Where is this coming from?" To make a long story short, I switched schools. I'm back to letter grades. I miss my standards based report card, dearly.
I see the issue of standards based reporting as a glacier. As Eloise would say, at the "tippy top" of the glacier there exist the letter grades. However, I recommend traveling to the bottom of the glacier, where the glacier itself is colder and bigger than anyone could imagine. Could a high school GPA be calculated using a standards based report card? The answer is yes. What role does secondary grading have in elementary grading? I always asked myself if I was preparing students for the reality of letter grades for their transition to junior high. I don't think I was, but I was able to accurately determine their progress with mastering standards.
If anyone LOVES their letter grades, I'd LOVE to hear from you. I'm interested in your perspective. Why are people sooooooo attached to letter grades? When my last school switched from letter grades to standards, there was a lot of push back from parents, students and teachers. Why? What is the reasoning?
Five years ago, I was on a committee that created a school district's elementary (K-6) Standards Based Report Card. It was technically a "STRANdards Based Report Card," because when read, it only listed strands, not specific standards. To me, a Standards Based Report Card is only such if ALL the standards are listed, at least core standards anyway. The report card committee that I was on lasted two years. Every time the committee met during year two, I would make one request, "Can we please list all core standards on the report card?" It never happened. I was told the document would be too long, parents wouldn't understand it, etc. This type of reasoning doesn't transfer anywhere else in the real world. For example, when I take my car to get serviced, the dealer doesn't tell me, "I just printed out parts of the report because you aren't a mechanic and you wouldn't understand it." Or, "I want to save paper, so I'm only printing out half of the report." Doctors and lawyers don't operate this way with their clients either. I think a lot of the undermining that goes on in the teaching profession is done by ourselves. We are to blame- either directly or indirectly.
The district provided a lot of informative documents for teachers about standards based reporting and education for parents as well. At one meeting, we were deciding if we should have a 3- meets standards and a 4- exceeds standards. We decided to go with the 3 and label it "meets and/or exceeds standards." I thought it was a good choice. It took me about one year to understand that I could not relate letter grades to meeting/exceeding, approaching, or below standard. In other words, a 3 does not equal an A, nor does 2 equal a C, and 1 does not equal an F. What does an "A" tell a parent or a student? In my opinion- nothing!
In a single subject, what does an A, B, C, D, or F mean or even represent? I teach soooooooo many standards that an A means nothing to me. Maybe the A represents that the student turns in his or her homework and classwork consistently. Maybe the A represents that the student tests well. I don't really know how a letter grade associated with each subject is more informative than assessing and reporting out on the specific standard. And what about the student who turns in all their homework, yet fails every type of assessment - they get a B? What have they learned? Where are they at in terms of mastering the standard? What is going on at home during homework?
Here is an example from 6th grade math: "CCSS.Math.6.NS.B.3 Fluently add, subtract, multiply, and divide multi-digit decimals using the standard algorithm for each operation." This is how I would assess the standard: I would look at data from Edusoft and Renaissance Place, as well as work done in class by the student. My definition of fluency is 85% and up. If the data shows the student does all of these operations with decimals with what I have defined as fluency, that student would get a 3. If the student adds decimals fluently, but is not able to fluently subtract, multiply or divide them, the student would get a 2, and consider the student's mastery of that standard as approaching, since the student is at least able to add decimals. If a student is not able to fluently complete any of the operations with decimals, I would give them a 1- below grade level standards. Standards are black and white. It's kind of like deciding if a number is odd or even. It is or it isn't. A student can either do the standard (3), kind of do the standard (2), or can't at all (1).
At this point you might be asking, "Where is this coming from?" To make a long story short, I switched schools. I'm back to letter grades. I miss my standards based report card, dearly.
I see the issue of standards based reporting as a glacier. As Eloise would say, at the "tippy top" of the glacier there exist the letter grades. However, I recommend traveling to the bottom of the glacier, where the glacier itself is colder and bigger than anyone could imagine. Could a high school GPA be calculated using a standards based report card? The answer is yes. What role does secondary grading have in elementary grading? I always asked myself if I was preparing students for the reality of letter grades for their transition to junior high. I don't think I was, but I was able to accurately determine their progress with mastering standards.
If anyone LOVES their letter grades, I'd LOVE to hear from you. I'm interested in your perspective. Why are people sooooooo attached to letter grades? When my last school switched from letter grades to standards, there was a lot of push back from parents, students and teachers. Why? What is the reasoning?
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