As the hook for a lesson on standards-based grading, I asked the students to give middle school a grade so far. They were free to use number scales, percentages, or letter grades, as long as they could justify their rating.
After 4 days in and 5 days off, (not to mention a year and a half of disrupted instruction), middle school did pretty well, earning a solid 3.3 average. In the plus column was seeing friends, nice teachers, moving independently through the building, longer lunch, and a really big library. Drawbacks were a confusing schedule, a big building, having to carry heavy backpacks, and the predictable repetition of early instruction.
And despite my directions, some kids came up with their own rating system. "It's bread!" wrote one.
"What's your scale?" I asked, confused. "The food pyramid?"
"I love bread!" she replied, "and school is great so far.
One of her classmates agreed, refusing to give any other rating than Wunderbar! "It's German," he confided.
"Ja, Ich weiß," I told him. "Ich weiß."
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