Reflection # 9

I really enjoyed the discussion we had on effort and achievement.  It really got me thinking on how I want to grade my students.  In Marizano's book we learn that people generally attribute success at any given task to 4 things: Ability, effort, other people, luck.  If someone believes that effort is the most important factor in achievement, then they have a motivational tool that can apply to any situation.  There are 2 generalizations form the research on effort.  The first one is that not all students realize the importance of believing in effort.  The second one is that students can learn to change their beliefs to an emphasis on effort.  They can do this by demonstrating added effort and tat will in turn pay off in the long run.  I learned that even though the students may at first not realize the importance of effort, but they they can be taught this importance.  This is something that I want to stress in my classroom.  I am not going to give some one a bad grade if their work looks terrible, instead I will grade them on their effort and neatness.  By doing this, I am demonstrating the relationship between effort and achievement.  As long as my students are improving to the best of their abilities then that to me is worth an A.  I can also start of my classroom by asking them for some examples of times that they succeeded basically because they did not give up.