I am having my students develop a graphic essay to explain why the Colonies declared independence in 1776, after two weeks of having them read wildly different accounts and theories covering the time period from 1763-1776.  I will reflect on the process and purpose of the graphic essay another time—instead, I want to explain what happened when I had to think about how to assess these projects.

I had applied a basic project critique protocol at the beginning, when the kids deconstructed “No More Kings” and created their own assessment rubric {they keyed in on content, theme and design.}  But in my own mind, I hadn’t worked out how I would grade them.  A group grade or two individual grades for each partnership? 

Fortunately, our school is trying to use after-school time to have teachers practice their own protocols, usually around fine-tuning a project or resolving classroom management/pedagogy questions.  So, I offered my question to the group. 

I immediately got some great ideas—one of which was deceptively brilliant.  I say deceptively, because it was so obvious, and brilliant, because I tried it this morning and it worked...

...I asked the kids for their feedback on group grading.

And that was how I resolved the problem.

This is what they told me in a ten minute discussion:

• They like group grading when it’s a partnership, since they feel the work is more equitable with two people, and they feel they are collaborating effectively.
• But they are willing to describe the individual components they worked on, or to evaluate each other, as well as evaluating other teams.
• We discussed the possibility that some people may cheat, and I suggested they keep the whole process transparent.
• They came back with an offer to use a forum to describe, in a journal form, what they worked on, and for final project evaluations.

Weirdly enough, that’s what the teachers also came up with in our protocol circle.

Naturally, however, because this is real life, the period immediately after not only had no problem with group grading, but didn’t really want to evaluate each other.

So, a compromise—

1.      A group grade

2.     An individual grade, based on student’s self-report on the parts of the project they were responsible for

3.     A practice peer evaluation just to see if peer evaluation can be trusted, with that grade not being figured in to the total score.

The great thing is, I have one more period to go this afternoon, and God knows what those students will say…