In a world of no grades - how do you keep your day dreamer motivated?

[Anonymous]

From what my friends in MOCO say, the problem with the new system is nearly everyone gets a P. Thus, students get hardly any feedback whatsoever.

Some kids are not motivated by grades, but others are. Some kids like to know if their work was good, ok, barely sufficient or excellent. All learners deserve this feedback.

[Anonymous]

What's he being asked to do? Maybe it needs to be more interesting.

What does he enjoy?

There's a lot to be said for "checking the box" when there's nothing terribly important about churning out a diamond-studded product every time.

[Anonymous]

Why not ask for more elaborate feedback that focuses on the elements that might motivate him more? E.g.,

"This report is written nicely, but something needs to be done to make it more interesting for the reader. What would make a history buff *really* want to read this? Can you find any surprising facts? Can you relate this to a modern-day experience? What can you tell us to make this person seem "real," and not just a name in a history book?"

Or whatever...

[Anonymous]

Children do get higher tha Ps, at least the kids I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not ask for more elaborate feedback that focuses on the elements that might motivate him more? E.g.,

"This report is written nicely, but something needs to be done to make it more interesting for the reader. What would make a history buff *really* want to read this? Can you find any surprising facts? Can you relate this to a modern-day experience? What can you tell us to make this person seem "real," and not just a name in a history book?"

Or whatever...

Sadly I see very little feedback in our MCPS middle school (W feeder). In fact, I have yet to see ANY kind of feedback that looks like any of these questions in the year+ that my DC has been there. My DC just spent an entire weekend plus other days leading up to it doing an awesome project for a history class, got a perfect score, but zero comments or verbal feedback. Not one word written or stated. Just a score. Very disappointing not to have that kind of effort and creativity acknowledged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From what my friends in MOCO say, the problem with the new system is nearly everyone gets a P. Thus, students get hardly any feedback whatsoever.

Some kids are not motivated by grades, but others are. Some kids like to know if their work was good, ok, barely sufficient or excellent. All learners deserve this feedback.

That's the general belief on DCUM. It's factually incorrect, though. Also, grades are not the only form of feedback. In fact, in elementary school, they shouldn't even be the main form of feedback.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Sadly I see very little feedback in our MCPS middle school (W feeder). In fact, I have yet to see ANY kind of feedback that looks like any of these questions in the year+ that my DC has been there. My DC just spent an entire weekend plus other days leading up to it doing an awesome project for a history class, got a perfect score, but zero comments or verbal feedback. Not one word written or stated. Just a score. Very disappointing not to have that kind of effort and creativity acknowledged.

Why did you think it was relevant that the middle school is in Bethesda or Potomac? I'm asking sincerely.

[Anonymous]

If you think that yelling is the proper way the "motivate" a kid in elementary school---you have much bigger problems that your kid's Ps!

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I can relate, OP, except my kid has ADHD (professional daydreamer status) and got a disastrous report card because of it. Mostly Is. We are not sure how to address this, since we have also tried incentives and consequences, and nothing really gets through.

Our son is passionate about many academic subjects things, none of which are taught at the elementary or middle school level, so my conclusion is that he will start to shine later on, perhaps in high school or university.

However maybe he will need medication or more substantive accommodations to get there.