Learning vs. Getting the Marks

Came home from class very frustrated on Monday night.

My students seems to be very confused when given an open ended task that doesn't provide them with a rubric. During class we had examined a number of different tools for evaluating educational software. I asked them to seek out more web-based evaluation tools and to document where they were ... add posts to their blog, resource links in their wiki, bookmarked, on paper ... it didn't really matter where, just that it happened! Then I asked them to identify common elements between the tools we looked at in class and the new ones they'd found. They looked at me like I was either speaking a foreign language or had taken on an alien lifeform!

It seems to me that they are afraid to make a mistake! I'm not sure what affect the 'rubric' method of marking is having on them. They want to know exactly what is required of them (no more, no less) and seem hesitant to attempt a task without that safety net. Marks vs. learning ... to them it's all about marks, to me it's all about learning and making change, as small as it might be!

As teachers we don't have safety nets at all, and we certainly make our share of mistakes in the classroom. Things work and things don't work. The teachers that make a difference are the ones who aren't afraid to try new things not really knowing what might happen or whether it will be successful or not. They're the ones who are flexible enough to go with the good and the bad! They learn from and grow with the things that work and the things that don't.

Maybe these student don't realize yet that it's the opportunities to learn that are ultimately going to get them the 'marks'!