Grading Philosophy

I wrote part of this in response to James' post on the Fischbowl, but wanted to put it on my blog too so that everything is in one place for later reference.

I think that next year I need to put a statement about grades on my honors syllabus. A draft might look like this: "The teacher of this course views student grades as part of a larger scholarly process, not merely an outcome in and of itself. A grade at any particular point during the semester must be viewed as feedback and as a mark of progress toward large goals. Many students will find this course challenging, and will find that simply focusing on an overall class grade will create undue anxiety. The course is designed to challenge students to work on skills and analytical thinking, and much of that will not come together until near the end of the semester. As previous students have discovered, too much emphasis on their overall class grades at the 6-week and 12-week marks often has the effect of ruining the experience of U.S. History."

Somthing similar would probably also be appropriate for my junior year Western Civ class.