Holy Holonomy, Batman!

So, in my research to try and find out about Standards Based Grading (SBG), I've discovered that my best resource for learning how to do SBG myself seems to be other people's blogs.  I've read a lot of them.  Some are funny.  Some are not.  While I make no guarantees to be funny, I now see the freedom to take a more casual approach to writing my schtuff.  (See what I just did?)

Holonomy.  Efficacy.  Flexibility.  Consciousness.  Interdependence.  Craftsmanship.  A lot of words to describe a person who inspires, works well with others, and gets things done well.  So let's sum it up and, for the sake of consistency, relate it back to SBG.

Efficacy.
I see this as fending for oneself.  How on earth can you implement something as new and as big as SBG without having the drive to seek out help or to stand up and say "Hey, this won't work" (or the opposite for that matter).  I think that wanting to and actually taking the steps to make a change in your classroom defines you as an efficacious person.  Why else would you put yourself through the pain of change if you didn't believe it would be worth it?  At this point in my career, I'm not afraid of being cut with the budget, so I am certainly not as motivated by top-down directives (Not to say I don't follow the rules.  I am a math teacher, afterall.  We are rule-followers).  I am choosing to implement this in my classroom because I think it is worthwhile and it will help students.

Flexibility
Inflexible people generally don't last long in education.  I don't know if a lesson I have ever planned has ever gone exactly how I wanted it to or without being steered in some tangential direction.  With SBG being so incredibly new at my school, we are going to need to be flexible.  We will need to listen to each other's struggles and the struggles of our students in order to tweak and find solutions to the problems that will inevitably arise.  Being flexible and willing to leave our comfort zone will help us to creatively improve SBG for our school.

Consciousness
Often teachers joke about having eyes in the back of their heads.  Consciousness is like having infinite eyes all over the place.  Eww, creepy.  Makes me feel like Sting...Every move you make...I'll be watching you.  But seriously, consciousness is being aware of what is going on.  With something as new as SBG, we will need to be aware of how students (an parents) perceive SBG.  We will also need to be conscious of how the members on our team perceive changes and are reacting to suggestions as we hash out the details.  Personally, I will need to make sure I am intentional about how I introduce the new grading process and how I frame the importance of homework.


Craftsmanship
If you don't take pride in your work as a teacher, please do us all a favor and find another profession.  Your students can tell if you don't care and that bleeds over into their state of mind.  I have always believed that anything worth doing is worth doing well.  Notice there is no mention of the word "perfect" in there.  As we begin the transition into SBG, there will be adjustments to make.  Things will go wrong.  Some times you can fix things as you go, other times you make a mental note to fix it for next year.  It's the way it goes.  That being said, perfection should be our goal - as unattainable as it may be.  In the New Testament of the Bible, Paul writes to the Philippians about this very principle in the context of their faith.  He encourages them to keep running the race and to strive for their goal, even though they may never actually reach it.  He says so eloquently "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize..."(Philippians 3:13-14).  So must we press on and strive for the goal.  

Interdependence
Holy cow.  If I had to implement SBG alone, I think I would probably want to quit. Fortunately, I have an awesome group of teachers in my department who believe that working together collaboratively is WAY better than being on an island.  My first years of teaching, I had to basically write everything.  It sucked.  A lot.  With SBG, we will need to revamp tests, retitle worksheets, create relearning worksheets and retests (because we choose to offer this), and a host of other things we haven't even thought about.  Sure, we could still do SBG without doing all this, but we believe in craftsmanship so we want to go the extra mile.  (See how I brought it back around?)  Instead of me doing everything, the three of us that teach Statistics have divided up the work to begin over the summer (yes, we will be working during our contractually unpaid time) so it can be implemented in the fall.  We depend on each other to get things done, to share ideas, and what's more, we trust each other to do it well.

HOLONOMY
All of these characteristics together make an individual holonomous.  I think that each of these characteristics is just as important as the others in the grand scheme of things, but each one may, at times, be more important at a certain moment.  In the year that I have spend working on my master's degree so far, our focus has been on developing the teacher as a whole person.  Obviously, holonomy plays a big part in that.  If one is not holonomous, that person can not hope to change him/herself or their school for the better.  Efficacy, flexibility, consciousness, interdependence, and craftsmanship are all characteristics that lead to a teacher wanting to find out what methods work best in their own classroom.  Without holonomy, growth as a teacher will be severely stunted.