Old Habits

Sometimes I love my online gradebook, other times I am highly annoyed.

For instance, I love the fact that I don't have to figure out grades manually. In fact, I have never existed as a teacher in a world where I had to do that. So I'm not even sure how that was done. But it sounds awful.

I also think it's great that students can stay updated on their own rather than whining to the teacher (as we often did as students back in the day) to tell them what their grades are. Not only are teachers not bothered but now students (and families) can take ownership. For example, I have a not-so-100%-engaged senior who recently asked me why he had a zero for an assignment. I had just assumed he hadn't turned it in when I updated the gradebook, but he said he was absent (truth) the day I collected it and handed it to me right then. Now, this could have gone unnoticed and harming his overall average had he not had access to the gradebook. I was impressed by his diligence and I now feel compelled to not dismiss him as the slightly apathetic student I sometimes see. (Technology: allowing us to see our students in different, dare I say more accurate, lights. Very cool.)

One thing I do NOT completely enjoy, however, is having to stay completely current for the good of the public. Like when I would get emails from parents wondering why their child's score was blank for something... AS I WAS TYPING IN GRADES. Now some might call that coincidence, but not when it happens more than thrice. It's like, "Hey, moms, dads, students, take a peek into my world of hurrying to update sometimes a bunch at a time because I haven't done it in awhile eek!" It's a stressor for sure, but ultimately it keeps me on my toes. As I have learned a lot so far in life, the annoying stuff usually creates the greatest of lessons.

Ok: and raise your hands out there in teacher world if you also still use the old school "pencil and blank spreadsheet" gradebook before typing online. I can't help it...something about a piece of paper and a mechanical pencil is just so comforting to me, as I can have a product to hold in my hand and glance over. My five classes (along with seating charts and lesson plans) are all tucked away neatly onto a clipboard and perused often during the course of the day. In fact, as a traveling teacher, it's kind of been my security blanket this year, as I truly can't conduct a class without it.

Which leads me to a question...will our society ever fully ditch the paper-in-hand product when it comes to education? (or anything, for that matter) I know I am having a HECK of a time transitioning from my thick, delightfully-scented library book obsession to the Kindle Fire that I received last January as a birthday gift. I've seriously read like four things on it so far. And it's not that it isn't awesome, because it is, but something about that old habit of holding weight in my hand as an English nerd I just can't abandon. And then really, will we all ever truly abandon it? When will text books disappear and iPads be used solely in literature classes? I mean truly this has started already, hasn't it? More importantly, should we abandon it? Is it so wrong to have physical stuff in hand versus the online version? 

(...this could easily delve into a discussion of cyber school vs. traditional brick-and-mortar school...but I'll save that for a later posting...)

Bottom line: for now, in 2013, I think I'll hang onto my mechanical pencil and paper copy of The Great Gatsby from undergrad, but the grading calculator can stay in the desk drawers.