I Learned Something Today

We have to come up with an interim report for parents even though we have only been in session for about a month.
So I've been working on correcting assignments and entering grades & comment codes into the appropriate boxes.
By the way my classes have gotten bigger lately, so now I have over 120 students to teach, coach, encourage, tutor, and grade assignments for.  Thankfully I've got some group activities, which will help a little.
Anyway, I called up each student today to show them their current grade and I made it very clear that this mark is fluid, it can easily go up or down.
However, I am kind of apprehensive around grades, but have always dealt with it appropriately.  Nevertheless, today's experience wasn't uncomfortable at all, in fact I think it acted as a motivation to students.  It showed them what they are capable of and I made sure they realised that this mark can easily go down if behaviour, attitude and effort go down (not in those exact words), so it is important to pay attention in class and get all assignments completed on time.  In other words, sharing grades student-by-student was in some way a positive classroom management strategy that accomplished a couple of things for the students and for me.  It is a good day when I can learn something, especially when it applies to art :)

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