What Would Happen If Teachers' Taught Students Without Grades @senseicat

I spent a few years volunteering in grade school classrooms with different teachers. I know that teachers are under pressure with the limited amount of funding, lack of textbooks, adopting common core requirements, accommodating special needs, and implementing discipline for our "perfect" children.

Sometimes, I would teach a group of children a lesson, read to the kids, or help with grading. One teacher would often lose papers and be up to 3-4 weeks behind on entering the grades into the online system. She confided, "The last thing I want to do is grade when I get home." As a parent, my immediate thought was that is her job and it affects the students, especially their ability to know if they understood the required material. There was many times, when an aide at the school graded the spelling papers and I would find errors and applied a post it note to indicate that the grade should be changed.

I wonder if I am too analytical, but what would happen if the teachers continued to teach the same material without the added pressure to grade. Personally, I think that it would be an interesting experiment. My guess is that perhaps school and education would be more enjoyable for everyone.

With online grading, parents are checking the apps on their devices and linked even more to the progress of their children. Perhaps, more space is needed in general. In some ways, it actually just continues to add to the parent workload which often surpasses the amount of energy and time that has been allotted.

What if we took a break from grades and let the kids use their imagination and smarts to enjoy the learning process? Perhaps, our children would focus more on exploring many different subjects and figure out what they are truly passionate about in learning.