Do we reward extroversion?

Hola a todos:

Last Thursday, I gave the students in my flex class (basically a class that does not have to be related to Spanish) a test to see if they were more introverted or more extroverted. Along with this, I gave them an assignment in which they had to reflect on their results and state how it impacts them in school and in their social lives. This raised a question for me: do we, as teachers, reward extroversion?

One student wrote that he/she feels that his/her intelligence is overlooked because she/he is an introvert; he/she referenced participation points, stating something along the lines of: I know all the material, I get 90s-100s on quizzes, but my grade is lowered because I am shy and do not feel comfortable talking in front of the whole class.

I think this goes the other way around too. Are our participation points only rewarding extroverts? Are our participation points inflating students' grades and making them think that they have skills that they do not? I'm not sure what the answer is. I have been considering eliminating participation points from my gradebook--mostly because the students are constantly interacting with each other. It's almost impossible for students to not be participating because I am not calling on one person at a time. They're walking around talking to each other, etc.

Another student wrote about group projects. It was an interesting perspective. I do not give group projects, so it was hard for me to reflect on my own practice through this student's writing, but the student pointed out that he/she would like to be responsible for her/his own grade as opposed to someone else (another student) having an impact on that grade. There's so much to consider!


Another great discussion this week was with regard to growth. I gave my students back a reading assignment on which they received a percentage grade and an evaluation of their proficiency level (Novice High, Novice Mid, etc.) I talked to the students about growth because I wanted them to understand that a lower percentage does not mean lack of growth. I gave them this scenario:

If you received an 88 on this assignment, and then, at the end of the year, you receive an 85 on another reading assignment, did you improve? They all said no. Then, I pointed out that the reading assignment at the end of the year would be harder with a different proficiency target. Therefore, they DID improve. They may have been evaluated at a Novice High 2 on this assignment and then at a Novice High 3 on the next one. Although the percentage may have gone down, the proficiency evaluation went up! My hope is to get them to care more about growth and less about percentage. So, we are keeping portfolios in which they are tracking their own path to proficiency.

I am really curious to hear what people think about all this! I know it's a lot, and my mind is racing with thoughts!

Timothy