Tabitha

Gibson

Gradebook Simulation Critical Reflection

Key Concepts:

1. Role of the teacher

2. Effective Instruction

Throughout this project, I looked at many examples of gradebooks. I had no idea that gradebooks

contained as much data and information about the student as they do. The problem that I came

across was on days that the students are not assigned homework in that class, the teacher must

still leave that column open to take attendance. I think that it would be very difficult to keep

attendance, scores on homework, as well as cumulative scores, on a gradebook that does not

have 3 lines. A few things that still perplex me about gradebooks is that elementary teachers

often teach each the subjects to their students. In a traditional grade-book, would the teacher

have each content area in a different place in the book, or would the teacher want multiple

gradebooks? If a teacher uses one gradebook for multiple subjects, how would they differentiate

between each, and keep them from overlapping. Another part of gradebooks that annoys me

would be that, since you must mark attendance daily, you would use up many pages in same

book for each day of the school year, in each subject you teach.

I chose the role of the teacher as one of my key concepts because keeping records is a very

important part of being a teacher. Teachers must keep all the student’s scores and attendance,

and they must keep it in a safe and confidential place. I also chose effective instruction as one of

my key concepts. I believe that using a gradebook and keeping records of the grades of each

student is imperative to know where a student stands in each content area. You can see their

strengths, and their weaknesses. Using a gradebook, a teacher can look back and see which items
 Tabitha
Gibson

were more challenging for each student, and therefore give further instruction to strengthen the

student’s knowledge in that assignment.

I feel that I have gained a lot through this specific assignment. I have never personally looked at

or used a gradebook before. I have seen them, of course, but I never fully understood all the

information that was written down. By doing this, I feel that I can now be confident in using a

gradebook in the future. I also feel that my knowledge regarding gradebooks has expanded.

Using the knowledge that I have gained through this assignment, I will be able to keep a

gradebook, as well as use an online gradebook for my classroom with confidence.