While reading the assessing student's learning, I found myself agreeing with a lot of the different ways that assessments words with literature. These are the systems that I know I enjoy best as a students, and will hopefully be able to administer to my students.
I whole heartedly agree with the statement that what it means to learn literature sometimes can't be assessed based on yes or no question, or as the essay calls it, "correct answer" quizzes and tests. So much of literature is based on how it made you feel, how you connected with the passage/story/poem, and how it may relate to your life. Those feelings can't be summed up in a yes or no...it has to be summed up by an essay or summary from the readers point of view. Everyone will have different connections to different types of literature, and all their answers may be correct AND different. It doesn't necessarily means one is more right than the other - just different.
I also liked the thought of portfolio work. I know as a student, I prefer to write everything down on a physical piece of paper (the old school in me, I guess), but enjoy it because it is easy to go back and review what I've leaned throughout the class. I know when I took Children's Lit from Valeo, she ad us write down any take away thoughts or feelings after every class, so that we could go back and reflect on that day. I think this is important because it sort of documents your learning. Something you may not have known at the beginning of class might make more sense by the end. I think portfolio work (whether formal or informal) is a great idea, and definitely something that I will try to use in my classroom.
As far as the article about grading, I found this very interesting. Normally, as a high school student, you don't really think about how you get graded - just that you hope for a decent grade. I was never really presented with rubrics, or reasons why I was graded a certain way. I feel that this would be something very useful and encouraging to my students - showing them exactly what I'm looking for and how I'll be grading. This way no one is set up for disappointment if they done get the grade they were hoping for. They can actually see where I was coming from, and hopefully learn form it to do better next time.
Another thing I found interesting is the whole "grading with a zero" concept. It is crazy to me that a zero can make such a huge difference. I obviously know that a zero can bring an average grade down, but never thought about it as discouraging the student to see that bring their average down. The example with the weather mead it really obvious how a zero can effect the average. I think that if a student truly has a zero, then maybe it is time to show that student the lack of work they submitted with drastically reduce their grade, and maybe give them a chance to either change that, or not. It is ultimately up to them, but by giving hem the sneak peak of the potential damage it an cause is maybe a good idea too.
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