Imagine that it is nearing the end of the term, and you’ll soon need to decide which of your Level 4 students are ready to pass to Level 5 (or even good enough to skip Level 5).
As a student-centered teacher, a large percent of class time has been devoted to pair and small-group activities. Although you tried your best to give attention to each student during these activities in order evaluate their skills, you will now need to justify their final grades.
You are feeling some anxiety about this due to reactions some students and even fellow-teachers have had to your decisions in the past. Most students have not questioned their grades, and colleagues have been satisfied with the students that you have promoted. However, there have been some tense moments.
- A few students who failed were upset. They felt that they should have passed because they were rarely absent, did all the assignments and made an effort. They questioned how accurately you could have evaluated their skills in a class with 15 students working in pairs and small groups.
- A couple of students who had been less than serious about attendance and assignments and preferred to monolog or just chat in groups, accused you of failing them because you didn’t like them rather than based on their skills.
- The previous term, the Level 5 teacher expressed concern that two students whom you had promoted didn’t seem to have the proper skills for that level.
In this Part 1, we’ll look at what ESL Conversation-class teachers should consider when trying to decide how they want to approach the responsibility of passing or failing students.
Common Sense Teaching ESL 