The Daily Cafe

Middle school Grading Policy for Daily 5

#1

I teach Middle school English (6th - 8th) in 55 minute blocks. I have been implementing this process during the past couple of years, but I want to use it correctly and completely this year. I am struggling with setting up my grade book. We usually follow a system that looks like this: 25% classwork/homework; 25% projects/quizzes/other; 50% tests. Our principal likes the middle school teachers to all use the same system so that we are all uniform, making it easy for parents and students to understand. However, I’m not sure that a true Daily 5 class can run like this???

I am interested to see what other middle or high school teachers use as their grading system. My students turn in a D5 Folder each week with their non-negotiable items…so that’s easy to grade. I’m a little concerned about the testing and quizzes since Daily 5 is so independent…

Just need some guidance…thanks

#2

I don’t teach Jr H or HS, but have one thought for you. Have you looked at the Assessments for the individual strategies They have a rubric for them, and could be changed into a grade.

#3

I thought about that and figured that it would be a good place to start. My concern is if I have the grade book set up accurately and fair for using Daily 5. Previously, I would do the traditional unit/lesson method then test on that material…now I’m not sure if I should change the weight of each or even change it up completely?

#4

I would appreciate more discussion on teaching Daily 5 in the upper grades (6-8). Any resources would be wonderful. I have been told that the lessons, rubrics and assignments available on this site are too “babyish” for this grade level.

#5

If you take a look at the assessments/rubrics that are strategies that you would be working on with your students, you’ll see that the CCSC standards listed go through grade 8.

Here’s a sample of Summarizing the Text: https://www.thedailycafe.com/app/webroot/uploads/files/C-Summarize_Text_Include_Sequence_of_Mainevents-Assessment.pdf

The examples given there could most definitely be used wit 6-8th graders.

There are Accuracy and Fluency strategies that wouldn’t not be appropriate for your age kids, but most of the Comprehension and Vocabulary strategies should be. You may want to use sections of the texts expected at their grade level–that’s the great thing about the strategies is that we can adapt them for all readers.

Have you done a search for older students? There are a lot of articles and resources mentioned there. https://www.thedailycafe.com/search/results?tab=0&keywords=older+students&author=0&data[articletypes]=0&article_search_button=Search

#6

Dear LexiRichardson2,
I teach middle school, 7th grade Language Arts. I want to do more Daily 5 with my students. I am looking at the beginning of next year and thinking how best to manage this in my room. My situation sounds similar to yours. We have 55 minutes classes and I have anywhere from 25 to 30 students in each class. I have four core periods of LA and a remediation reading class at the end of the day. I would love to know how you do the gathering space with a class of 30 7th graders. I have tried to do a gathering place, but they bulk at sitting on the floor. How do you do this important part of the Daily 5?
Looking forward to your reply, Miss Gore