Thursday, May 17, 2012

Stamps.

Our school year is wrapping up and things are busy.... really busy. Do you give grades in Library Media?

Giving grades and having Library Media on the report card can translate to great advocacy for the library, but it has also left me trembling behind stacks of ungraded papers on more than one occasion. Lucky for me, a friend and colleague shared this idea when I visited her school a few years back. What a time-saver! (Not to mention a great investment!)

Three stamps and some ink is a cheap investment for such great payoff for library program advocacy.

Students in grades K-2 receive an "I" (Independent), "W" (With Assistance), or "N" (Needs Improvement) on their report cards for each subject. These stamps help me to communicate to the parents the level of support their child(ren) needed on each assignment.

Students in grades 3-5 receive letter grades, and so I stamp all graded assignments just to let parents know where the assignment was completed.
Purchase stamps online at RubberStamps.com or the like and make sure to buy some colored ink pads to help the stamps stand out on assignments.

You never know. It just may lead to some curious parents coming in to check out the cool things going down in Library Media!

- Matthew
busylibrarian.com

3 comments:

  1. Wow! I don't give grades at all. I am not on a fixed schedule for teacher planning time though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. @lewisgrade5, I think that being on the report card, in my case at least, helps ensure that Media won't be the first target when it comes to budget cuts. Being on a fixed schedule has its benefits as well as its drawbacks, but keeping the focus on the learning and away from the grades has always been a priority of mine.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awesome! Thanks for a great post. I have learned a lot from your posts here and on your blog!

    ReplyDelete