Student: “Ms. I’m not ready. I am good to take a zero.”
Me (perhaps too loudly): “Zero is not an option.”
This short exchange happened twice. As a reflective educator, I had a moment of self-doubt. I had co-planned and co-taught a project with three Religion teachers. We had co-constructed success criteria, had ongoing conferences with students about their ideas. It was a project with an authentic audience and connected to “real” problems (The SDG’s). Kids had choice and voice in what they were studying and how they wanted to demonstrate their learning.
I felt like I had let both the teacher and student(s) down; in my mind, this exchange should never have happened.
And yet it did.
The students did not come and see me like I had asked. I think they thought, we would just forget and give them a zero after all. And perhaps this may have worked for them in the past? Luckily, our Library Learning Commons is a vibrant place where many students come to finish their work, or hangout. And so I saw each of them in the Library and brought them to sit beside me. I remembered that the word “Assessment” comes from the word, “assedere”-to sit beside.
What are you stuck on and how can I help you get unstuck?
In one case, the student didn’t really want the UN Goal (topic) he chose. He understood it, but he couldn’t really think of an action plan. He was stuck and didn’t know what to do to get unstuck. When we conferenced, he expressed that he would rather pick a new goal and start from scratch. And so that’s what he did.
Reflection: Even though we had made choice an integral part of the process, there are only 17 Sustainable Development goals, and even when kids had selected their Top 3, we may need to be open to having more than 3 students per goal.
In my subsequent conversation with the other student, he was overwhelmed by the timelines. He didn’t have an IEP, and so it would be easy enough to lecture him on time management and give him the zero he wanted.
Reflection: I wondered if I needed more check ins. And I wonder how we give students the tools to manage their own time effectively?
It’s easy to feel disappointed when things don’t exactly go as planned. In the end, both students finished their projects and I feel like My “Zero is not an option” allowed the students to actually demonstrate the curriculum expectations.
How do you handle the zero conversation?