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| | Fort Gratiot Middle School does not grade citizenship, however, I
believe citizenship is very important and I plan to let parents know how their child is doing at
conferences or in the comments area of the report cards.
Citizenship grading criteria:
- Outstanding citizenship, exemplary self-discipline, a willingness to
go above and beyond what is necessary, encourages others to do their best.
- A very good citizen, almost always is displaying proper self-discipline,
is willing to help when needed and asked, gets along well with others.
- An average citizen, most of the time displays proper self-discipline,
sometimes gets a bit excited but honestly shows remorse when realizing
inappropriate behavior. Rarely volunteers, however does take care of his
/her own situations. Most of the time follows directions and rarely needs to
be reminded individually. Interaction with others is appropriate.
- Needs reminders occasionally about what behavior is expected.
Sometimes needs to be told to clean up and put away materials properly.
Needs occasional reminders to treat others appropriately.
- Not capable of proper behavior. Must be told to take care of
materials and equipment. Has trouble getting along with other students.
My criteria for citizenship is a curve. If my students can
tell me they have been a good citizen at least 75% of the time that the best
student citizen in that class tells me they are a good citizen, they get a 2 or
better in citizenship. I require 90% of the time to receive a 1 in citizenship.
I also incorporate my experience with that student. I take into account
whether they have self-discipline, and how they help to take care of the
materials in the room, as well as how well they get along with the rest of the members
of the band.
If a student must be reprimanded by me for their behavior or
actions more than a few times they are no longer a 3 category citizen, but a 4.
If they must be reprimanded often and on a regular basis, that constitutes a 5
in citizenship.
I require my classroom to be silent after the bell rings, all students must be
silent and pay attention as well as being a good citizen at least 3 out of every
4 days for about the first 5 -10 minutes of classroom time -the most important
time. I do the citizenship recording within the first 5-10 minutes of class.
The rest of the class period most students are actively engaged in classroom
learning. Talking or misbehavior is rarely a problem after that. The first few
minutes of class time is when they are tuning (an electronic device is being
used and extraneous sounds hamper the process), or during attendance - silence
is required to assure each child has answered and I have not mistaken anyone's
roll call answer as the wrong student as well as assuring the process is
completed as quickly as possible. When I have classroom sizes of almost 90 middle
school students, we need a sense of order and rules. I expect and require these
musicians to have self-discipline, be able to follow directions, and do what
needs to be done to promote a learning environment. I believe if students can
follow these few rules, they will not have a problem getting a 2 or better in
citizenship in my classroom.
Please keep in mind my class sizes of sometimes 2 and almost 3 times the average
class size as well as the nature of my class does require my criteria to be a
bit different than most. If I had classes of 25 and the loudest instrument each
kid had was a pencil and a piece of paper, I am sure my criteria might be a bit
different. I have rules that work for me and every child knows what they are. If
they choose to talk, or play their instrument when they are not supposed to, or
fool around, or not take care of our materials or equipment, they will suffer
the consequences.
What if a student tells a white lie and claims they were a good citizen when
they weren't? Since the grade is a curve, liars will affect the grade of
the entire class, so it would be to the student's best interest to speak up
immediately if they suspect any untruthfulness.
I have a policy in place where every students has the opportunity to challenge a
"good citizen". They must challenge publicly and immediately, to
ensure the
"challenged good citizen" has a chance to respond to the
accusation. There
are times when a student has honestly forgotten they had inadvertently spoke
without thinking and the challenge serves as a reminder to try harder next time,
however if a student is continually being challenged and denies the infraction,
I watch that student closely and will take appropriate action. Being a
good citizen means you care about our band and learning our music. The
citizenship grade is very important. I expect every member of the band to
achieve a grade of 3 or above. I expect the leaders and 1st chair players
to keep their citizenship grades above a 3 or their chair and/or leadership
position could be in jeopardy. They will receive a warning and a chance to
improve.
You might be interested in some research on the subject of
self-discipline and learning to play a musical instrument.
It appears studying music can, in fact, impact the development of the human
personality, especially in the area of socialization. In particular, music
education encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits which carry over into
other areas.
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