Originality is a Golden Calf of Art
Honest Artists; Updates to my Ungrading System; Photography
“If I can’t write about cherry blossoms, then I quit poetry.”
So said poet and professor Michael Lavers when he spoke to the staff of the literary journal I volunteer for. He was discussing his thoughts on originality and called it the golden calf of art.
It seems like everyone chases it, or feels as though they should. You and your work must be singular, revolutionary, and new. This is the siren song, the false god.
The pursuit of originality is vain because it is really a pursuit of status. It is self-centered, not art-centered. Thus, work created in the pursuit of originality is insincere. It matters primarily to the extent that it sets the artist apart from the crowd.
A better aim in art is honesty.
Honesty requires clarity. It requires the self to be attuned to itself and experience. It hears the voices of a thousand “oughts” and “shoulds” from society’s expectations and recognizes them as what they are: false imperatives uttered from the mouth of a mirage. The honest artist learns to listen elsewhere.
An honest artist seeks to see themself clearly. This includes their thoughts, feelings, aspirations, shame, and fears. As the honest artist experiences the world, they are sensitive to what has life. Often, they detect a hint of potency and vibrancy before knowing in fullness what that vivacity is. Thus, they pursue what is surprising to them.
Michael Lavers said, “Great poets are taught by their poems, they don’t use them to teach readers.” Be wary, he continued, of a poet who thinks they know something.
If someone were to walk and notice the beauty of cherry blossoms and feel their heart moved, the honest artist would dwell and consider and follow that abstract experience (of self with something) through their medium of choice. This attempt at translation is not only focused on integrity to the initial experience but more so on continuing the experience by following it and letting it unfold new corners of feeling and insight.
The artist who seeks originality would smile under the trees but disengage, because, to them, the cherry blossom has been exhausted. It has been painted, photographed, symbolized, and written about too many times.
As a consequence, that person deprives themself of one of life’s kindnesses: feeling the soul expand and grow in light through an honest, receptive interaction with the world.
The honest artist is edified through their artistry. The person who seeks originality is puffed up and, as a consequence, less full.
What I’ve Learned after one Term of Ungrading
If you read my newsletter last month, you’re aware that I am implementing a non-traditional approach to grading and assessment in my classroom.
Here’s a quick overview of my system as described in that newsletter:
I’ve categorized the work we do in class as “Concepts” and “Assignments.” Concepts are skill and knowledge based aspects of state standards that must be mastered. For example: “Students can write an objective summary of a text.”
Assignments are learning activities we do to help build knowledge and ability. They are stepping stones toward Concepts and must be completed professionally.
(I clearly outline the criteria for what “professional” and “mastery” means for each learning activity.)
If students master the concept/do their assignment professionally, it gets marked as a 2. If they did the work but haven’t mastered it/didn’t do it professionally, it gets marked as a 1. If they didn’t do it at all, it’s marked with a 0.
Anything marked as a 1 can be reworked to a 2 within a certain timeframe.
At the end of the term, students will reflect on the class via a questionnaire I’ve created, and propose a grade for their achievement.
…
Students know that if they want an A, they must master every Concept and complete each Assignment professionally. (If their overall percentage of mastery/professionalism is less than 60%, they fail the term.)
A few weeks ago, I had my students fill out a form to share their thoughts on the system. They talked about what was working well and what was problematic.
I’ve been implementing changes based upon their feedback to try to improve the system. We’re slowly getting better.
The Successes
Here are some of the responses that students gave about the positive aspects of the system:
“It’s simple and to the point.”
“You’re accountable for what you do.”
“It forces you to learn the subject.”
“I think it is easier to learn because if you do something wrong it is easier to learn what you are doing wrong and how to fix it.”
“You get to have a say in what your grade is.”
I’ve noticed my students’ understanding improve, and the work they produce has increased in quality.
The Problems & Resulting Changes
Here are some of the problems with the system:
Most students felt that the expectation for an A (receiving a 2 on all Assignments and Concepts) was unrealistic; a third felt it was fine.
I adjusted the expectation for an A. Students wouldn’t need to have a 2 on everything in the Assignment category but would need to have a 2 on everything in the Concept category. They would also need to accomplish the reading/writing goal they set for themselves at the start of the term. This change was a relief for the students and enabled them to focus in on the concepts.
Using 1s and 2s in the online grade book was confusing for students. The grade book converted the numbers into percentages (either 50% or 100%). I told them repeatedly to ignore the percentages—the 1s and 2s aren’t measures of ability but simple trackers to know what hasn’t been passed off—but they were too hard to ignore. Old habits die hard.
Eventually I figured out a workaround by making the assignments be out of zero points. This got rid of the percentages. I may adjust even further by using the letters P and W instead of 2s and 1s (P = passed off, W = working). Students know how close they are to passing something off by reviewing the work itself and the feedback I’ve provided them.
I had a problem with my late work policy. Initially, if students turned in an assignment late, I considered it unprofessional. Thus, it could only earn a 1 and could not be reworked. Students were stressed about this because one late assignment would disqualify them from an A. I became dissatisfied with the policy because students no longer had any reason to revise their work if they turned it in late. Learning happens through iteration, thus removing the opportunity to revise an assignment removed the opportunity to learn.
I haven’t found the perfect solution to this. I simply told students that I changed my policy: all work could be revised to a 2, even if it was initially submitted late.
I’ve made an online table/tracker to clearly indicate to students when revisions must be completed. Hopefully this helps me not be overwhelmed by the amount of work to review and provide feedback on.
Continuing Questions
I want to find ways to improve grading conferences. This week was the end of the term and my first experience doing the conferences. I need time to reflect and consider what went well and what didn’t.
Students still seem primarily motivated by their grade and not by learning. My system, at least, requires them to truly learn the material if they want an A.
This system places me as an authority figure. I decide if they’ve mastered the material/skill. In many instances, I do know better than them if they’ve met the standard. My opinion is rightfully authoritative. I don’t want, however, my voice to be solely authoritative. I want my students to grow in their ability to self-assess accurately. I need to find ways to do this.
Piano
Some piano playing from last Sunday:
Photography
London; Salmon Hatchery 1, 2, 3; Construction on Campus; Farmer’s Market
From School
Whiteboard Art
Quotes
Student: “I learned that Mr. Merrill actually grades the assignments, and now I have to try.”
Student: “Wow! I did better than I thought!”
Me: “At what?”
Student: “Writing with my eyes closed!”Student: “I've brought a blanket to class, and if I fall asleep I'm not sorry.”
Students arranged some desks in a circle after school to have a ritual and bring the muffin man back from the dead.
Student: “Do you still have to stay here for a while?”
Me: “Yeah, I’ve got a meeting.”
Student: “Oh...” A little bit later: “Okay, I’m going to leave you now to wallow in your sorrow and loneliness.”
Me: “My what?”Me: “Who’s your favorite country artist, it’s Morgan Wallen, right?”
Student 1: “Uhhh obviously.”
Student 2: “Oh. Yeah. She wants Morgan Wallen for President.”
Student 1: “I want Morgan Wallen for Christmas.”I saw a student in the hall and started talking with him.
Me: “What class do you have.”
Student: “Geology. But my abs are killing me.”
Me: “Why’s that?”
*Student reaches under his shirt and pulls something out.*
Student: “It’s an electric shock pad. Gives me a better sixpack. Buuuut the stickiness wears off after like 30 minutes so I gotta go to the drinking fountain to put water on it.”
From my journal on Oct 12th: “The best part of my day was sitting criss-cross applesauce with my B2 class and reading a picture book to them and having my voice crack BIG time and it made them all laugh and I wasn’t embarrassed and I made a joke about it and it was just happy and fun.”
Goodies
Poems by Michael Lavers ☞ Here are two of my favorite poems of his: Coda, The Burden of Humans.
The Rain by David Shumate ☞ I don’t think I can just copy and paste his poem here, but if you want to read it (you do, trust me), then open the preview of his book on Amazon. It’s the first poem in the collection.
The Sacrament of Attention ☞ Here’s my favorite quote from the post:
Superficially, the essay is about the spiritual importance of secular education. But really, it is about prayer. “Prayer consists of attention,” she tells us in the first sentence. “It is the orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God.” For Weil, the primary value of any kind of education is that it develops our ability to focus our attention on something for a substantial amount of time. It doesn’t matter what we study, she argues, or even if we end up learning it. Algebra, French, history, music, biology, and economics all require us to develop the capacity to pay sustained attention to a single thing. And we need to develop that capacity as fully as possible to have a meaningful relationship with God.
Split on Film ☞ I enjoyed looking through the film photos and reading the associated captions.
Littler Books ☞ Nonfiction book summaries.
Cheers!
p.s. I’m about to have a real piano in my room which means my life is basically complete.
I'm very invested in your Ungrading System, it's really admirable to recognise the impact grading systems have on learning and then actually try to do something about it. Looking forward to the next update!
Your doing some good work! Your awesome, sounds like a great teacher to me :D