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Well Katarina, you've hit the conundrum of teachers worldwide. Here is my two cents.
The classroom must be student-centered. If your focus is supporting learning, you will find the balance. Grades are simply a communication device for adults to understand how learning is progressing. The question begs, what is the best way to assess learning progression? A child-centered approach, it is not with the five point scale. Assessment has to slide through scaffolding, going from formative to summative assessment (my edu-speak).
How does it look in the classroom? Every teacher is different and every child is different. You have to find the best way for you. For me, I carry a stamp and every child has an engineering notebook. There is a prompt after instruction and kids respond to the prompt. If they get it right, the book is stamped. If not, I spend the time with them asking questions, trying to determine the misconceptions and I give them the chance to change their answers. What if there are lots of kids with misconceptions? If you think about it, it is because I did not do my job well, right? When there are lots of misconceptions, a good teacher will take the time and re-instruct despite the pressures. If the learning is half and half, the re-instruct can include a social learning aspect; let the kids talk to one another. In addition, changing the wording of the assessment helps because it is not a concept misconception but a misconception of the question.
Finally the summative grade reflects the formative assessment and is assigned a numerical value. For me, there is a reflective prompt (with the science vocabulary in a word bank). Prompts are assessed on a rubric.
Does this work every time? No. But it is, for me, the best way to keep my teaching learning-centered. In time you will find your "bag of tricks" and the things that work for your students. Happy Teaching!
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