The Rhinoceros Test
When I was developing grade abatement as a new kind of assessment, I used Albrecht Dürer’s rhinoceros as a metaphor1. It serves the same function as saying, “Don’t miss the forest for the trees,” and it echoes the elephant test. It’s also related to Occam’s razor, or the law of parsimony.
If none of those hyperlinks interest you enough to do some ramiform reading, the basic idea (in here) is this: Often the simplest or most straightforward GAP evidence is more important than everything else.
The need for in-class focus has been covered ad nauseam this year, in everything from posts to posters, so there’s no need to repeat that. The other simplest element of the course is completing assignments, but you’ve known to do your work since you were in kindergarten2. Lapses in either category might significantly lower your GAP score at the end of three weeks. You know that, too.
Here’s the new stuff: Starting now, if you are significantly off-task during class, or if you are missing significant work, I’ll update your GAP score before the end of the three-week assessment period. Keep an eye on Infinite Campus. If your score updates suddenly, that’s feedback. It’s a sign that you need to adjust immediately.
The logic here ought to be clear, but to make it clearer: A student earning a fourth-tier profile needs until the end of a cycle to produce evidence. It takes consistent reflection and metacognition, for instance, to fit just that single criterion for a 9. But a student who isn’t meeting the basic requirements of the course has already provided enough evidence for a much lower score. That’s Dürer’s rhinoceros: We’ve seen enough to know what profile fits.
Let’s see if this sort of immediate-ish feedback helps. If you trigger the threshold mechanic that knocks you down to a 70, for instance, you probably still have time to show growth and drag yourself out of the second tier. If missing work puts you in the 5+/5- range, you probably still have time to improve the ratio.
You can ask questions about this below. Meanwhile, I will hold onto the quixotic hope that this will all eventually be rendered moot3.
One more note: The use of metaphors and images like Dürer’s rhinoceros helps us avoid clichés, especially thought-terminating ones. When we study George Orwell’s writing, he’ll call them dying metaphors. Some clichés have power — a rose on Valentine’s Day is still nice — but you should try to find new images, analogies, metaphors, etc, whenever possible. Clichés don’t bring any vividness or clarity to ideas, however easily they come to us.
This and the lead image come from Little Einsteins, one of the shows our children keep on repeat.
The first guide is here, alongside every Sisyphean High iteration up to this year. Dürer’s rhinoceros appears frequently, so it’s the mascot of grade abatement in the same way that the tardigrade is the mascot of interstitial teaching. Which means that we need mascot costumes of both, right? ↩
Remember, though, that we’re about the process more than the product. Most of your formal assignments in Google Classroom are a reflection of that belief. You won’t often be penalized for struggling to finish an essay, for instance, but you must always try to finish. ↩
Two words worth knowing: quixotic and moot. The former leads us to another metaphor for teaching and learning, since we sometimes tilt at windmills; the latter is one of those words with two accepted but contradictory meanings. ↩
I think the most substantial part of the post is that generating high-level evidence is a process, not something you do quickly right before the GAP form is due (directly contrasted with the obviousness of not doing work… which ultimately to serves to reiterate the responsibility we have for our time). When I was reading this, I immediately started thinking, “Is in-class focus obvious when observing my evidence that I have assembled for GAP Q1B?” I remembered that question from the end of last triptych- what would an observer notice (if intentions don’t matter)? and I think I finally understood it’s full meaning. If we have consistently assembled a thorough body of evidence, we have truly been learning all along since the evidence is proof of the process and the process is the learning.
On a more confused note, I’m having a bit of trouble tying the idea that the best GAP evidence is clear and cumulative to the concept of the Rhinoceros. I’ve been seeing it around Sisyphean High and wondering about it for a while now. I tried to read up on it online but this only yielded an interesting story about the first time Europeans saw a rhinoceros (which was still mildly amusing) but didn’t clear anything up for me. It seems like the rhinoceros is a symbol of grade abatement as a whole, not like the tardigrade’s symbolism of one core skill. Is the rhinoceros just meant to remind us of the simple nature of collecting evidence consistently throughout the quarter to make it obvious that we are of a higher profile?
I think that the biggest, most important of this article is the idea that we can not achieve a grade in the tier 4 profile category without understanding what it entails. The rhinoceros in the room may be the idea of concentrating and doing classwork for the duration of the class. The evidence that a student may gather is not important if they are not reaching the basic requirements for the profile. I think that this post is trying to warn us that although evidence is important and we need to gather specific examples of our hard work and investment in the class, we need to focus on achieving the basic requirements first. They act almost as prerequisites for evidence. That is something I’ve gained from this article, hopefully it kind of (indirectly) answers your question Jane…
In one of the ramiform reading articles at the beginning of this page (“The Elephant Test”), it explains it really well, and I also discussed it with Mr. Eure. The linked article talks about the duck test, “If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck,” and the elephant test, “is hard to describe, but instantly recognizable when spotted.” Like Mr. Eure wrote, it would be easy to use one of these pre-made metaphors, but we don’t want cliches, so he used the rhino instead. Basically, the idea is that if you look like you are doing your work during class, if you look like a Tier 4, then you probably are one. If it looks like a duck, if it looks like an elephant, if it looks like a rhino, then it probably is one.
I too was a little confused about the rhinoceros. Largely, I now understand and agree with what Victor said about how if it looks like you are working in class, then you probably are a Tier 4. However, I feel that should not be the only way a Tier 4 student is determined. If a student is talking to others and joking around while working, it may seem like that student is not working and therefore is not a Tier 4. In reality, the student was working, and would have deserved to be in the Tier 4. I personally think that the Grade Abatement profiles should be based upon the amount of work they are able to hand in, how they speak with Mr. Eure/Ms. Olson, and how much they learn at the end of the three weeks.
I entirely agree with Akshay’s comment in that we should see how they do during and after the GAP period. However, I also agree with how if a student looks like they aren’t working, they probably aren’t, but there are times when that student is working when they may not look like they are.
Akshay, I agree with you that some tier 4 students will joke around and still work, and it may not seem like they are on task and working and deserve a tier 4. I disagree with you that the Grade Abatement profile should just be based upon the amount of work they are able to hand in, it should be based on the work you hand in and the way you work in class and are able to stay on task. If you really deserve a tier 4 and want it you won’t joke around in class, you will try and develop your work as much as possible.
I think that Tier 4 students, especially 8s and 9s, should be completed focused almost all of the time (if they waste a class period occasionally, they should take the time to reflect on that in order to figure out how to be more effective in the future). And more than that, they should encourage the same kind of focus amongst their peers by being an example of what a self-disciplined, organized, productive student looks like. I think most of the time it’s pretty clear who is doing their work and who isn’t, but I do agree with you that sometimes joking around can be a part of a serious discussion. Okay, not joking around exactly, but meaningful conversations can be light-hearted…I think that it is okay to be laughing and joking in class as long as it has some meaning within the context of the coursework and as long as the students recognize what they are doing and have the self-discipline to steer away from going completely off-task.
The goal of every class should be to get as much work as possible done each period, and also outside of the room. However, we need to remember that students are humans, not robots. We all have problems in our personal lives at home or in school that might affect how much work we are able to do, and how focused we will be in class. For example, I am taking many AP classes so if I have a huge unit test in one class that I have to stay up all night to study for, I will be very tired when working in class and I won’t be 100% effective. Obviously, every student should understand that not doing any work and completely being on your phone during a class period is not what we should be doing. However, if I feel that during class I could have been doing more, I will make it up during a study hall or at home. If you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, you can open a feedback loop with Mr. Eure to explain your situation to him. It is important to have open communication with the teacher to show how invested you are in the class, without actually overworking yourself. The class period should definitely involve some joking around to maintain a stress-free, positive environment that is open and welcoming. This will ensure that people are focusing more on enjoying and improving on the process of learning, instead of just competing for how many final products we can create every quarter.
I think this a really great idea to constantly update the portal because many teachers don´t update every week so if we go in the portal we may things we are doing ok and are caught up on everything but several weeks later when they update it is already to late and it might end up to show that we are failing and from there its is hard for some people to catch up.
It is easier to have the lesson in front of us than not having the teacher talk in front of us because we will always have the lesson in front of us and we will be able to click on it. If you are doing what you are suppose to be doing for a Tier 4 its probably all going to be right in a way that you know. It something is good its automatically going to be a good score.
I agree that it is easier to have the lesson in front of you. It means that you can take the time to engage with it whenever you are able to focus on it and whenever you find the time. If you know you have a busy week ahead of you and Mr. Eure posts something on Sunday night, you have to be organized enough to know that you should read it then and discuss it in class instead of trying to squeeze into your busy weekday schedule. It also means that you don’t have to follow the teacher exactly. If Mr. Eure writes something and it makes you think about something tangential, you can take the time to explore that instead of being afraid that you will miss whatever he says next as part of the lecture. And finally, it solidifies the lesson in writing. If you are confused a few days later, you can re-engage with that lesson whereas even if you had taken great notes, you would never be able to fully return to the moments of a lecture. I believe that all of these possibilities make this type of instruction very valuable and I wonder why it is not typically used by a lot of teachers. Do you all have any ideas about why this kind of instruction isn’t very common in schools?
I clicked on that George Orwell article, and I’ve read about half of it as of right now. I find it interesting that the sort of writing that appears to be praised as looking all grand and smart was actually criticised by him. I’ve read 1984, and it seems like he feared the loss of imagery and meaning in our writing. I understand his criticisms on the art terms as well; it helps me connect with the rest of the writing. I would be a bit annoyed if I were to see anyone describe an art piece in its entirety as looking “dead,” because it doesn’t really mean anything. Suggesting to do something such as adding lighting to the eyes, hair, and skin would be far more direct and helpful, for example. I was also unaware of origins of very common words such as “predict” being Latin.