When I was in grade school, I perceived grades as who I was. It was always a competition between my friends and I of who had the best grades and whenever I didn't score as high as they did it made me feel really bad. Most of the time grades motivated me because I did wanna do well but also at times when I didn't score highly it made me wanna give up and made me feel as though I wasn't able to do that skill. To my knowledge the grading strategy that really stood out to me is when my teachers would grade on effort because they were kind enough to take the time to see I was trying. When they would grade like this I tended to like the class more because I knew I was getting graded on more than just what I knew and what I didn't know.

As a student, my family moved cities/states over 12 times during my K-12 education. My sister and I often struggled in our classes and received lower marks. It was discouraging at times because different states grade things differently. I had to do credit recovery to get caught up in High School. I do not recall any specific instances since I haven't been in High School since 2005, however when I went to technical college I was super motivated to get good grades because I was paying for my own schooling at that time, I graduated with a 3.98 GPA. I cannot remember a single professor that was not encouraging and supportive during my time at technical college. The positive feedback really helped me want to work even harder to make the Deans list and graduate.

As a young student I didn't care at all about my grades. My education consisted of socializing. I would get told by my parents that I would get rewarded for good grades on my report card but I never was told the importance of good grades. I remember that the grades would embarrass me but for some reason I didn't care to study. I wish I had now!