Zeros in School

With a lot of talk about the teacher in Edmonton teacher Lyndon Dorval who was suspended after not following the school's "no zero" policy. I've been reading a bit of the reactions through twitter and some of the newspapers. I've only been teaching for two years and I have never assessed using zeros so I don't have a previous comparison to the way I assess now. I do have a couple of thoughts about the whole thing. 

I teach Elementary School and I have other consequences I'm able to give my students if they choose not to do their homework. On the same note, as part of the same system I reward my students who do complete assignments on time and so far this system has been very successful. 

If I do have assignments or projects that a student or students don't hand in, or I am having a hard time getting them handed in, I don't think about how much that student is going to "fail in life" because I'm not giving them a zero. Instead I take a look at my assessment and see how I can change either the way I present the information or the way the students show me what they know to make it meaningful to them and thus encourage them to complete their assignments because they are excited to show me what they have done. 

Again, I understand that life is different in elementary school compared to the life of a high school Physics teacher but I don't think the mindset should be much different. I was at a cohort meeting for second year teacher's in my school division and a high school teacher who teaches at risk students or students who haven't been overly successful in school. He talked about the way he assesses and how he does project based assessments. He talked about he differentiates his assessments so students can show him what they know in the way that makes the most sense to them....not in the way he thought they should give them the information. 

I want my students to be successful, I want them to be excited to come to school every day and I want them to complete every assessment I give them. I want my students to be excited to show me what they know, to explore and learn everyday they come in. In order for this to occur I must reflect and be critical about how I teach and assess in order to make this happen.