Emerging after a whirlwind of blogs and tweets on low-floor, high-ceiling tasks and notice/wonder visuals I'm left with considering another main component of teaching: assessment. How do I know they learned the learning goal for the day? How do I know they can apply that learning goal to more than just the problem(s) from class? How do I know they can retain the information a week, a month, a semester later? I've been reading some cool books and listening to podcasts on the topic.
Hacking Assessment describes how we need to create time in class for what we value as teachers, and assess on what we value as well. If we value reflection, then we need to make time for reflection. I also highly value collaboration. It made me REALLY think of ways to adapt my quizzes and tests to do this. I think when I go back to the classroom my assessments will look like this:
At one point one of them mentions FreshGrade, and how it acts as a digital portfolio for student learning. Students upload examples of mastery, whether it be problems from assessments or problems they made up and answered at home, and their "grades," (from what I hear) are color-coded to show students what they're proficient on, and what they haven't yet mastered. Colors aren't averaged together give a student an ultimate color or overall grade. Students choose whether or not they want to gain proficiency in the standards they see needing improvement.
I LOVE this idea of color-coding grades. I've been using Standards-Based grading for about 4 years in the classroom, as well as unlimited reassessment, and it's been a HUGE improvement from my former system of traditional grading ("oh you failed this test? Sorry, better luck on the next one, even though it'll cover the same material!" UGH). However! I ALWAYS have students come in to reassess and ask me their overall grades before reassessing, and STOP reassessing as soon as their grade reaches a D. It doesn't happen to every student, but enough to make me have a handful of conversations every year like, "hey, you know you have the ability to push yourself harder than a D, right?" I think color-coding sends the message of "you know this well" or "you need to improve your understanding" without a judgmental grade attached. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of grade interviews (I can't remember which blog I read where the teacher does this, sorry!) every few weeks, where I sit down with students and basically say, "the gradebook says --%, but do YOU think this is an accurate reflection of your knowledge?" The idea that grades can change based on reflection and interview is exciting, and will be exciting for students too, and I think it's exactly how we should be doing things if we want students to LEARN and not just get a nonsensical grade.
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AuthorTracy Conte is a high school math teacher in Raleigh, NC. Archives
November 2019
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