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Random Updates From the Front Line
0. A few students I taught in Algebra II last year came up to me this year and told me that they’re using my binder system in their math classes this year to stay organized. One wants to show me his...
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changing the conversation: specific and student-led
Anonymous excerpts from emails setting up reassessments: Okay, so I think I’d like to have another go at skills 1 and 7.I don’t think I did as well as I should have because I didn’t read the questions...
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Some Downsides to SBG
SBG — or at least the way I’m implementing it — has some downsides. I see a ton of positives, but there are things to weigh against it. I am pretty sure my final verdict will come from my students,...
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State of the Class: Dude, This is what’s going on…
I had my calculus kids fill out a survey that I wrote — with their thoughts about what’s going on. I usually leave things like evaluations to be narrative, so students can say what they want to say...
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Reassessments
Tomorrow is the last day I’m allowing kids to reassess for this first quarter. For those just getting up to speed, I broke calculus into discrete skills and I’m testing kids on these skills. If they do...
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Frame it! Stat!
Below is a reflection one of my Calculus students wrote at the end of the first quarter. My initial reaction: I am going to frame this. (That will happen next week.) My second reaction: there is no...
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Quarter II on SBG
We’re at the twilight of the second quarter in my calculus class. Standards Based Grading has become normal. The most exciting thing about SBG is seeing students who are traditionally unsuccessful turn...
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To Reassess (or, how to make more work for me)
Part of standards based grading is getting students to remediate before being allowed another shot at demonstrating their mastery. Reassessing shouldn’t be a “free pass.” I think I wrote previously...
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How I Grade Tests to Mine Learning Data [quickly]
For my first year using Standards Based Grading, I was an SBG-hybrid teacher. The standards that I used made up about 30-40% of students’ overall grades (the category weights changed over the course of...
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Feedback on SBG
This is going to be a super short post, directed to you SBGers. One of the things we talked a lot about this summer at PCMI was feedback! [1] Here’s my question about feedback and SBG. Let’s say you...
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The Clock, Counting Down
It’s Monday night and the first day of classes is Wednesday. I am teaching only two preps this year — the first time since I started teaching! I have a couple Algebra II classes and a couple Calculus...
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Algebra Bootcamp in Calculus
So it was the Old Math Dog who pointed out that I never wrote a post explaining how I deal with the issue of kids not knowing basic algebra in calculus. I started this practice two years ago (when I...
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Standards Based Grading 2011-2012
I gave my kids a google form to fill out with their thoughts on Standards Based Grading this year in calculus. My instinct is to interpret them for you before presenting them, but I’ll hold off. For...
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Advice from Calculus Students Past, Informing the Calculus Student Present
I’ve done Standards Based Grading in Calculus for two years now. This is the start of my third year. One of the things I have my kids do at the end of each school year (not just in calculus, but in all...
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Being an SBG teacher in a non-SBG world
I’ve posted about my adventures in Standards Based Grading… more so when I first started doing it, less so this year. I overall have been happy with it, but three weeks ago I had a moment of...
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