Ryan Woodside……I teach kids biology

I teach kids…Chris Lehmann MLTI Summer Workshop 2009 Keynote

Language we use

I teach biology

Words matter

I teach KIDS biology

“A student should never be the implied object of their own education” - Chris Lehmann

My Old Gradebook*Every assignment was graded for points

Grade calculated by averaging points

*numbers were “massaged” to illustrate points about certain kids

Why It Doesn’t Work for Me Now

“Compliance Grading”

Easy for kids to copy assignments

Students completed work instead of learning

Did not give me info that I didn’t already know:

Bobby doesn’t do his homework

Jane doesn’t do well on tests

Sam does well on tests

Who are these kids academically?

Student A

“A” - does homework & classwork, gets A’s on test

Who are these kids academically?Student B

“C” - Does their classwork/homework but scores poorly on tests/quizzes

Who are these kids academically?Student C

“C” - Does no homework but gets A’s on the tests/quizzes

Who are these kids academically?Student D

“C” - passes in assignments late (for 50% credit) but scores well on tests/quizzes

Who are these kids academically?Student E

“C” - Did not get early material, but learned late material well on test

I want grades to tell me what my kids know

& can doVariance in “C” grades largely based on behavior/compliance not knowledge

“Grades are communication, not compensation” - Rick Wormeli

But HOW?

Interested in Standards-Based Grading for several years

Conceptually struggled with implementation

I want grades to tell me what my kids know

& can doMy A-HA Movement

Frank Noschese - June 2013 - The Spirit of SBG Post

“A traditional system done in the spirit of SBG is much, much better than an SBG system done poorly” - Frank Noschese

My Gradebook This Year Is…

Organized by unit, not assignment type

Homework “graded” in Habits of Work (HoW)

CategoryQuality Worker

Class Citizen

Collaborative Worker

More frequent, short quizzes over one conceptmostly student graded

can ask for retake (1/wk) by Google Form

Unit Tests organized by concept rather than question type

concept subscores reported out

Grade Summary Report for a student

Portion of grade report for same student

Process & Progress

process over the last 5+ years

not perfect

still a work in progress

But so far I’m happy with the results

Thanks for Listening!

selection of links…

http://goo.gl/UJcFYF