Reflecting on Assessment, Part 3: Communicating Mastery-Based Grading to Students, Families and Educators
by Tyler Rablin | 5.18.22
The reality is, in most of our schools, grades aren’t just a conversation between teachers and our students.
“All of this came to life because of a question by a child and a community focused on empowering students.”
— Educator Kayla Rago
Read more: A student-led project made our school more inclusive
“As we think about the school year ahead, I'm hoping the communal journal strategy can serve as a foundation.”
— Educator Bob Friel
Read more: How digital journals can make space for student connections
“Equity-driven teaching always takes knowledge and care, and the prospect of using inclusive, affirming teaching strategies to support our students, both in-person and online, is challenging.”
— Educator Jorge Valenzuela
Read more: Bringing trauma-informed strategies into the (online) classroom Reflecting on Assessment, Part 2: Making the Shift to Mastery-Based Grading
by Tyler Rablin | 5.10.22
I find that most of my fellow teachers agree that they want grades to accurately reflect student learning, and the roadblock to rethinking more traditional assessment models often comes down to logistics: What does this mean for my planning? What does this mean for my gradebook? I want to share a bit about how I got started.
Throw Your Spaghetti (and 2 More Tips for a Meaningful Teaching Career)
by Rae Walker | 5.2.22
With our day-to-day demands it can be difficult to stay connected to how meaningful this work truly is. So here are a few things I always do to stay connected with what this work means – and I offer them to my fellow teachers, too.
As Teachers, We’re Planting Seeds – and the World Watches Them Grow
by Ciji Thurman | 4.30.22
Recently, I’ve gotten a few notes from former students that have offered me a powerful reminder: Our work takes time to reveal its impact. At this point in the school
Reflecting on Assessment, Part 1: How a Student Changed My Beliefs About Grades
by Tyler Rablin | 4.25.22
During my second year of teaching, I met one of the most brilliant students I’ve ever known. Tiffany was a junior in my intervention class. She read nonstop, and she loved writing and was just fantastic at it. And she was failing my language arts class. Her grade was something like 9%.
3 Keys to a Meaningful Positive Call
by Kennita Ballard | 4.12.22
The simple act of making positive phone calls home can play a powerful role in connecting with families and partnering with them in their children’s education.
4 Access Points for Family Communication
by Kennita Ballard | 4.4.22
We see more growth toward learning outcomes when we plan for the child as a whole in our teaching, as opposed to putting learning in one box, culture in another
3 Ways to Center Students in Curriculum
by Kennita Ballard | 3.28.22
I want to share 3 ways we can codesign our curriculum and pedagogy with students, so they become active partners in their education:
Whether We’re Teaching History or Math, the Stories We Tell Matter
by Anjali Joshi | 3.24.22
I sometimes hear from my fellow math and science teachers that we don’t need to worry about culturally responsive pedagogy. Math is math, isn’t it? But the truth is that there is no such thing as neutral subjects.
Black Students Seeing Themselves As Mathematicians – and All Students Learning About Black Mathematicians
by Kristopher Childs | 3.15.22
I’ve found that representation isn’t always given a lot of consideration in the math classroom. That’s why I care so much about making sure our Black students see themselves in the mathematics experience.
