Striving to Assess the "Write" Way Last quarter, while I was sitting alone in my room, a former student of mine came to chat with me. She had been in my English 11 New Media class last year and was currently wrestling with English 12, eagerly anticipating graduation which was just a few short weeks … Continue reading Striving to Assess the Write Way
Seems like on most days when I hit social media, I’m bombarded by the same chatter—grades are “meaningless,” “don’t measure learning,” and “are corruptive.” And the comments don’t stop there. There’s negative chatter about all forms of grading practices, including standards-based grading. While I agree that outdated and ineffective grading practices like using a 101 … Continue reading The Case for Standards-Based Grading
I have a thing about tests. I understand that tests are one form of summative assessment for skills or content, I just don’t think it should be the only way. I also think teachers shouldn’t use them under the pretext that teaching "test-taking" is some kind of real world life skill that must be bolstered. … Continue reading Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…
For the first month of quarter one, I saw approximately 50% of my English 8 students. No joke. I’d take attendance and hit an equal number of Absent as I did Present into Myed. After putting my heart and soul into planning a quarter and being stoked to be back in the classroom face to … Continue reading Popcorn attendance, learning opportunities, and mulligans: musings about teaching in a quarter system
Quarters. Copernican. Ten weeks. These are the words many high school teachers across British Columbia have heard in the last few weeks instilling intrigue, fear, and anxiousness for the new school year. Sure, it’s the same number of teaching minutes, but it’s not so easy to just double the lessons and call it a day. … Continue reading Backwards design to survive our quarter course reality
Once upon a time, in a far away gradebook, oh about fifteen to twenty odd years ago, there was a keen and eager teacher who wanted to create an assessment for an English 9 short fiction unit. She laboured over the assessment and decided that a test would be the finest of fits for her … Continue reading Content, A Fairy Tale
For the first week of school, a young man (Let’s call him Brad) hid in his hoodie in my Humanities 8 room. He refused to do any work. I pulled him out, one day, and questioned him in an authoritarian manner. It's the beginning of the school year and I needed to show him I … Continue reading Syncing Maslow with Bloom
I’m so done with letter grades. I’m done with having to generate a symbol of learning that is banal and meaningless. To me, putting a letter grade on a report card is the equivalent of putting onion flakes on the perfect hot fudge sundae. Yuck. Take my Drama 10 class. Over six weeks, they worked … Continue reading There is no ‘%’ in ‘team’
I love Bloom's Taxonomy. I literally have a picture on my phone, another pinned to my bulletin board by my desk, one in my marking bag, and a copy saved to the desktop of every computer I work on in the school, plus one on my H: drive and my flash drives...err...make that flash drives. … Continue reading How do I love Bloom’s Taxonomy…let me count the ways…
My Drama class consists of a group of misfits all in one room with the sole goal of working together and creating a piece for an audience. It isn't a spectacular, award winning show, but it is usually funny, organized, and the kids show dedication and perseverance. Throughout this journey each semester, my students don't … Continue reading My Drama class’s growth mindset can change your class’s growth mindset
my growth mindset 