#slowchatED Week of 3/24/14

This week I'm moderating #slowchatED on twitter. It is great to have a chat where you can take a whole day to ponder a question, pop in and out, and have a wonderful conversation. I have long thought about grading in my classroom, realizing the way I received grades as a student is not the way I run my classroom now as a teacher. I have wanted to try standards based grading, but have often been the only one, or been flat out told "No" by an administrator who feared what parents would think. Well, it's time that I move beyond the philosophical and move towards real tangible strategies to use to make grades in my classroom be a true reflection of the kind of learning taking place for my students.

A few weeks ago Peter Strawn posted a great blog post, where he compared the game of soccer to learning. This solicited a comment from me and launched me into volunteering to moderate for #slowchatEd so I could have a conversation with anyone willing to participate. Then last week, I saw this tweet:

It seems as if students are beginning to understand the process of learning, seeing that traditional grading practices may not reflect what is really happening. So, this weeks #slowchatED will focus on grading practices that encourage curiosity, risk taking, and help reduce the stigma of failure.

Questions for the week are below and are subject to change, to reflect the flow of the conversation. 

• Q1 - What is your experience with grades? Positive,                    Negative? (as student, teacher, and/or parent)
• Q2 - What do your students' grades reflect? (completion,            mastery, practice, etc.)
• Q3 - Can traditional grades reflect the kind of                              learning we want from students? Do they allow                    for failure?
• Q4 - How can grades reflect curiosity and risk taking?                Should they?
• Q5 - How would you design your dream grading system?          What to include? Should you have one at all?
• Q6 - Based on this week's conversation. Will you change            your grading practices? Why/Why not? How?

Q1 will be tweeted Monday morning. Follow the #slowchatEd and join the conversation.