David Clark
@dccmath.bsky.social
Mathematician at GVSU, but all views are my own. Author of Grading for Growth, the book and the blog!
Info: https://sites.google.com/mail.gvsu.edu/clarkdav/
Fundamental elements, fundamental elements everywhere!
Thanks @profnoodlearms.bsky.social for a good laugh when I finally remembered to check my office mail.
Today's classes included one dedicated to @dccmath.bsky.social . My students have been studying the classification of wallpaper patterns into 17 symmetry types, and today they practiced making some patterns to fit given descriptions.
Here is a thread of images for your enjoyment
1/n
Self-promotion: Grading for Growth -- practical case studies of how to make alternative grading work across settings.
Today on Grading for Growth, a guest post by Kelsey Grinde, Leslie Myint, and Allison Theobold on how we can use a framework to think about how Access, Identity, and Power can affect our design choices in alternative grading.
If I actually meet you in person, it will be disconcerting to find that you aren't made of pixellated blocks of thread.
As my neighbors were posting spectacular aurora photos, I stepped outside (in the middle of the city) and couldn't see a darn thing.
My wife just mentioned that I have my "family's distinctive elbows" and... I had not thought about that before.
In Bb Ultra, I have been able to do what Drew described -- displaying grades as short descriptions via a rubric, e.g. "Needs revision". Not great, but good enough.
On today's blog: sometimes alternative grading isn't the right choice.
She's not wrong. If a pair of geese move in to your yard, your only real option is to move out and try to sell the place.
I'm so envious. I use clear plastic cups and cardboard. (I really need something better than cardboard.)
Reposting for the morning crowd -- if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them!
I'm thinking about a blog post titled "DON'T use alt-grading if..."
How would you complete that sentence?
Some ideas: DON'T use alt-grading if...
- you want to spend less time with student work.
- you just want to see what happens.
- you don't have the time to make a careful plan.
Others?
I'm thinking about a blog post titled "DON'T use alt-grading if..."
How would you complete that sentence?
Some ideas: DON'T use alt-grading if...
- you want to spend less time with student work.
- you just want to see what happens.
- you don't have the time to make a careful plan.
Others?
We usually get complaints that we're too math focused, so I'm glad to hear this!
Today on Grading for Growth, Kyle Evans reflects on using ungrading in two brand-new courses: gradingforgrowth.com/p/ungrading-...
That is amazing. This is definitely going on my CV.
You coming to Mathfest this year? Got some room for a fundamental element in your luggage?
As terrible as the start of COVID was, the fact that we just canceled all social events was *fantastic* and I would like to keep that up, pleaseandthankyou.
Should I add "cutest little fundamental tile" to my CV now? Is that service?
I do not feel like that's a good trade. But I'm glad Form 4868 was there for you!
Used IRS Form 4868 to good effect in a talk about alternative grading this morning. One of the best counters I've ever found to "but in the real world, all deadlines are hard".
U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad Automatic 6 Month Extension of Time to File | Internal Revenue Service
If you use a calendar year, the regular due date of your return is April 15. If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the due date is delayed until the next business day. If you ...
www.irs.gov1 gets explicitly left out because otherwise there are infinitely many ways to factor each number into primes (e.g. 6 = 2*3, 6 = 1*2*3, 6 = 1*1*2*3, ...) and We Don't Like That (tm).
The definition of "prime" is one of those things that's actually way more subtle than it looks.
Mathematicians generally agree on something like "a positive integer greater than 1 whose only factors are 1 and itself".
I would love to have more students asking this question.
Instead they tend to be very *certain* that they're correct that 0 cannot be either. It's so consistent that it feels like something they're getting in a previous class.
Most students also begin by assuming that 1 is prime -- so in my case, at least, that's not the cause (and we talk about odd/even first).
I run into this all the time in my intro-to-proofs class.
The weirdest one (for me) is that *many* students start by thinking that 0 is neither odd nor even -- it's something special that is neither.
My actual response: "Excellent proof, but something went wrong with the PDF near the end. I fixed it up for you."
Missed that this came out a few weeks ago. I had a fun time talking with bonni!
Using Alternative Grading Practices to Foster Student Learning, with David Clark – Teaching in Higher Ed
David Clark discusses using alternative grading practices to foster student learning on episode 511 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast
teachinginhighered.comToday on the Grading for Growth blog, an alternative grading scenario to watch out for: Students who view repeated "not yet" as permanent failure.
@roberttalbert.bsky.social Wrote about that scenario here:
Doing alternative grading on a short schedule
How does alternative grading work when you cut the length of the semester by more than half?
gradingforgrowth.comMy geometry students have discovered how to replace the end-of-proof symbol in LaTeX with an image of their choice. This can only go well.
A conveniently located picnic table does its part to share the eclipse.
Three mathematicians on why "numbers don't lie" is a bad argument for traditional grades.
Traditional grades are (still) not mathematically valid
Three reasons why traditional grades and math don't mix
gradingforgrowth.comWe're in the early stages of planning a "research seminar" course, and one of the goals is (probably) to help students develop a sense of what a good mathematical question is. Hard to do without a lot of exposure, experience, trial, and error.
It works with zeroes too! 10/20 = 1/2, 100/400 = 1/4, when will it end?
They tell us you can't divide by zero, but you sure can cross out by zero.
The feedback also made me feel dumb -- like I had missed something obvious, and it was a shock that I'd done so poorly. So anyhow, more thinking to do.