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/
My 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.
Three mathematicians on why "numbers don't lie" is a bad argument for traditional grades.
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.
Thinking about it more, my anxiety was because I was getting back several big packets of homework from the professor. The homework had numerical grades and lots of feedback. They were really late getting back to me and the feedback was a lot to take in all at once.
Just woke up from a dream where I was a student in my own (ungraded) geometry class. In the dream, I felt enormous anxiety about my grade in the class. So, that's going to take some thinking.
I've been reflecting on how alternative grading gives *me* better tools to effectively support struggling students. So that's what I wrote about today:
Clarity, organization, and support
gradingforgrowth.com
Don't attempt Wordle before tea.
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My favorite teaching days are the ones when I think "what can I best do to help students learn right now?" and the answer is "go talk a walk around the building and check back in 10 minutes."
This morning, a conversation between Tamar More and Chris Hallstrom about how alternative grading grew from scattered individuals to became part of the culture at University of Portland.
A conversation about our journey from individual practice to a supportive and widespread community at the University of Portland
gradingforgrowth.comThis is the modern equivalent of "hey, that's the combination on my luggage!"
This is a great idea from @empittsdonahoe.bsky.social about defining what is -- and isn't -- within our "scope of practice".
What are we qualified for? What are we responsible for? And why do we assess student work anyway?
emilypittsdonahoe.substack.comCall for guest posts: Are you doing something interesting with alternative grading, and do you have ideas or experiences to share with our audience? Please fill out our form to propose a guest post!
An opportunity to make your ideas and experience visible
gradingforgrowth.comGosh, here I've been calling you by the wrong first name all these years.
It always seems to be a chalkboard (or a magical transparent wall). Why not a crazy math whiteboard? Maybe this should be a project for us.
FYI this function is built into macos. I do the same thing but from System Settings --> Keyboard --> Text replacement
These are good points. This post (and the entire blog and book) pretty much only talk about higher ed because neither Robert nor I have much K-12 experience.
Today on Grading for Growth, @roberttalbert.bsky.social goes head-to-head with some myths about whether it's necessary to wait to use alternative grading until you're in a position of "power".
We don't have to overhaul a broken system to do something good within it
gradingforgrowth.comSpencer has a wonderful deep dive into yet another reason why weighted averages are a bad idea.
A new blog post in which I go full pepe sylvia mode about levels of measurement.
rhinopotamus.github.io/2024/02/21/g...
The other day in class we were talking about something having to do with weighted averages1. As a familiar example of weighted averages, I had people calculate a weighted GPA for warmup (with weights ...
rhinopotamus.github.ioWe could distinguish between them by adding a slash across them in different directions. That will *definitely* be unambiguous and easy to read.
A friend who works with machine learning once told me that experts expect current LLMs need to be "about 5x larger" before they can consistently handle basic arithmetic.
"We appreciate that we are making pure profit from you. Please, like, keep that up."
I think there are two related things.
What I understand Josh to be thinking about is how to "sell" the idea to colleagues/admin ahead of time, to build buy-in, generally to smooth the path.
But there's also "what do I do when things go south", when you're already in the middle of alt-grading.
We have some general advice like this one, but nothing about responding to active hostility from colleagues/admin.
Your students aren't the only people with whom you need to build trust.
gradingforgrowth.com
Have you used alternative grading successfully when faced with active hostility/pushback from colleagues or administrators? How did you push back?
@pwr2dppl.bsky.social asked a question about this, and I'd like to collect stories about what works - might become a blog post.
@pwr2dppl.bsky.social If I were to put out a call for someone willing to write on this topic, could I tag you in it, or would you rather not?
I'm sorry to hear about this. We've addressed "generating buy-in with colleagues" in a general way, but what you're asking for is much stronger (and valuable!). Robert and I don't have the experience to write it... I'm curious if we can find somebody willing to write about it.
A related element is support within tenure, promotion, and renewal decisions. I once had an idea to put together a group who would volunteer to write external letters that put alternative graders' work in context. But I never quite figured out how to make it *work*.
The traditional way is, of course, cutting open a particularly strong onion and trying not to cry.
Are you coming to Mathfest this year? Because we may have to settle this up in the traditional way.
Absolutely! It's not work that we made up to satisfy some imaginary formula; it's work that matters!
Non-grading news: Here's an article about MathPath, a middle school summer math camp that I help run. Check it out!
digitaleditions.walsworthprintgroup.com/publication/...
"Whatever crazy Chris comes up with" could be an interesting proposal...
The conference is also looking for abstracts for talks, workshops, round tables, etc. Submit them here:
Registration is open for the Grading Conference! June 13-15 2024, online. Low cost and pay-what-you can options are available.
If you're interested in learning more about alternative grading or sharing your work, check it out!
thegradingconference.com/registration...
It was good to see the Lions returning to their core incompetencies.
The only thing I have ever used sed for was learning or re-learning how to use sed.