A 4th(-ish) of July Break
And, some favorite posts
It’s a break week for us here at the blog! There were a few holidays over the past week, Robert is moving to Texas, and I’m running a math camp for much of July. So, we’re taking this week off — but fear not, we’ll be back next week with a new post!
If you missed Robert’s big announcement last week, be sure to read it here:
A time for change
Here at Grading for Growth, we are committed to publishing new content every Monday morning without fail. Sometimes there are five Mondays in a month instead of four. Today is one of those. Over a 400-year calendar cycle, this happens 1671 times out of 4800 months — about 35% of the time
If you’re looking for something else to read, here are a few of our (slightly) older posts that you might have missed. Enjoy!
My post from last year about the importance of being part of a community of support when using alternative grading, with lots of examples of how to find and build just that kind of community:
14 ways to find and build community
Getting started with alternative grading can feel intimidating. There’s so much information out there, but it can still feel like you’re all on your own when it comes to designing your own class. Even an experienced alternative grader can feel isolated if there’s nobody else nearby who’s trying similar things.
A guest post that applies the idea of the “drama triangle” to alternative grading, and shows how we can flip it upside down:
The Drama Triangle of Grading
Today we bring you a guest post by Jordan Freitas, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit University in Los Angeles, CA. She works on developing data collection and management systems that account for unique contexts and enable …
Robert’s post on an often overlooked benefit of alternative grading, with advice about what really matters to future employers:
How alternative grading helps me write better letters of recommendation
Seven years ago, I spent a year on sabbatical with Steelcase, Inc., a global design company based here in the Grand Rapids area. My main “job” there was to conduct research on active learning classrooms, work with academic customers, and help out on several big design projects. But when I wasn’t doing that, I was talking t…
A guest post about questions of equity, access, and power in our classrooms:
Beyond Achievement
Today we bring you a guest post by Kelsey Grinde and Leslie Myint (both at Macalester College) and Allison Theobold (at Cal Poly). This post stems from ideas shared in a 2023 Joint Statistical Meetings session, “Power in the Classroom: From Helping Students Play the Game to Helping Students Change the Game”, where all …
Finally, as always, we want to hear from you! Do you have a story to tell about alternative grading, big or small? Fill out our guest post proposal form and we’ll take a look at your ideas!
See you next week!