A start of school break
And, some news about our book!
It’s back-to-school season for us, so we’re taking this week off to prepare classes, attend meetings, and enjoy the last few days of summer.
But first, some news!
Grading for Growth (the book) is getting an audiobook! If you’re one of the many, many audiobook fans out there, you’ll soon have the option to listen to our book as well. The expected publication date is in January of 2026. We’ll post more once it’s available.
Speaking of our book, Grading for Growth (the paper book) is on sale right now. You can find a copy for just under $30 US if you’d like to have background, research, case studies, advice, and a full alternative grading course redesign workbook all in one place. You can find the sale at our publisher’s website.
Now on with the posts
If you’re looking for some inspiration or a few reminders at the start of the semester, here are some of our favorite posts about things to do and ideas to try at this time of year.
Robert’s post on a surprisingly useful way to begin a new class:
A growth-focused icebreaker
I hate icebreakers. I don’t use that word “hate” often or lightly. But here, it’s justified. The purpose of icebreakers is, supposedly, to get people involved in some activity to make them more relaxed when working together. But the idea of going through some contrived activity, with a group of people I don’t know, specifically …
It’s a good idea to create a way for students to track their own progress in your class. This can help them make sense of your alternative grading system. Here’s my post on how to do that:
How to make and use grade trackers
It’s important to help students understand how your alternative grading system works, and to help them see where they are succeeding and what they need to work on. One effective way to do that is to give students a grade tracker. A grade tracker is just a piece of paper – or its electronic equivalent – that helps studen…
Speaking of helping students connect with your system, now is the time to start building trustt and buy-in with students:
The SAFE approach to earning buy-in
Getting “buy-in” with an alternative grading system, or any other innovation in teaching, isn’t easy. Although alternative grading serves the best interests of students, it can still be hard work to get students on board with it. David and I have experienced student resistance ourselves; and
It’s never too early — or too late! — to check in with students and see how they’re viewing your class. Start planning now to do a quick anonymous check-in survey:
Seven ways to check in with students
We’re a third of our way through fall semester at Grand Valley State University. That’s a perfect time to check in with students, especially to learn how your alternative grading system is working for them. At this point, your students have likely experienced most of the key aspects of your assessments and gradi…
We’ll see you next week with our next guest post!