In this episode, we're going to talk about a Twitter thread that went viral. Dr. Liz Norell's thread on her night class now has more than 800,000 views. On it, Norell talks about ice breakers, her liquid syllabus, ungrading, a "punchy" Word document syllabus she created the night before, and communicating the message of care and belonging. 

When it comes to ungrading, Norell tells students that learning is change happening in their minds, something that you can't always see. "And so my hope is that by the end of the semester...students really embrace ungrading, because I find, contrary to my own expectations, they do more work because they care, because they're interested, and they're not doing it for a grade."

Additionally, Norell explains that a delightful consequence of ungrading is that students learn how to self-advocate and take ownership of the work they've done. From ungrading to a liquid syllabus to bringing snacks to class, Norell's main goal is  communicating a message of care and belonging to every person in the classroom. 

Recommended Resources:

• Liz Norell's Resources
• The viral Twitter thread: Last night, a professor walked into a night class for the first time since 2016. Here's what happened...
• Liz Norell's YouTube video: Why I Think Grades are Stupid
• Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos