The EduGals Podcast

This week, we are talking all about grading in a mastery-based learning classroom. We'll share our learning as well as guiding principles to keep in mind as you consider grading practices in your mastery-based structured classroom.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/66**

• There is no one right answer... flexibility and knowing your students is key!
• Modern Classrooms Project
• Grades will depend on your style, curriculum, goals, colleagues, reporting guidelines
• Progress reports - mastery can be helpful for this
• Still need pacing and structure; target dates are needed
• What are we including for grades?
  • Use soft zeroes where students have not yet mastered the skill
  • Include other evaluations in your gradebook as well, not just mastery checks
• Summative Tests
  • Set goal date, all students write on the same day
  • Set a window (3 days) and students can choose which day to write on
• What do you do with grading categories? This is tricky!
• Only grade what has been specifically taught
• Backwards design - start with the mastery check, and work backwards to create your supporting/learning materials
• Ask your students for feedback
  • Mid-unit and end of unit are good times
  • Use Google forms
• Add in metacognition - reflection questions in mastery checks
• Grading Principles:
  • Be intentional
  • Focus on growth and revision
  • Focus on feedback
• Ungrading - Jesse Stommel: @Jessifer on Twitter
• Book: Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning and What To Do Instead by Susan D. Blum
• Tracking:
  • Google Sheets (Auto-Updating Tracker and Grid System Tracker)
  • Display in classroom for collaboration (consider using code names)
  • No grades!
• Rubrics:
  • Standards-Based Grading (4, 3, 2, 1 levels OR mastered, getting there, not yet)
  • Single Point Rubrics
  • Add to your mastery checks
  • Use "I can..." statements
  • Make sure the language is clear and easy for students to understand
  • Leverage tech - Google Docs/Slides with Mote/Screencastify

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

In this episode, we are sharing our summer reading list for teachers. We'll go over what we are currently reading, recommendations for reading, as well as what we want to read ourselves this summer.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/54**

Currently Reading:

• Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy - Gholdy Muhammad
• Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) - Edited by Susan D. Blum
  • Free Ungrading Workshop - Jesse Stommel

Recommendations:

• Unlocking English Learners' Potential: Strategies for Making Content Accessible - Diane Staehr Fenner & Sydney Snyder
• Powerful Teaching: Unleash the Science of Learning - Pooja Agarwal & Patrice Bain
• When Kids Can't Read: What Teachers Can Do: A Guide for Teachers, 6-12 - Kylene Beers
• Flip Your Classroom: Reaching Every Student in Every Class Every Day - Jonathan Bergmann & Aaron Sams
  • Modern Classrooms Project

Rachel's Summer Reading:

• The Impact Cycle - Jim Knight
• Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain - Zaretta Hammond
• Fair Isn’t Always Equal - Rick Wormeli
• The Power of Making Thinking Visible - Ron Ritchhart & Mark Church
  • Harvard's Project Zero and the Thinking Routines Toolbox
• The Design Thinking Playbook - Michael Lewrick, Patrick Link, & Larry Leifer

Katie's Summer Reading:

• This Place: 150 Years Retold - Multiple Authors/Contributors
  • Podcast by CBC
• Culturally Responsive Teaching for Multilingual Learners - Sydney Snyder & Diane Staehr Fenner
• Come On In: 15 Stories about Immigration and Finding Home - Adi Alsaid
• 21 Things You May Now Know About The Indian Act - Bob Joseph
  • Indigenous Canada Course on Coursera (by University of Alberta)

Other Recommendations - see our detailed show notes at edugals.com/54

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are helping you harness the power of cognitive principles to elevate your teaching practice. In this final instalment of our book study, we'll explore how we can leverage all of our learning from Daniel Willingham's book "Why Don't Students Like School" to help us become the best teachers that we can be.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/127**

• Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
• How To Get Students Thinking - E110
• Strategies for Enhancing Memory & Critical Thinking - E113
• Learning That Transfers - E117
• Supporting Different Types of Learners - E121
• How Technology Influences Student Thinking - E125
• Chapter 10 key ideas:
  • We're taking a break for the summer and we'll be back August 15th
  • New book study coming up in the 2023-2024 school year: Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman
  • Let's apply all of the cognitive principles in this book to our teaching practices!
  • Guiding Principle: “Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must be practiced to be improved"
  • Teaching is very demanding of working memory
  • New teachers - learning factual knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, procedures etc and it takes time! 
  • Experienced teachers also go through growth and learning with new courses
  • Deliberate practice:
    • Pick one small skill, select a specific goal
    • Get feedback
    • Push yourself outside of your comfort zone
    • It's mentally demanding... and not fun
    • Practice indirect skills
  • Lots of great resources: Jim Knight, Google Certified Coach
  • Try a teaching sprint - based off the book Sprint by Jake Knapp
  • Make space for relaxation & down time as you go through changes
  • Getting & giving feedback:
    • Record and watch yourself teaching
    • Watch other teacher videos together
    • Watch each others videos & give feedback
    • Bring it back to the classroom
  • Improvement takes time & change needs to be done purposefully
  • Goal setting needs follow up
  • Take care of yourself as you work on teaching practices!

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are chatting about how to help students to make the most sense of language and symbols in the classroom. Using the UDL (Universal Design for Learning) framework and representation pillar, we are exploring ways to provide support and reduce barriers to language and symbols.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/126**

• CAST.org - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework
• Representation pillar - Language and Symbols guideline
• Avoid single forms of representation
• Checkpoint #1: Clarify vocabulary and symbols
  • Everyday vs academic language
  • Shorthand notation
  • Start a class crowdsourced glossary
  • Beware of idioms
  • Pre-teach vocabulary and symbols
  • Embed vocabulary and symbols through hyperlinks
  • Practice Sets in Google Classroom
• Checkpoint #2: Clarify syntax & structure
  • Combining symbols and words change context
  • Make it explicit!
• Checkpoint #3: Support decoding of text, mathematical notation, and symbols
  • Text-to-speech
  • Not everyone reads with fluency and comprehension
  • Decoding increases cognitive load, uses working memory
  • Scaffold skills - lab reports
  • Audio paired with text
• Checkpoint #4: Promote understanding across languages
  • Make resources available in other languages
  • Allow the use of first languages
  • Google Translate - doesn't always translate 100% but is useful for key concepts
  • Multi-lingual glossaries - use pre-made or make one with your class
  • Multiple modalities
• Checkpoint #5: Illustrate through multiple media
  • Text is not always the best - use alternatives to support
  • Images, simulations, video, graphs, etc
  • Very useful for complex concepts
• Key Takeaway: Don't just use text, include multiple representations to best support learners

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are chatting about how technology has (or hasn't really) impacted student learning. We're talking about how technology affects the learning and cognitive processes of our students, as well as the pros and cons of new technology and adopting these in the classroom.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/125**

• Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel Willingham
• How To Get Students Thinking - E110
• Strategies for Enhancing Memory & Critical Thinking - E113
• Learning That Transfers - E117
• Supporting Different Types of Learners - E121
• Chapter 9 key ideas:
  • Guiding Principle: “Technology changes everything… but not the way you think”
  • Will Chat GPT change everything in the classroom?
  • Digital native vs digital immigrant
  • "Comfort with technology comes from your context, not your generation"
  • Myth of multitasking (or task switching)
  • Impact of music & headphones on independent work
  • Working memory capacity goes downhill after 20s
  • PD for technology is needed with new tools
  • Instructional tech coaches play a big role
  • Train the trainer models
  • Tools that improve learning work to improve cognitive processes
  • Best tools are the simple tools (Screencastify for example)
  • Start with the problems, then select the tech tool to support it
  • Reading comprehension on screens vs paper
  • Digital textbooks
  • Memorization vs Googling it
  • Note-taking - digital vs paper
  • Time spent on devices
  • Parenting with devices (tech addiction)
  • Classroom implications - equity (avoid the digital divide), questions to consider when adopting tech, assistive technology, offer practice in sustained attention

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are sharing our favourite formative assessment tools. Formative assessment is essentially how we are assessing students for what they know while they are learning it in an ongoing format. There are so many great EdTech tools available to provide feedback to your students while they are learning, so we are sharing our favourites for inspiration!

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/101**

• Formative assessment = assessment for learning = assessment as learning

Our favourite tools:

• Screencastify - use prompts, problem solving explanations, pictures, visuals, retrieval practice
• Mote - great Google integrations, Mote Loops, MoteCon 2022 sessions
• Google Forms - self-grading quizzes, flipped classroom
• Kahoot, Quizizz, Gimkit, Blooket - great game apps for assessment, spreadsheets for Q uploads
• All things Google - collaborative, slides, comments, emoji reactions
• Low tech - paper or whiteboards are great!
• Digital whiteboards - Jamboard, Miro, etc
• EdPuzzle, PlayPosit, Nearpod, Screencastify - interactive questions for assessment
• Interactive presentation tools - Nearpod, Pear Deck - try self-paced mode!
• Padlet - online collaborative bulletin board, digital word walls, collaborative sharing, Q&A
• Plickers - combo of low and high tech using QR codes
• Polling tools - Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter, Answer Garden
• Portfolios - check out E074 to learn more - Google Sites or Drive works well
• Interviews & Conversations - have students prep ahead of time with audio or video tools mentioned above
• Podcasting - reflective, works well for problem solving

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

In this episode, we are joined by a special guest from the Vancouver School Board, Jessica Liew, to chat about shifting our grading practices in the classroom. We'll get into all things assessment, focusing on standards-based grading, growth mindsets, and proficiency scales. Get ready to get nerdy about assessment!

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/84**

• Jessica Liew:
  • Vancouver School Board
  • Secondary Technology Support Teacher
  • Social Studies Teacher
  • Contact: [email protected]
• Resources Mentioned:
  • Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman
  • Grading Smarter, Not Harder by Myron Dueck
  • Going Gradeless, Grades 6-12 by Elise Burns & David Frangiosa
  • Tom Schimmer and Katie White
• Key Takeaways:
  • Focus on the skills, using content as the vehicle to practice (skills matter more than content) - performance vs rehearsal
  • Feedback first
  • Focus on student learning and growth not grades and points
  • Organizing your gradebook based on skills not tasks
  • What are the outcomes of your course? What are the transferrable skills? 
  • Avoid the omnibus grade, assessment should only focus on the learning and understanding
  • Ditch late marks, bonus marks, zeroes, 100-point scale, participation marks
  • Carrot and stick approaches to grading don't work to support learning
  • Is homework necessary or equitable?
  • If you stop putting marks on everything, students stop asking what their grade is
  • Changing your language around assessment can change student language as well
  • Organizing gradebooks by standards helps provide focus on where students need to improve
  • Standards-based grading is not a one size, fits all
  • 4 point scale:
    • 1 - Beginning (just starting to work with the skill, needs lots of support)
    • 2 - Developing (partial understanding, lacks consistency)
    • 3 - Applying (proficiency, complete understanding)
    • 4 - Extending (work is exemplary, NOT beyond grade level) 

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are chatting about why teachers are feeling so tired as well as identifying some strategies to cope and survive the rest of this school year. The exhaustion this school year is real so we are sharing different approaches we are taking to make it to summer in one piece!

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/124**

• The exhaustion is real this year!
• More sunlight is helping
• It's been rough with student behaviour in both of our buildings
• Lots of evening events
• Strategy #1: It's ok to say no! Don't stretch yourself too thin
• Strategy #2: Take mental health days as needed to take care of your own health
• Don't feel guilty about saying no
• Take naps as needed
• Strategy #3: Give yourself permission to not be the best teacher (don't take on extras, keep going with what you are doing and try to rely on your team)
• Work-life balance is off - commuting more takes away from planning time
• Resignations are up and, in some boards, bigger than retirements
• Politics and contract negotiations
• Strategy #4: Avoid the news and social media (blissful ignorance)
• Strategy #5: Spend time connecting with friends and family to refill your bucket
• Strategy #6: Create boundaries (check emails only in school hours)
• Strategy #7: COFFEE!
• Strategy #8: Take care of your health (eating well, exercising, listen to your body)
• Strategy #9: Hobbies (knitting, piano, violin)
• Strategy #10: Vent with critical friends (avoid bottling things up!)
• Strategy #11: Planning forward (camping, puppy)

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• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are getting an update on Katie's project with Living Hyphen. She will be sharing updates on her dual language book project-based learning. The book has printed and officially launched!

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/123**

• Identity Texts & Project-Based Learning - E119
• Living Hyphen website
• ESL classes with a project-based learning lens (creating a book about immigration and settlement challenges)
• Dual language writing pieces
• Teams: events, graphic design, publicity, presentation, podcasting, sales, production managers
• Oakville News Article
• Lots of due dates, quick turnaround time (less than 1 month!)
• Book launch - reached out to classes, board members, local media
• Presentation - process of creating the book, sharing some entries
• Tools used - Canva (needs auto-generating page numbers!), used anonymized accounts to protect student privacy
• Big wins: courage to share their journey (some were not happy)
• Roadblocks: low proficiency ELLs and/or new arrivals (how to get them involved to help build language)
• Going Forward: Give yourself more time, let the students take ownership (give up control), make the role expectations explicit, connect with feeder schools
• Find those opportunities for elementary and secondary schools to overlap to build relationships
• If you are in the Oakville, ON area and are interested in getting a copy of the book, reach out to us!

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Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show

This week, we are chatting all about the 100-point scale, why it is biased towards failure, and what we can do instead to make our grading a bit more biased-resistant. 

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss out on any new content! And consider supporting the show by buying us a coffee or two!

We would love to hear from you – leave a comment on our website OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/122**

• Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman
• 100-pt scale is biased towards failure
• Zeroes disproportionately punishes students
• Too many transitions points between grades (judgement between grades is much harder)
• More inconsistencies of grading between teachers with 100-pt scale
• Try using a scale with fewer points (0-4, 0-3, 0-5 for example)
• Avoid marking everything - focus on summative tasks
• Most recent, most consistent

Minimal Scales:

• Decide how many transition points that you want
• 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 point scales are all possibilities
• Single point rubrics - criteria listed for level 3
• Mastery scales (yes, no)  - criteria listed for level 4 (3 attempts allowed because expectations are high)
• Specifications Grading - E107
• This is NOT watering the curriculum or grading down!
• Multiple attempts or replacing grades as skills progress

Other suggestions:

• Setting a minimum grade (40 or 50%) - essentially equalizes the grade bands to make grading more equitable
• Using a 4 pt scale (or something similar), you will eventually need a grade conversion chart
• Specific grades - 95, 85, 75, 65, etc. - pick specific values for each level
• Think about your zeroes - is it compliance or comprehension?
• Keep students accountable instead of using a zero

Determining Final Grades:

• Eventually you will likely need to convert back to a 100-pt scale
• Automatic conversions in gradebook software
• Conferencing with students (along with reflections)
• Most recent, most consistent - look for trends

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show