How to do SBG, better, next time!

Wordle of this semester's SBG Targets

Over the last few semesters, I have begun implementing a standards-based grading approach in my classes. My first real attempt was over the summer in a small intermediate algebra class. The results were very positive, but I had fewer than 12 students in the class for most of the semester. Plus it was summer. Could SBG stand up to the challenges of an academic year? Thinking the benefits were worth it, I decided to go for it.

It was worth it -- and I'll talk about why another time -- but I also learned a few things along the way. As the semester is drawing to a close, and I'm grading a lot of student work as they seek to fill in "holes" in the SBG gradebook, I thought it was prime time to reflect on what I would do differently next time: hence, this post.

My Intermediate Algebra Targets (Su13)

I used these targets as part of a my standards-based grading effort in a summer offering of our Mth110 course (Intermediate Algebra) at GVSU.

They are not perfect. Some changes I would make for next time include:

• Reducing the overlap between certain pairs of targets (Target 1.2 and Target 1.14 are examples of that).
• Splitting some targets that merge two concepts or skills in one target (Targets 1.5 and 1.11 are two examples of that).

But overall these worked well and were well-received by my students.

Feel free to use or modify for your own non-commercial educational purposes. For all other purposes, please contact me and let me know what you have in mind.

Intermediate Algebra Learning Targets

I don't know this...yet!

I've written before about my experiences with Standards Based Grading and why it feels so right. See "Show me what you can do" and "I can show you more than that".

Yesterday I gave a quiz on measurement and data. During the quiz, I noticed a few students really seemed to be struggling with some questions (evidence: prolonged periods of time spent staring at a blank spot on their paper).

So interrupted the class with the following announcement:

Remember, one of the great things about this SBG grading system is that you can always turn in more evidence later. So if you don't know how to do something yet, it really is okay to just write "I don't know yet." We'll keep working on it, and then you can turn in stronger evidence when you're ready." 

The release from the students was immediate. Tense shoulders relaxed. One student said out loud how much better that made her feel. It was a memorable moment.

How Math Saved Bedtime

(This post was inspired by @Trianglemancsd's blog Talking Math with Kids.)

The bedtime routine at our house begins at 7:30. We have a chart showing the steps: take a vitamin, go potty, brush teeth, put PJs on, read three books, go to sleep. Lately, the middle three steps have evolved into a serious power struggle with my four year old. He whines, complains, drags his feet, says he's too tired... and the resulting cajoling amounts to leading a horse to water and finding that it stubbornly will not take a drink.

From https://www.babysleepsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/coverears.jpg

After a particularly frustrating night, I happened to notice the potty / brush his teeth / change into PJs sequence had taken 24 minutes. This gave me an idea. I went downstairs and found a piece of black construction paper and a white crayon. I quickly constructed the axes for a simple bar chart, extending the vertical scale up to an optimistic 25 minutes, and sketched the horizontal scale that would hold the days of the week.

Phronesis? (Using Tools Strategically)

I was preparing a lesson on representing data with dot plots and box plots. The goal was to help students recognize the pros & cons of each type of visual display, among other things (like simply making sure everyone knew how to construct one).

But it turned into something more powerful, at least for a moment, and I thought I would share that moment with you via this post.

The lesson also built off the previous session where we had used "MAD Minute" type tasks to generate data. You know, like these:

 

Lots of kids are good at those. I was good at them. Many of my preservice elementary teacher students said they loved them too. "Oh man, I loved doing these!" But you didn't love them if you weren't good at them. And we had that discussion: For some kids, these high-stakes timed worksheets were sources of extreme anxiety.

I'm not grading this

I asked my students to turn in a draft of the Cheesecake Task last week. But when I sat down this weekend to prepare to write feedback on their tasks, I hit a snag. Simply put, the work was not good, but their self-evaluations were off the charts high. How could this be?

 Before I started inking comments, I decided to sort the stack into two piles:

Pile one: Almost got it, needs minimal feedback. 
Pile two: Needs a lot of work (and lots of feedback).

Pile one had 5 papers in it. Pile two had 19.

Ugh. 

A Planning Post

I have had many conversations with preservice teachers about what it looks like when an experienced teacher plans a lesson. I suspect we all approach it differently, but I had a really nice lesson the other day that I wanted to understand better. So I decided to kill two birds with one post: in writing up my planning efforts, hopefully I can help some of my newest colleagues understand something about lesson planning while also coming to a better understanding of why that particular lesson "worked". So, here's what lesson planning sometimes looks like for me: