Mr Blair's Classroom

Many BC educators I've spoken to are intrigued by standards-based grading (SBG). They've heard of it. They like the idea of it. But, they have no idea where to start with it. The intent behind this series of blog posts is to provide those same educators with a step-by-step guide for implementing SBG into their own classrooms. I don't claim to be an expert, but I've had plenty of trial and error over the years with it. Also, my assessment, including my SBG practices, has been substantially informed and inspired by many true experts in the field, including Tom Schimmer, Katie White, Matt Townsley, Myron Dueck, Emily Rinkema, Stan Williams, and many others. I'll publish a later blog post with reading recommendations (Those folks are a great place to start though!). These past few years, I've gradually made the transition from having what Tom Schimmer would call the "standards based mindset" to having true SBG secondary ELA and Humanities classrooms. I thi...

My Rationale: My goal has been to create a system that authentically involves students in their own assessment. A system that abolishes the autocratic enterprise that can be more traditional assessment practices. This way, assessment can cease to be something students are subjected to and become something they're intimately involved and invested in. Simply speaking, my specific intention behind assessment conversations is to infuse more student voice into my assessment. Is there a better way to achieve that than having students' literal voices incorporated into their assessment? Here's a step-by-step breakdown of these assessment conversations: Step #1: Student Self-Evaluation After completing a project, students fill in the following their  Assessment Conversation Self-Evaluation   (see examples below) . It mostly mirrors the single column rubric students receive with the project. However, rather than "Areas to Celebrate" and "Areas to Address," the Sel...

"How's marking all those papers? They must take days to get through." They do. Traditionally, "those papers" have monopolized my freetime and a significant portion of my mental load. They are my boulder. As an English teacher, I have oft felt like Sisyphus pushing his cursed boulder to the very top of the hill only to have it roll back to the bottom again, over and over again,  for eternity.  Push. Roll. Push. Roll. Push. Roll. Mark. Return. Mark. Return. Mark. Return. Same process, different boulder. Finish marking thirty papers and thirty more appear on my desk. Mark. Return. Mark. Return. One could not possibly imagine this Sisyphus smiling.  Upon receiving their marked projects, students typically responded in two ways: they would glance at the feedback, nod their head, and tuck the paper into the bottomless abyss of their backpacks or they would glance at the mark, shake their head, and cast the paper in the recycling bin. Both reactions did not suggest pro...