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...

When the BC Ministry of Education released their proposed Draft K-12 Student Reporting Policy , I felt empowered. I felt reassurance that my assessment practices were on the right path. But I also felt apprehensive: to be most successful, significant assessment changes demand significant buy in from all teachers. I believe a tiered and staff-wide approach to this transition could maximize success at the individual teacher level. After all, such a vital transition demands all hands on deck. I created this tiered step-by-step plan* as a framework for implementing the K-12 Draft Student Reporting Policy at the school, department, and classroom levels. It's certainly not perfect. But I hope it can assist other educators as they jump into proficiency language practices. *By no means do I claim ownership over any of these ideas. This is merely a synthesis of practices I discovered in books, blog posts, articles, or even Tweets. I'm just a teacher who wants this transition to work. Wh...

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...

While Climate Change is rightfully considered humanity's greatest current existential threat (If you can briefly close your eyes to our current Covid-19 pandemic), the infodemic threatens much of what humanity holds dear: democracy, education, and even our own health. For those unacquainted, the infodemic refers to the continuous assault faced by society's information ecosystem. Truth has been pitted against a constant barrage of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and utter lies. So, what can we do about it? Like I tell my students, "Don't stop at the problem. Find a solution." Something needs to change if we are going to defeat this hydra of misinformation: one conspiracy theory gets debunked five more take its place. Society requires solutions and requires them soon. I believe our students have the capacity to be agents of change. We just need to give them a chance. With that in mind, there,  undoubtedly, exists precedent for teens changing the world. Greta Th...

Like most, the American Election results monopolized both my television and my mind. Like most, the Trump vs. Biden Presidential Race occupied too much of my mental real estate. I had lessons to plan and projects to mark, but I couldn't take my eyes off that screen. After awhile, I found it staring back at me. Pablo Picasso's haunting 1937 painting, "Guernica", spontaneously flashed across my mind. Black. White. Grey. Pain. Chaos. Pandemonium. Why? I honestly wasn't sure. Maybe my students could help? The following day, I projected the following provocation up on the board, alongside an image of the painting: "Why might Mr. Blair have thought about Pablo Picasso's "Guernica" while watching the election results?" Their answers astounded me. Creative and critical thinking were on full display. I posed a question that has likely never been asked in history. In turn, several students responded like they had been waiting to answer su...

Social media has morphed into a breeding ground for misinformation and polarization. If you don't believe me, just check out the comment section of any news article. No platform has been exempt from this transformation: not Facebook, not Twitter, not YouTube. A key culprit in this culture of misinformation is the internet meme due to how quickly they can be shared person to person, and platform to platform.  Like all mediums, memes can communicate a seemingly infinite number of messages and sentiments. They can feature everything from "Grumpy Cat" jokes to logical fallacy fueled racist rhetoric. Unfortunately, not everyone sticks to "Grumpy Cat"! Too many people delve into the murky world of fallacious reasoning and malicious political commentary. As a teacher, I felt compelled to be a force for change in this arena.  My primary intention behind this project wa s for students to develop a keen awareness regarding logical fallacies and their various manif...