#ungrading

[comfect]

To double down on this last point: grading as usually done is bad because most actual activities do not naturally lend themselves to numerical scoring, and for a variety of other reasons. There's a whole discourse about ungrading, standards-based grading, specifications grading, grading for growth--lots of names, same basic concept that traditional grading doesn't really work well.

But I think this last set of tags in the post above bring us back to the initial post: no, in a good humanities class, there isn't a secret correct answer that you're being evaluated on finding. There can be wrong answers (usually comically wrong: I've had people write about the wrong entire book) but as long as you say something about the text that you actually got from the text, it's like OP says. You're "graded" on it because you need to develop the skill of actually saying something about what you're seeing in the text; it's not innate or godgiven, the ability to analyze writing and explain it, but it's really, really useful, especially with this whole Internet thing we've got going on where there's a lot of text to read out there.

And it depends I'm sure on what level you're writing at, but the point about "how do I write this" is something we try very hard to address in English 101/Freshman Comp/Expository Writing/whatever your intro writing class is called.

There are questions in the world that don’t have set answers and I found that sometimes the hardest part of being an English TA was explaining this concept to STEM students

[libraryben]

The word “ungrading" means raising an eyebrow at grades as a systemic practice, distinct from simply “not grading.” The word is a present participle, an ongoing process, not a static set of practices. Ungrading is a systemic critique, a series of conversations we have about grades, ideally drawing students into those conversations with the goal of engaging them as full agents in their own education. For me, there aren’t a discrete set of best practices for ungrading, because different students learn in different ways at different times with different teachers in different disciplines at different institutions. So, the work of teaching, the work of reimagining assessment, is necessarily idiosyncratic. Most important to the work of ungrading is that we start by asking hard questions of our traditional approaches to assessment. There is a meaningful distinction to be made between grades and assessment. But at this moment, I'd say our approaches to assessment, our syllabi, the work we ask students to do, the shape of academic labour, is increasingly structured by grades. Rather than wondering at how we fit our pedagogies into systems that have become increasingly standardized and quantitative, we need to look askance at those systems, and find ways to dismantle barriers to teaching and learning. Grades are inequitable. As they are increasingly centered at our institutions and within our educational technologies (like the learning management system), the inequities of grades are exacerbated, and our most marginalized students are further marginalized. This is one reason it’s imperative that we rethink our approaches to assessment. The work of teaching is also precarious. The majority of teachers in higher education work in contingent, adjunct, or sessional positions, but increasingly the work of all teachers at all levels of education is not adequately supported and is structurally devalued. And so, teachers are rightfully skeptical of approaches to assessment that increase our labor with little benefit to us or students. Teachers are rightfully skeptical of approaches to assessment that create a culture of suspicion and competition, while further fracturing the already strained relationships between students, between teachers, and between students and teachers.

[cilawarncke]

On Ungrading with Anthony Lince

Ungrading, antiracist education, hoop dreams and Lord of the Rings - Between the Lines with Latinx educator Anthony Lince

This is the debut post of ‘Between the Lines’ – interviews with teachers, writers and writing teachers on specific aspects of their craft. This week’s interview is with Anthony Lince, per his online bio ‘a Latinx educator and scholar who teaches first-year writing courses at UC San Diego and local community colleges.’ Photo courtesy Anthony Lince Writing: From ‘terrified’ to teacher In…

[monriatitans]

Grading is a Scam (and Motivation is a Myth) | A Professor Explains

Grading is a scam and motivation is a myth. Those sound like bold words, but today we're going to dive down the rabbit hole and prove, once and for all, that our current state of schooling (and of...well..._everything_) is rotten to its core. 

...that's all a little dramatic, but that really is the goal of this video. Our schools are broken, our workplaces are broken, and our society is broken...and it's all because of bad psychology and bad economics.

00:00 - Maria's Story 03:22 - Intro 06:13 - Brief History of Grades 08:37 - Why are Grades a Scam? 13:13 - Assumptions About Motivation 16:17 - Why Is Motivation a Myth? 19:44 - Why Rewards Don't Work 25:50 - Fixing Our Schools 33:55 - Advice for Teachers 38:19 - Fixing Our Workplaces 42:52 - Conclusion 46:32 - Outro

* Sources: * ---Books ------Education: A Very Short Introduction - Gary Thomas ------Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire ------Punished By Rewards - Alfie Kohn ------Teaching to Transgress - bell hooks ------Ungrading: Why Rating Undermines Student Learning (And What to Do Instead) - edited by Susan D. Blum

---Articles ------"A Century of Grading Research: Meaning and Value in the Most Common Educational Measure" - Brookhart et al. ------"A change to pass/fail grading in the first two years at one medical school results in improved psychological well-being" - Bloodgood et al. ------"Children's Task Interest and Performance: Immediate Versus Subsequent Effects of Rewards" - Fabes et al. ------"Do Material Rewards Enhance the Performance of Lower-Class Children?" - Janet T. Spence ------"The Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards and Controls on Intrinsic Motivation" - Edward L. Deci ------"The Impact of Anticipated Reward Upon Cross-age Tutoring" - James Garbarino ------"Motivation and Creativity: Effects of Motivational Orientation on Creative Writers" - Teresa M. Amabile ------"Problem Solving: Response Competition and the Influence of Drive" - Sam Glucksberg ------"Teaching More by Grading Less (or Differently)" - Schinske and Tanner

* Art: *  ---all illustrations by A. McNamee (@audmcname), http://audmcname.com ---all photos and videos from Creative Commons

* Amazon Affiliate Links: * ---Punished By Rewards - Alfie Kohn: https://amzn.to/3bDbCET ---Ungrading: Why Rating Undermines Student Learning (And What to Do Instead): https://amzn.to/3hGnCcs ---bee earrings: https://amzn.to/3wmdSIn 

* To Support Me: * ---Become a channel Member! ➤   / @zoe_bee   ---Join the Patreon! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/zoe_bee ---Make a one-time donation! ➤ https://ko-fi.com/zoebee ---Join the Discord! ➤ https://discord.gg/8GBmS9Qug9 ---Check out my second channel! ➤   / @zoecee   ---Watch my D&D game! ➤   / @thejaycorn   ---Watch my Blades in the Dark game! ➤ https://www.twitch.tv/itucrew

[eddievillanueva]

“Watching Jesse Stommel on Big Question Institute” 2/21/23 - @jessiferjs #jessestommel #ungrading #bigquestioninstitute #deia #realchangeinschools #justicegrading #accommodations #grading #gradingstudents #drawing #sketchbook #drawingoftheday #photooftheday #sketchoftheday #artistofinstagram #collage #coloredpencil #ink #inkdrawing #art #artwork #artschool #artistlife #radicalhonesty #watercolor #markers #alcoholmarkers https://www.instagram.com/p/Co8qyy2M6EA/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[quicksilverblue]

Adventures in Ungrading:

So, after discussions and reading and a bit of research, I decided to ungrade this semester. Students still do homework, but it’s complete/incomplete.

The reading questions are the same as they were for last two semesters. But whereas last semester I was looking for depth of answers, and not always getting in-depth answers, this semester, when I’m not grading them, the vast majority are in-depth thoughtful answers!

Just... like... of all the things I hoped for from this, from making the point that taking the time to answer the questions thoroughly is for their benefit and not to meet my standards, the level of work I’m seeing was not expected! I thought it would take stress off them and me; remove any sense of judgement, any need to give the right answer. And I guess it did that!

I think I’m sold!

[bonemeal12]

He’s a freak in the spreadsheets

[team5ds]

hi i am currently working on selling most of my pokemon card collection. each card comes with a handwritten note & some extra bonus goodies, so check out my ebay here if you're interested in some pokemon cards!

[neattequila]

1 WEEK LEFT OF GRAD SCHOOL EVERYONE PRAY I PASS & GRADUATE

[eclecticsophism]

love it when professors try things like this

[petz5]

i might go apeshit if i think abt school too long but other than that i'm normal 👍

[broke-on-books]

FUCK SHIT BITCH

[yyshcul]

hiii just a heads up that i will be going on another art hiatus soon! i'm about halfway through my semester which means my final projects are coming up soon AND i'm spending most of my free time cooking up another animated short film 👀 so please expect less art posts from me until mid-july. i will still be active on social media though & might update you on my progress!

[wonilye]

imma poop out the next kingmaker chapter this weekend im sick of the mugger life😭

[fitzrove]

help this fic is already 1600 words and they're not even [redacted] yet hshsjhjkdkghk. Like they're not even doing the classic messed up pre-[redacted] activity that always happens in my todolf fics. there's 5 pages of outline left to write out and like that's the outline...............................

[eddievillanueva]

“Change Grading Culture” 2/21/23 - #ungrading #grading #pedagogy #radicalpedagogies #culture #drsusanblum @humanrestorationproject #grades #schoolstress #drawing #sketchbook #drawingoftheday #photooftheday #sketchoftheday #artistofinstagram #collage #coloredpencil #ink #inkdrawing #art #artwork #artschool #artistlife #radicalhonesty #watercolor #markers #alcoholmarkers #studentgrades @suicidal_teachers @teachergoals https://www.instagram.com/p/Co7mLPKrMtD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=