CHANGEd: What if we assessed more and graded less? 60-60-60 #22

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What if we assessed more, graded less?

Would spirits sore that learning’s ongoing, really endless?

Do big red numbers atop a page

Signal “Guess that’s done, now I can leave that stage?”

Would dollops of feedback more likely make us stretch?

Or shall we continue memory training to perfect simple games of fetch?

Is assessment really lots of tests that mostly come at the end?

Or could it be less destination and more calibration for traveling interesting bends?

by Bo Adams in a fit of poetic risk, knowing full well he is not yet the poet he one day will be!

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if we audited our purposes for using grades? 60-60-60 #21

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I am all for vigorous assessment and feedback. Without assessment and feedback, I am not confident that deep, enduring learning can happen. However, in twenty years as an educator, I have grown increasingly disenchanted with grades as we know them. Do we really understand the purposes of grading? With commitment to a “purpose audit,” I bet we would change practices.

One fabulous example of a school’s “grading audit” core resource

[For the next few days, “CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60” will focus on grading and assessment.]

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if we designed and experimented more in schools? 60-60-60 #20

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On March 21, I attended the magical Trinity Musical Gala (also see here). Among the feast was an iPad concerto and a dance troupe debut. AMAZING!

Last Friday, I participated in MVPS’s Design Thinking Summit. After interviewing students for precious insights, we designed outdoor classrooms and modeled with recycled “trash.” It was so fun and multi-disciplinary. INSPIRING!

Awhile ago, a colleague sent me this MITvideo on “Boxie” (5 min worth watching), an anthropological robot made from a cardboard box. MESMERIZING!

To create new soundtracks, 3D renderings, and cultural cyborgs is a recipe for developing creators and producers, rather than mere consumers. Let’s generate map makers instead of mere map readers. Let’s design and experiment our way into a new three-ring circus as schools.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if schools were more like summer camps? 60-60-60 #19

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This “CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60” post is inspired and sparked directly from Ross Peters’ March 24, 2012 post: How Summer Camp Should Inform School.

In my past, I attended Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain, NC, and I served as a counselor and administrator at Camp Sea Gull in Arapahoe, NC. As Ross writes in his post, I remember fondly the enormous space and time to explore and discover. There were generally three “periods” – morning, afternoon, and evening. Campers pursued new opportunities and old loves of deep interest, and we enjoyed “I-can-really-accomplish-something” chunks of time.

Choice and time are powerful cabin mates.

Most importantly, the best of summer camp includes the space—literally and figuratively—for young people to become both more independent and more empathetic. ~ Ross Peters, March 24, 2012 blog post.

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained

CHANGEd: What if schools empowered students and teachers to be journalists and marketers? 60-60-60 #18

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Some schools empower 100% of their people to be the primary storytellers for what’s happening each day at school. Other schools restrict their people from doing so – only official Communications Departments can media-storytell. Is it “brand management” gone awry? Don’t schools want much, if not all, of their brand to be: “Magic happens here…we’re a community of empathetic experimenters, and we see value in learning by doing and sharing our stories?”

CHANGEd: What if…60-60-60 Project Explained