Bit by the SBG bug

Much time passed between my previous post and the one before it. I didn't have a lot of time to post about teaching, because I was too busy learning how to teach all over again. At the beginning of the semester, standards-based grading rolled me over like a double-wide semi: It seemed then (and has since proven to be) powerful both philosophically and pedagogically.

powerful philosophically because, among other things, I can now avoid that squirming-roll-my-eyes-why-don't-you-just-learn-the-stuff-"Is there extra credit?" conversation

powerful pedagogically because, among other things, my students don't think to ask for "extra credit" anymore; they are too busy digesting helpful feedback

In this post I will try to recreate for you, dear reader, that pleasant lightning-bolt which brought standards-based grading to my mind on the back of a sleepless night. Read this story as historical fiction; I cannot now remember the exact order of events.

I had somehow found myself (how much more common is that realization now, with the Internet?) looking through a presentation for new teachers. Then, with a click, came some videos by Rick Wormeli:



Something of a temporal paradox happened around these videos. On the one hand, they total almost an hour in length, but on the other, even though I watched at least some of them more than once, when I was finished it felt like I had been watching for only mere moments.

Next came a Google search for "standards bases grading" and a trip to a compilation-style post on Think Thank Thunk. Pure gold. There I was introduced to MeTA musings and I was eventually pointed by some blessed link to dy/dan.

I was hooked. I decided to make the switch at the beginning of this semester; a somewhat risky move if the students wouldn't go along, but really the only way I could look myself in the mirror. If that sounds dramatic then watch those videos and read over those bogs again. The effect of all that material was so powerful that I cannot see how someone couldn't be thus transformed themselves.

What do you think? If you're a hater, why? If you're a lover, have I presented the best sources?

Lectures as Videos (and maybe vice versa)

I have started this year making the occasional video for my classes. The material for the videos has not been anything new for my students up to this point; instead, I use videos as a way of refining and recording lectures so that my students can refer back to them for review or if they were absent and missed the original. I could see myself in the future, after more time creating videos, implementing something of a flipped classroom model, but for now the opportunity for review or makeup seems to be appreciated by my students.



I use already-made PowerPoints combined with iMovie to make my videos. It is also possible, and quicker/simpler, to use some kind of screen capture program, such as QuickTime. I have it in mind to do a series on this blog, geared specifically to teachers, about both techniques.

Comparison Matrix for Teaching Culture

A comparison matrix helps students to organize the information they have learned and to demonstrate the higher-order skills of comparing and contrasting. I was introduced to them through exposure to Robert Marzano during professional development. In my Latin classes, this has been very fruitful when covering different topics of ancient culture and comparing them to our society.

Below you can see the comparison matrix we recently used to understand the English culture reading in Stage 7 of the Cambridge Latin Course, a reading about ancient burial rituals and attitudes toward death.

Note: A template for this document was distributed school-wide after a professional development session covering the strategy. I am still trying to figure out who created it to begin with... 

You can download this document below and change whatever you want based on the needs of your class. Feel free the change to title, directions, and in the first column the "things to be compared." Make sure that your students complete the "Ah-HA! and SO WHAT!?" section: The best learning happens there.

Download

Roman Death and Burial Comparison Matrix (53k .docx)