Annie Forest

I think data is important. I even recently presented about " Data Driven Coachin g" at ISTE! I've been thinking a lot about how we use data to tell a story and the implications it has for teachers and our students. One thing that really gets me upset is when I see data being reported (usually visually) in misleading ways. Sometimes I think people just don't realize that they are creating something misleading, while other times things are done to intentionally exaggerate what is actually going on. This TED-Ed video explains this really well: So when I came across this tweet, I immediately looked at the y-axis. I noticed that the % was "zoomed in" making it look like engagement in high school was practically 0%, even though it was 44%. Now, 44% isn't great. And the overall trend of declining engagement is worrisome. But, the math teacher in me was just a little annoyed at the misleading graph. This is OUR problem. We must do something to combat...

I don't post an objective on the board. No "I Can" Statement either. Not only do I not do it, I won't do it. Does this mean I don't have a clear plan for learning that day? Do my students feel there is no purpose in my class? Is it a free-for-all? Nope! I do post an agenda, but no objective. While I certainly have a learning objective each day, I choose not to post it. Here is why: What if you went to see a movie and you saw this posted: "At the end of this movie you will find out that the neighbor is the bad guy."   or  "Today you will watch a love story of two people that will break-up but ultimately realize they are in love and get back together at the end." Can you imagine the ending being ruined before you even start? Certainly the writer/director of the movie knew where the story was going. They planned it. They took you on a journey, got you invested in the story, revealed things as it went along. You had moment...

I started using standards based grading last school year and this year I am continuing to implement it. (you can read more here ) While it is starting to catch on with more teachers in my school, we are still using a grade system based on percents (94-100 is an A, 85-93 is a B, etc). I have had to find ways to get creative with how to implement SBG with these constraints. One thing I have to do is use a rubric that is based on 10 instead of 3 or 4, like most SBG systems. Another downside to our traditional system is there is not a great way to give feedback to parents on "learner characteristics," you know, the stuff that isn't specifically math. I've been trying different ideas. One idea I had was to give a separate report, stapled to the report card, that gives some more information besides the single letter grade printed on the report card. I want parents to see how their child is doing with each of the different standards as well as some feedback on learner ch...

At the last district institute day, my colleague and I were asked to speak to our peers about the purpose of grading with standards based grading. I felt a little overwhelmed by this task for two reasons: 1. Grading is very personal, how can I tell people what their purpose should be 2. I didn't want people to be annoyed with me for telling them how to grade! This standards based grading journey that I'm on has been very interesting and rewarding, but I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that it was my choice to try it. I can understand the reluctance of others to try it if they feel it is something they have to do instead of something they want to try . So, instead of focusing on what grading purposes should be, we polled some of our peers that are trying SBG this year and asked them what was their "A-HA" moment that they realized that their purpose had changed for the better. Here are their words, that they so generously shared with us: Annie ...

As teachers, we repeat ourselves... a lot. If you teach middle school, multiply that amount of repeating by 10. Seriously. Middle Schoolers have so much going on, so many distractions, so much to worry about that I find if I don't repeat something at least three times, I can be sure that more than half of the students didn't hear it. It's not that I don't expect silence as I'm talking. I also expect students to look at me when I'm speaking. But if I don't say the words a few times, and then maybe once more in a different way, I can be sure that my class won't have fully understood my directions. This can be exhausting.  Now, I understand that this is part of the job and I get that-- but sometimes it's so tiring to explain something to turn around and have a student ask me a question that I just explained. Another version of this is when students email me questions that I've already gone over... multiple times. So, I've develop...

A while back I talked about how I give " colorful feedback " to my students using this color system. Instead of marking problems on a quiz "right" or "wrong," I mark them with green, yellow, or red.  This type of feedback gives students much more information about how they are doing with a certain standard.  In addition, I used to be frustrated when students would just look at the grade at the top of a quiz or test and ignore comments or marks I made on their work.  This color system has helped tremendously! I also use this technique for homework*.  This system frees up so much time!  I never have to take home stacks of homework to grade… ever!  I have students self-grade and then I quickly look through the papers and notice trends of certain problems that got red marks or how much green etc.  Students are honest in the grading process because they know that they won't be punished with a poor grade if they don't do well (I do  sta...

While I'm on maternity leave, I'm still checking in with some of my teacher friends to see how things are going.  Our principal has asked the staff to embark on a Standards Based Grading journey this year.  I've heard that some teachers are having a few struggles making this change and I think that is totally normal, expected, and okay! It's about progress , not perfection !  I don't have all the answers about SBG either!  I tried it last year, and I liked how it made me think about what I'm teaching and I liked how my students responded.  I hope to help other teachers by letting them know what I tried, what worked, and what didn't, but I am still on the journey too! (You can check out some of my other posts about SBG here .) I encourage my peers to continue on this journey.  Standards Based Grading helps students and helps us too.  It forces us to really define what it is we want our students to be learning.  It sets learning targets and ma...

Giving students (and parents) feedback is important.  One way we do this is by giving grades.  But by just giving general grades such as "85%" or "B" it is difficult for students and parents to understand how a student can improve. Using rubrics is the best way I have found to give more specific feedback.  By identifying what it means to show understanding, I can then evaluate a students performance based on that criteria.   Here is the general rubric that I use for each learning target in a unit: I break each unit into 10-12 learning targets and assess the student using the rubric above.  You might notice that I don't go below 5.  My reasoning is that a 5/10 is a solid "F" and communicates the message of "minimal understanding" just fine.  I never give zeros anymore, they just are necessary.  I also use rubrics for projects and other assignments.  For example, I have my students blog a few times a week.  Here i...

I went to the grocery store after school yesterday and when I was getting back in the car, I caught the end of a story on NPR.  Today I went online to read the full transcript .  It was a pretty good introduction to the basics of standards based grading.  I'm glad the overall tone of the story was pretty positive and explained how they fit well with the new Common Core State Standards.

When I was asked to present about Standards Based Grading to leaders in my school, I used this article  from ASCD for inspiration and ideas of what to say.  I think it is easy to understand and makes arguments that can get some reluctant educators on board.

This year I tried a project as one way for students to show understanding of Scientific Notation.  I used the project along with their performance on the weekly quiz to determine their grade for this standard (I use standards based grading). The students enjoyed the choice the project gave them.  I found the products they came up with entertaining as well! Here are the instructions and rubric:

In my district, students take an assessment by Discovery Education .  Students take "Benchmark" Assessments four times during the school year.  The assessment gives feedback about a student's performance and labels them as Level 1-4.  Levels 3 and 4 indicate meeting or exceeding standards.  Although this is just one test that students took on one particular day, I was curious to see how the results of our first Benchmark test compared to my first quarter SBG grades. I compared them equating an "A" or "B" as Level 3-4, "C" as Level 2, and "D" or "F" as Level 1.  Here is the comparison: I was surprised by how much the two forms of assessment have in common.   One of the reasons that I decided to try SBG this year was that I knew it was confusing to parents to see their child do poorly on an assessment such as the Discovery Education Test or our state test (ISAT) only to be receiving a "B" in my class.  ...

To give students feedback on homework and quizzes, I am using a color coded system.   The colors are: green=understanding of the standard, yellow=partial or developing understanding, and red=minimal understanding. The way I translate this to points is I look at how much of each color is present for each standard.  If a student has most, if not all, green they receive a 10.  Green with a little yellow gets a 9 or 8.  Mostly yellow with some red is a 7.  Mostly red with a little yellow is a 6.  Finally, all red would be a 5. 10 9-8 7 6 5 Demonstrates thorough understanding of the standard Demonstrates understanding of the standard Demonstrates a developing understanding of the standard Demonstrates a partial understanding of the standard Demonstrates minimal understanding of the standard I've even gotten to the point that my students grade their own homework using the colors!  I have this poster hanging in my r...

So, I decided to try something new this year... standards based grading!  I'm lucky to be working with a enthusiastic 2nd year teacher that is willing to try all of my crazy ideas. So far so good with SBG.  I plan to post more about how it's going, so check back to see how this year progresses. For now, here is how I started the year... with a letter home to parents explaining how the system was going to work.   Here it is: Standards Based Grading is a grading practice that involves measuring student’s proficiency on well-defined course objectives.  It allows for students to have formative control of their own progress (and grade).  It also encourages the teacher to give timely feedback and adjust instruction to the needs of students.  Students will be graded on the standards for a unit (usually 5-12 standards) using the rubric below.  Grades should be thought of as written in “pencil” instead of “ink.”  This means that grades can be r...