Existential Questions in Education

  CHAPTER 11:   Practices that support hope and a growth mindset When in your professional life have you been given a redo? Who offered it to you and why do you think you got that second chance? What did it feel like receiving it? What happened before and during your second chance? How did it benefit you?Was there time when you were asked to demonstrate competence and weren’t given a second chance? Why weren’t you given that chance? Did you ask for it, or believe that you could? How much of a motivator is hope? How much do you notice a change in student behavior and motivation, particularly among lower performing students, before the first assessment of the term compared to after they have received the scores of that first assessment ? At the beginning of the term versus after the first progress report? How could offering redemption via retakes, weighing more recent performance, minimum grading, or 0-4 scales throughout the term affect motivation? How would the commitment to m...

   CHAPTER 6: A new vision of grading 1.  Review your classroom’s current grading policies through the pillars of our vision: How accurate are they? How bias-resistant? How motivating? 2. How much does this book’s vision for equitable grading align with your own, personal vision for grading? What concerns do you have about this vision? What are your hopes? How much does this vision match against your school’s overall vision? How likely is it that your school community could agree on this vision? Post your answer to the questions above in the comment section here by clicking "Enter you comment" >  choose "name/URL"  in the drop down menu  and add your name before typing your comment and clicking publish .  Comment on two peers' posts by clicking "reply" > choose "name/URL" in the drop down menu underneath their posts  and add your name . Participants are required to comment on one " I notice...." and one " I wonder......

 CHAPTER 5: Traditional grading demotivates and disempowers Interview students. Are they motivated to achieve success or to avoid failure? What specific actions, policies, or words by teachers cause students to experience one type of motivation  instead of the other? Do you think of your  tasks at work as performance or mastery goals? What affects how you define the goal? How does this affect how you pursue the task? In what ways do schools and classrooms end a message of competition for achievement? How does your school’s treatment of awards and honors promote or undermine a growth or fixed mindset? Post your answer to the questions above in the comment section here by clicking "Enter you comment" >  choose "name/URL"  in the drop down menu  and add your name before typing your comment and clicking publish .  Comment on two peers' posts by clicking "reply" > choose "name/URL" in the drop down menu underneath their posts  and add your n...

CHAPTER 3:   How traditional grading stifles risk-taking and supports the “commodity of grades” In this chapter, we'll discuss the following questions: How have different supervisors (or those whose opinions you care about) responded to your mistakes? How have helpful responses impacted you and your effectiveness? How have unhelpful responses impacted you and your effectiveness? Recall something you learned to do outside of the school context. What motivates you to learn and to continue learning when you struggle? Some teachers think, “If I motivate students to learn with points now, they’ll realize success and become internally motivated.: If you believe this, how could you test this theory? How Effective are the use of points for students who are the least motivated and engaged? How might the use of points –the addition and subtraction throughout a student’s day —affect those students’ relationships with adults and their self-concept about whether school is for them? Post your an...