This semester I had to write a literature review of a topic of our choice. Last year I focused on assessment, which will be my dissertation topic. I wanted to try something a little more “lighthearted” this year, so I went with Mathematical Creativity. I’m not going to reproduce my paper here, but I did … Continue reading Musings on Mathematical Creativity
Part 6: Scoring with Humility
This is the sixth and final installment of a mini-series on rubric design and use. Be sure to check out the other posts as well as the initial post. Your grades are qualitative data, not quantitative data. Whether you’re using a rubric on a complex task, or assigning a number out of 100 from a … Continue reading Part 6: Scoring with Humility
Part 5: Teaching with a rubric and teaching the rubric
This is Part 5 of a mini-series on rubrics. Be sure to check out the other parts as well as the intro post. Now we can have some fun. Creating a rubric is indeed hard work. Common indicators help streamline the process, but it still takes time to create and score them. But now that … Continue reading Part 5: Teaching with a rubric and teaching the rubric
Part 4: Scores, scoring, grades, and grading
This is Part 4 of a mini-series on a rubric masterclass. Be sure to check out the Intro post and subsequent posts. Before we get to it today, I want to offer a bit of a warning: this piece of rubric-land gets very sticky, very fast. It represents the tension between our aspirations as growth-minded educators and … Continue reading Part 4: Scores, scoring, grades, and grading
Part 3: Defining Proficiency & Moving Outward
This is Part 3 of a mini-series on a rubric masterclass. Be sure to check out the Intro post and subsequent posts. Once we’ve identified our specific and common outcomes, we need to identify specific markers that will indicate where students are on the spectrum of proficiency. In fact, that’s where we get our next little bit … Continue reading Part 3: Defining Proficiency & Moving Outward
A Rubric Masterclass Part 1: Selecting Rubric Worthy Tasks
This is Part 1 of a mini-series on rubrics. Be sure to check out the Intro post and subsequent posts. It took me a while to figure out the whole rubric game. I'll admit, I was relatively anti-rubric in the middle of my career. Maybe that's because I wasn't shown how to construct one. Maybe … Continue reading A Rubric Masterclass Part 1: Selecting Rubric Worthy Tasks
A Rubric Masterclass
This blog post introduces a new mini-series from Emergent Math: A Rubric Masterclass. Be sure to check out Geoff's previous mini-series: Routines, Lessons, Problems, and Projects and Your Math Syllabus Boot Camp. The past two summers I’ve created Emergent Math “miniseries”. They’re an opportunity to do a deep dive into crucial aspects of the math … Continue reading A Rubric Masterclass
Preparing for a Post-SAT World
Over the past year many universities made the SAT or ACT optional for college applications. Students could opt to submit their test scores or bypass taking the test entirely. This was spurred in part by the fact that COVID screwed up any kind of reliability (such as it was) of standardized test. At some higher … Continue reading Preparing for a Post-SAT World
Interest in a Virtual Math Portfolio Assessment Cohort for 2021-2022
(Update 5/25/21: The window for the interest form is closed. However, be sure to follow this blog for updates on the cohort as well as other assessment commentary.) The tl;dr version: I'm seeking secondary teachers interested in designing and implementing a portfolio system of assessment in their class. Interest form link below. I’m currently wrapping … Continue reading Interest in a Virtual Math Portfolio Assessment Cohort for 2021-2022
Pastoral Care for Pre-Service Teachers
Schools and teachers have no incentives to foster a nurturing atmosphere for student teachers. Unless the school expects to hire the student teacher, there’s no inherent reason for a school to particularly care whether or not the student teacher makes education a lifelong passion or if they burn out and never even enter the profession. … Continue reading Pastoral Care for Pre-Service Teachers
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