Grading for Equity TwitterChat Mondays 8-9pm EST #Grade4EqChat

Several of the physics PD sessions I've attended this summer have mentioned Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman, and how much we'd like to have a discussion about it. So, in the interest of pushing myself well outside my comfort zone, I'm hosting a weekly Twitter chat. It will no doubt have a physics education slant to it, but all educators are welcome to participate, even if you haven't read the book.

The chat will be on Mondays from 8-9 pm EST until October 4. The current plan is to look at 2 chapters per week to begin with, moving to 1 chapter per week for part III. We'll use the questions at the end of each chapter as a starting point for discussion. 

I'll post, from my Twitter profile, a new question about every 10-15 minutes or so. We use the Q# / A# format. Remember to include #Grade4EqChat somewhere in your tweet so others will find it.

TDSB teachers can access the book and in print through the Virtual Library. For Ontario teachers, it is available online through the OCT library. For teachers elsewhere, check and see if it is available through your board or district or professional organization.

The schedule will be

July 26                Prologue, Chapters 1 & 2    Part One: Foundations

August 2             Chapters 3 & 4                     Part Two: The Case for Change

August 9             Chapters 5 & 6                     The Case for Change & A New Vision for Grading

August 16           Chapter 7                              Practices that are Mathematically Accurate

August 23           Chapter 8                              Practices that are Mathematically Accurate (cont)

August 30           Chapter 9                              Practices that Value Knowledge

September 6       Chapter 10                            Practices that Value Knowledge (cont)

September 13     Chapter 11                            Practices that Support Hope and a Growth Mindset

September 20     Chapter 12                            Practices that "Lift the Veil"

September 27     Chapter 13                            Practices that Build "Soft Skills"

October 4           Chapter 14 & Epilogue          Putting It All Together

I'll post the questions for each week's chat here by the day of the chat. Here are tonight's questions (edited, because I accidentally mixed up the chapters):

Q1: What brings you to this book? What are your goals for reading it?  

Q2: How do schools in the first half of the twenty-first century—their design, their purpose, their student-compare to schools in the first half of the twentieth century?  

Q3: What is your vision for grading? What do you wish grading could be for students, particularly for the most vulnerable populations? What do you wish grading could be for you?  

Q4: How do you see the ideas and beliefs of the early twentieth century manifesting themselves through your school's communication, curriculum, instruction, policies, and grading?

Q5: Which of your grading practices do you believe best support learning? Why?

Q6: Which of your grading practices are you most open to reconsidering? Why?

If you're reading along at home, you'll notice that these questions are pretty much the end-of-chapter questions, so you can prepare your responses in advance.

If you've never participated in a Twitter Chat before (and even if you have), we will be following a few basic rules:

1. Introduce yourself when you join, even if you're planning on lurking for the most part. 
2. Warn your followers that you'll be participating in the chat for the next hour.
3. Use the #Grade4EqChat hashtag and the A1, A2, ... format when answering questions so everyone can find your posts.
4. Be friendly, and be respectful.
5. Participate as much or as little as you want. This chat is for you.
6. If you can't make the live chat, feel free to participate after the fact!

I will collect the tweets from each week into Wakelets and post them in my Resources tab.

Looking forward to chatting (and slightly terrified of hosting) with you!