csarkonak.bsky.social - Profile | ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

Grades are an extrinsic motivator, they’ve never been good at motivating Ss or getting them to care about learning. They are good for compliance with some, put most into anxiety, and undermine risk-taking. Give Ss agency and put them in the drivers seat of their learning. Trust your Ss #sunchat

submitted 19 days ago • 1 comment

Very excited that it's just 1.5 months until the Student Power Summit in Ohio! I feel very honored to be presenting alongside @achiaravalli.bsky.social, @covingtonedu.bsky.social, @johannabrown.bsky.social, and so many more that I've learned so much from over the years! Can't wait to learn and grow!

submitted 34 days ago • 1 comment

What are you up to tonight, teachers? We hope you'll join our first #T2Tchat on Bluesky, all about your mid-year reflections, goals and fresh starts. We're looking forward to a lively conversation moderated by @iheart6ela.bsky.social and @cheycheney.bsky.social #EduSky

submitted 36 days ago • 1 comment

I’m finally doing what I always should have been doing in the classroom: giving students an opportunity to take risks, find success, explore their interests, and learn how to work with those around them. @csarkonak.bsky.social growbeyondgrades.org/blog/the-ungrading-spectrum

submitted 41 days ago • 0 comments

I wanted students to master the skills; why shouldn’t it be a question of ‘either they can or not yet’? —Chris Sarkonak growbeyondgrades.org/blog/dont-co...

submitted 64 days ago • 1 comment

Sometimes you make something just to prove that you can. Behold, a 3D printed physical model of double slit wave interactions! 😅 #iteachphysics 🎢

submitted 76 days ago • 11 comments

A2. Worries about post-sec readiness. 2 years ago I gave a trad final exam to my #ungrading classes. Despite larger numbers, far wider socioeconomic and academic backgrounds, and a pandemic between last using that exam, Ss did better. We’re also taking on AP Phys and Ss are successful #UngradingChat

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

A1. I do this with Ss as part of @btcthinks.bsky.social non-curr tasks to start the course. They learn about scientific thinking and what it means to do science. We then have a couple days of discussions around what they’ve liked/not liked in previous science classes… #UngradingChat

submitted 81 days ago • 1 comment

There’s no such thing as fair grading. I needed to convince myself of this before starting into #ungrading. You can have a S produce certain work and, depending only on how the T enters it into the gradebook, create a 30% spread. Assess standards and how do agree what each is worth? #sunchat

submitted 82 days ago • 1 comment

A5. Get them involved everywhere! They looked at the outcomes and realized/decided skills were more important than content. They develop the grading guidelines. They choose what’s in their portfolio and use it to justify their grade. They need Ts that facilitate ownership and agency! #UngradingChat

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

A4. I created a mock student in a trad gradebook and showed that, depending only on how the gradebook is setup, there can be a HUGE variation in grades. To start, I had to prove that trad grades had no validity whatsoever and that no matter what I did, I really couldn't do worse #UngradingChat

submitted 84 days ago • 1 comment

Hey #EduSky, I need some help. Chemistry is not my wheelhouse, and I'd love some examples of enticing quick performance tasks that such learners might engage with.

submitted 86 days ago • 3 comments

A3. I’ve been hosting PDs for those that want to learn and Ss have been advocating for change, which then brings some Ts to see me wanting to learn. Ss understand the need for change very quickly bc they know what they do to game the trad system (and are very open about it!) #UngradingChat

submitted 86 days ago • 1 comment

A2. Started with SBG years ago, gamification, then skills-based grading. Finally read @susandblum.bsky.social’s Ungrading and @mssackstein.bsky.social’s Hacking Assessment and dived in! Huge support from @achiaravalli.bsky.social’s @growbeyondgrades.org community made it a success! #UngradingChat

submitted 87 days ago • 0 comments

Was cleaning up some files, came across this interesting graphic: “The flaw in the educational system, as far as I can see it, is that you live your life—the teacher and the student—in quest of A’s. Yet later in life, the A is irrelevant.” —Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist #UngradingChat

submitted 88 days ago • 2 comments

I’d known it since the start of my career, but the moment that truly forced that shift was conferencing during COVID. I spoke to a student with 90%+ that understood nothing and had a wonderful conversation full of rich understanding with a student that had 65% but didn’t test well #UngradingChat

submitted 88 days ago • 1 comment

It's a curious thing that The Science of Learning has everything to say about memory management and nothing to say about motivation. It's implied that the purpose of learning in school is memorization for the test, not questioning at all whether learning for the test is even the best way to learn.

submitted 91 days ago • 6 comments

We’ve got to give up our obsession with measurement. It’s destroying our kids, it’s destroying our teachers, it’s destroying our ability to deliberate, to think deeply, to participate in democratic society. @achiaravalli.bsky.social #ungrading #ungradingchat growbeyondgrades.org/blog/dump-th...

submitted 91 days ago • 0 comments

Fully realizing that all of these folks are up to way more than puzzling about more humane, just, and effective assessment, here is our attempt at a @growbeyondgrades.org starter pack! Who’s missing? go.bsky.app/8EEJ1Tw

submitted 92 days ago • 5 comments

If you're able to join us on Sunday, I hope you will. I'm very much looking forward to this conversation. #altgrading #EduSky #ungrading #UngradingChat

submitted 94 days ago • 0 comments

Had a great evening talking #ungrading at Brandon University with teacher candidates! Lots of great insights and questions from a group fresh off their 5-week practicum. Hopefully, these teachers will work to bring meaningful, lasting systemic change to education

submitted 94 days ago • 0 comments

Great to spend my birthday weekend at Perimeter Institute for the annual Teacher Network Training Camp! Excited to see new and upcoming resources! #iteachphysics #ilovemyjob

submitted 97 days ago • 0 comments

A3 Getting Ss past the idea that school is a transaction. Give me your work, good or not it’s about quantity not quality and get a grade in return. It is so hard to break them out of that, but work with them in building a system that values them and their learning and they get there #UngradingChat

submitted 98 days ago • 2 comments

A4 Ss need to be involved as much as possible. It’s their lives, their learning. Ss decide what outcomes we value (skills, not content), decide what grades mean, and they learn to advocate for themselves in portfolio conferences. They choose how to demonstrate their understanding #UngradingChat

submitted 98 days ago • 0 comments

#Ungradingchat A2: Thinking abt our multiple approaches, perhaps it’s critical we acknowledge the wonderful diversity in our community. We know that learning & assessment are contextual. Do what’s best for you & your students! @susandblum.bsky.social explains… growbeyondgrades.org/blog/the-ung...

submitted 101 days ago • 0 comments

I have been practicing #Ungrading in my HS ELA & undergraduate education courses for a few years, where students "pitch" a grade based on evidence of learning. I don't believe grades motivate and that anything that is averaged is, in effect, a "summative" grade. See my beliefs below. #UngradingChat

submitted 102 days ago • 3 comments

I think one part of my grading philosophy is “assess what you value”—with the addendum that many of us need to get our priorities in order. 😂 Another part is “assessment should happen with students, not to them.” #UngradingChat

submitted 102 days ago • 2 comments

Q1: Remove grades & their attending harms, students are humans so everything we do together is rooted in our humanity. Narrative feedback is more useful to chart learning growth. Every semester I ask students for their response to this prompt, and the answers are always the same! ⬇️ #Ungradingchat

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

The most important people to include in the assessment process is Ss. Shifting from grading Ss to grading with Ss made a world of difference in S ownership, accountability, and agency. Ss are happier and healthier. School shouldn’t be the source of so much anxiety that it hurts Ss #UngradingChat

submitted 102 days ago • 0 comments

Here are the questions for this week's slow chat on #UngradingChat I will drop Monday's question tomorrow morning. #EduSky

submitted 103 days ago • 12 comments

📢💙 Just a quick shout-out of appreciation to @alicekeeler.com tonight. She has gone above and beyond working so hard to connect us all on #EduSky Thank you Alice! This spreadsheet and all of the social content that goes with it is a ton of work and so, so appreciated! tinyurl.com/edusky

submitted 104 days ago • 12 comments