This book was the most helpful for me in figuring out how to do ungrading in my classroom because it includes templates and talks about different age groups, content areas, and bureaucratic restrictions. There is some discussion of the theory and reasoning behind ungrading, but the primary focus is different instructors discussing their experiences with ungrading, including how they implemented it and the impact that it had on their students.
Alfie Kohn is a pioneer and leader in educational theory. In this book he talks about how both punishment and reward systems actively destroy intrinsic motivation, and pushes toward using moments of 'disobedience' or 'questioning' etc as teachable moments. Consequences must be logical, and it changes the relationship from parent / teacher / authority figure power dynamic to more of a coach or advisor. I find this helpful in defending my reasoning behind not using grades and in shifting my mindset when it comes to managing a classroom.
This book is more targeted toward the business world, but I find it helpful because he breaks down intrinsic motivation as a function dependent on three key factors: mastery, autonomy, and purpose. So in trying to convince my students that what we are doing is worth their time and effort, I need to:
(1) make sure they know what the goal is - what mastery level work looks like for that task,
(2) make sure they have some choice (over topic, over time, over method, over group... maybe not all for each assignment, but some element of choice for every assignment), and
(3) make sure there is a meaningful purpose that connects to something that matters to them. (Which also means both they and I need to know what matters to them).
Could you teach without grades?
This episode features an interview with a journalist and educator, Starr Jackson, and talks about ungrading. They mostly discuss theory, impact, and general implementation.
Hyper Rubric
This episode features an interview with two ELA educators, Tyler Rablin and Jeff Frieden, on something they call the 'hyperrubric'. In essence, this is a rubric built from an asset based mindset, framed around what students CAN do, and scaling up in complexity, rather than noting what's missing.
Be The Change You Want To See
This podcasts explores how two teachers in one school have their students assess themselves on standards in a self-directed project based learning classroom.