Evaluation

My primary concern in this course is to support your learning to teach. One way for me to do that is to give feedback on your work – to let you know what I see as strengths, what I believe is in need of more thought or development, how clearly you have conveyed your ideas, the extent to which your work demonstrates evidence of learning, etc. Number or letter grades are not particularly effective ways of communicating these things!

Therefore, this will be a “gradeless” class. My aim in going “gradeless” is to shift the focus from “How can I get a better grade?” to “What can I do better to learn?”

How do gradeless classrooms work?

Evaluation is based on how you show evidence of meeting the learning standards listed above through various tasks, assignments, and participation in class.
You will be assessed individually on your personal growth and evidence of meeting the standards.
For each summative assignment, you will self-assess and receive feedback from me using a rubric that states how various aspects of the assignment may provide evidence for the learning standards.
Formative assignments will be linked explicitly to learning standards so that you can self-assess your progress on meeting the course goals as you receive feedback from me and your peers.
You have the right, at any time, to inquire about your progress, and ask for the chance to provide additional evidence that you are making progress towards meeting a learning standard.

Course Grades

Because the university requires me to assign a grade, I will host individual conferences at the end of the semester. You will come to this conference prepared to show how you have met expectations for each of the learning standards, using evidence from course assignments. In other words, you will prepare a portfolio that provides evidence for the grade you believe you have earned in the course.
If I agree with your response, I will share additional thoughts based on my evaluation and enter the grade in the system.
If I do not agree, I will share my thoughts based on the feedback that I have given on major assignments as well as other evidence related to the learning objectives and ask you to reevaluate your response or to seek additional evidence to support your response. Then, we will schedule a follow-up conference before the end of final exams to determine your final course grade.

Additional information about university policies about grades and GPA are here: https://onestop.utk.edu/gpa/

How to Prepare for Individual Conference

Read more about gradeless math classrooms here:

Teachers Going Gradeless
How to create a gradeless math classroom in a school that requires grades
Going Gradeless: Student Self-Assessment in PBL
7 Reasons for Standards Based Grading(Great to share with parents)
Hacking Assessment: 10 Ways to Go Gradeless in a Traditional Grades School (A book for those serious about going gradeless!)
Can can hinder learning. What should professors use instead?
Overcoming the F.E.A.R. of No Grades
Self-reporting grades in Maths

Research base for standards-based and gradeless learning:

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