​As promised, I want to be diligent about sharing what class looks like each week, using my personalized method. This post is about establishing the right culture right from the start.

But first...

Now... ​Let's talk about the first seven days in a personalized classroom. (Well, in my personalized classroom, at least).

Personalization only works when students are comfortable with you and willing to ask questions. In my many attempts at a personalized classroom, I was never really able to get this desired culture at the start of the year. Kids come in apprehensive of the class and you, the teacher, and frankly overwhelmed by all the other classes they are jumping into. 

That's why I took a new approach this year. I have always been prone to rushing into the content - usually diving into the first unit within the first three days of school. This year, I wanted something that would get them talking and allow me to interact with them often. 

I decided to invest at least a week in my school's "Profile of a Graduate." This is just a snapshot of dispositions we want to see in a graduate from my school (Compassionate, Creative, Responsible, etc). We are trying to embed this more consistently, so I figured this was a good way to start kids on low pressure content. 

So, all this week, they were tasked with designing and planning the "Ideal School." 
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Because the kids were split into committees and given a focus, I was allowed to spend each day walking amongst the groups and getting to know the kids. It also created a less intimidating environment for them to start engaging in class.

It simultaneously let me practice one of the main practices in my personalization style - the idea of the teacher as a coach. Instead of me being up front and guiding them through activities or lessons, they were independently navigating the word. I asked questions when I found them to be stumped, but the ideas came from them.

Our next step - I mean, after their video presentations in - is to have them complete a self-assessment using the POG dispositions. There is no grade attached to this project. They will be annoyed, having put the time in, but it is my gateway to talk about proficiency over points in our overview of personalized learning on Tuesday. 


And that's what we've done so far. If you are hoping to engage in personalization in your own classroom, I hope this recap of my first days gives you some ideas about how to establish the right culture. Come back next week for how we transition into flexible work time and pacing.

Many times on this blog, I have spoken about my dedication to personalized learning. It is something that I am deeply, deeply passionate about, and I have spent the summer grappling with what I can do to help other teachers move in this direction.

However, as I mentioned in my last post, I have struggled with how to create materials that will actually result in personalization. Instead, I think any content I have been putting out there just fits into the traditional model, or that it doesn't really make sense on it's own. 

I think I have it figured out now. (Maybe).

Introducing...

As I was putting together my own content for the upcoming school year, I knew there was a lot of things I could share, but I knew my own personalization method would probably be hard to digest in a simple download. 

Therefore, I gathered up what I have made and merged it with the College Board units. This allows you all to use it however you see fit, and it even includes SOME of my personalization materials as well. Essentially, each pack is just a little extra content thrown together so that you can start playing around with personalization! (Or just survive. Let's be honest.)

​You're probably wondering what each of these packs include. Well, let me tell you!

INCLUDED:
Unit Guide One Pager
Unit Vocabulary
Group Activities
Practice Activities
Unit Assessment 
Personalization Materials (Conferencing and Intervention Trackers, Personalization Guide, and more!)

Let's talk release of the content...
I have mentioned in the past that I really hate taking money from teachers. I know that so many of your are living paycheck to paycheck because... usually, I am too. That said, I really appreciate when people offer monetary support (and honestly, it allows me to invest more time outside of school making new content). 

So here's the plan:
I have already posted Units 1-3 on my TeachersPayTeachers site. (Unit 1 is free!). I am going to list these packs at $5 on TpT. HOWEVER - if you can be patient - I will have a later release here. The later release will be free! It's kind of a thank you to anyone who reads my ramblings. :)

Units 1 - 3 are already posted and accessible below. Unit 1 is free! The others are currently $5. 
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Now... If you can wait, I will release Unit 2 for free on Sept 1. (It will be in the Free Resources and under a new tab titled "Supplement Packs" under A Year of AP Lang).
Unit 3 free-release will then be Oct 1.

I am setting myself a goal to post once a week, recounting what class looked like that week. Personalization is constantly changing and evolving, so keeping up with how things look in my room can help you visualize how it might look in your own classroom.


As always, I hope these materials help! Check back Sept 1 for a free version of Unit 2.
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I have been all over the place. (Not literally. Still afraid of travel.)

I want to create so many things for others to use, but I am realizing that it is very very hard. Personalization is about adapting and changing to the kids in your class, so I really have no way of knowing what to make. Any unit plans laid out in my usual style are very regimented and inflexible - the complete opposite of a truly personalized classroom. How does one create personalized materials for OTHER people? 

So while I spouted all the incredible things I planned to make... I'm not sure I really can. Instead, I think the approach is to just share everything I am making for the new year and walk others through the "HOW" via this blog throughout the year. That's the plan... for now.

​My plan for today is to compile Units 1 and 2 into packs of materials to supplement College Board's content. Stay tuned!

If you haven't figured it out yet... I am 100% on board with personalized learning. In fact, I am more than on board. I am an advocate (... if I do say so myself). 

Personalization for me is what education always should have been, but never figured out. Now that we have the tools to really make amazing things happen, I am ready for a massive shift in how kids learn. How about you?

As a teacher (and now as an instructional coach) I bet I can guess the first concerns that come to mind...

• Some kids don't do well with personalization.
• The current education model makes it near impossible.
• It's a lot of work.

Here are my thoughts to those...

Some kid don't do well with personalization.
This one kind of makes me laugh. Personalization, to me, means setting up content in the very best way for every student. How can they not do well if you are providing exactly what they need?
Sometimes this concern - that students fall behind or get overlooks in a personalized format - comes from a misunderstanding of personalization itself. Often time, the first glimpse we get into personalization is with pacing. Some assume that pacing is the core tenet of personalization, when really, that is just one aspect. For some students self-pacing is a nightmare - inducing stress and frustration. In fact, when I poll my students about personalized learning, they often wish there were MORE deadlines and structure. Every year, I have students that I quickly see canNOT self-pace. These are the kids I create a calendar for or with. Personalization is about the option to self pace.
Sometimes the best option is a more traditional format. (And it really kills a renegade like me).

The current education model makes it near impossible.
Correct. This is a purely true statement.
When I implemented standards based grading a few years ago, it meant working and reworking it into a model that I could enter in the gradebook. When everyone else is finalizing grades at the end of a quarter, I am the one reminding kids that quarterly grades mean nothing. Traditional education has it's claws into our platforms, practices, and attitudes, and frankly, it hasn't let up much.
That said, I am hugely encouraged by the national movement toward more personalized learning. Colleges have learned to decipher standards based grades and deemphasized standardized tests. State governments are re-writing standards to move toward a more student-focused learning experience. The national government is funding initiatives that promote voice and choice. (And before you say something like "Well that's in your state, Cwik..." I will remind you that I work in North Dakota. Check out the results from the last presidential election and then we'll talk about progressive states).
I guess my point is this: progress takes time but in my short 10 years as an educator, I've already seen a whirlwind of positive change! 
If you are nervous about attempting personalization in your classroom, I suggest you talk with your admin before hand. You might be surprised to see how on-board they are with the idea. (I would guess - if they are like mine - they just want to know that you are communicating the process each step of the way to students, parents, and other stakeholders).

It's a lot of work.
Yup. It is.
No sugar-coating here. Personalization is an incredibly daunting task for some. (Ok... for all). The thought of being able to cater material to 30 individual kids every hour is insane. BUT... first of all. personalization should never result in 30 versions of the same task, and secondly, the work is just a redistribution of the work you are already doing. 
I'll explain.
Setting up a personalized class is HARD. You have to have everything for the unit created and ready to go before the kids even touch the subject. For most, that seems like an incredibly huge task... because it is. I spend hours putting together units for my kids.
That said, I am not working into the wee hours of the morning putting together content. I go home at contract time most days (or, at least, I would if I didn't spend an extra thirty minutes talking to my friends).
Instead, I just use time a little differently. For instance, I DON'T spend much time outside of class providing feedback. Instead of sitting down with a stack of 30+ essays during my prep period, I am bouncing between students in class, reading their work right next to them. When a kid submits something, I sit down with them the next day and grade it right there, and explain my feedback. It's a) faster, b) more meaningful, and c) NOT SWALLOWING MY PREP PERIOD. Usually, my prep period is working on materials for the next unit. 
A personalized unit IS scary, but not impractical.

That said, I'm here to help. (Well, help AP Language and Composition teachers at least). If you don't know it already, I've created TWO yearlong curriculums for AP Language. (What?! You didn't know. Hurry up and steal all my stuff!). The first one was before the 2020 test changes. The second was suited to the new test, but didn't align to the College Board unit alignment. Can you guess where this is going?

I am reworking old content to create a College Board aligned, personalization-friendly version of the course! For each unit, I am creating vocabulary lists, resource documents, practice activities, and guides to help you try out different aspects of personalization in your classroom. 

Seriously. I am so passionate about personalization that I am willing to do all the work for you. THAT's how much faith I have in this method after trying it out one step at a time in my own classroom. 

Over the next few months, I'll be sharing activities and strategies for personalization. I also plan to post more "day in the life" style blogs where I walk through days in my class, in the hopes that it will help illustrate some of the things I talk about in the course design. 

But for now, let's get to the goods. Presenting... 
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This content is designed to complete Unit 1 on the College Board alignment.
Pick the unit apart if you just want some new activities or use it in full force! More importantly, keep coming back starting in August to see more posts about what it looks like in my class. 

As always, I appreciate and respect you all so much. Keep on doing the amazing things you do for kids in this country!

I feel the need to capture this exact moment - the end of the 2021 AP Lang Reading. I am logged off of ONE (our scoring tool) and my little chunk of essays is in the books. I never seem to remember how this feels in January when invitations go out, so here goes...

I am EXHAUSTED. 

In all reality, I did a small amount of scoring. Between nannying during the day and my inability to score very long via computer screen, I didn't make much of a dent. In the "normal times," I would have scored over 1000 essays, easily. Not so much this year (or last). But I did it - even when it felt seemingly impossible to score after a year like this one.

And I'm glad I did. I always am. (Even though, I always make the joke that some hormone exclusive to readers makes us forget how tough it is when we sign up for another year). What I value most about being a reader is that notes I take away each year: ideas, strengths, weaknesses. I keep a short list of thoughts I want to bring into a new school year. 

This year, as with last year, I am excited to share these notes with you in the hopes that you too can apply them to your own teaching. 
​

1. A thesis is the difference between passing and failing.
I cannot express how important it is for the kids to include a direct, defensible thesis. As I read essays, I often found myself waiting for the thesis to come across. Often times, the essays had a defined line of reasoning with evidence carefully and even artfully integrated from the sources. However, they never came right out and said it. ("It" being their thesis).
The issue this creates is that without a thesis, they cannot score higher than a 2 on evidence and commentary. They top out at a 0-2-0. And it KILLS me every time when I can see signs of a strong writer who just overlooked that clear thesis statement. My guess - in these cases - is that they thought it was an implied thesis, when it wasn't successfully done. To be honest, implicit thesis statements are too risky.

What I Plan To Do About It:
I am going to encourage students to write a conclusion. As a time management strategy, I've made it a habit to tell them to skip the conclusion, but as I was reading, the unclear thesis sometimes came up in the conclusion. I can teach it as an "insurance plan," where a "backup" thesis in the conclusion might save them. My plan is to pair this with a reminder to re-read the prompt before writing the conclusion.

2. Do more with less.
I read a multitude of essays that were so long that I cannot imagine those students were able to complete the other two essays. Time management is such a difficult thing to teach, but so important on the exam. Recognizing this in my own practice, I am going to emphasize being concise to save time. 
I noticed a pattern in the essays where teachers were encouraging the standard 5 paragraph essay with one source in each body paragraph. I can see this as a very straightforward way to teach synthesis to kids, but three well-developed body paragraphs can be time consuming (and as I noticed, VERY repetitive). 

What I Plan To Do About It:
I am going to teach a four paragraph format (see below). This will achieve a few things: 1) Give students a functional outline and 2) Help them maximize their limited time. An added advantage to this model encourages them to find tension between sources - which is a great way to gain that sophistication point. 
​

3. The sophistication point is NOT a unicorn.
This is probably the happiest take away I got from this reading. The sophistication point is not the mythical, unachievable thing we have all perceived in the past. From the pilot reading to last year's reading to this year's reading, I have seen the expectation for the sophistication point evolve in a way that is going to help students so much. 
It is not about perfection. It's about moments. Students earned the point by figuring out the broader context, by finding tension between the sources, and (occasionally) with a vivid, persuasive style. Very few students can write in a vivid style on demand, so I was happy to see a de-emphasis on this as we rewarded kids for having good ideas more. 

What I Plan To Do About It:
​I know we all preach the importance of prewriting, but I think good prewriting is a direct route to the sophistication point. If students invest time upfront they can start writing with some idea of the broader context in mind. 
In the past, I have had students practice this with the Memorials prompt from 2013. On the surface, it is a prompt about statues, but we practice talking about WHY people care about statues and memorials. 
I have been playing with the idea of "Compassionate Debates" where students have to imagine all different opinions that might surround an issue or topic. Then, they pair up and I assign them a stance. Not only is it good argumentation practice, but it also pushes them to think about alternate perspectives and consider an opinion that might not be their own. As I flesh out the idea a bit more, I'll definitely share it here!


So those are my notes. Now to go turn my brain off for a hot minute. 
​

So technically, school has been out for two weeks, but this is the first moment where I have found myself in the proper headspace to reflect. Let me recap these two weeks...

May 27: Last day of school. 
May 28: Record keeping day. (Hungover. Obviously).
May 29: Slept 14 hours.
May 30: Graduation. At which one kid swore in his speech, another did a backflip, and one gem got up and peed on the field. (Graduation was on the football field).
May 31-Jun 7: A blur. I slept. I drank. I ate. I was an amorphous blob moving around my house.
June 8-10: Back to work, at a training for Marzano.

Today.

Usually I begin summer with an ambitious list of the things I want to accomplish and hit the ground running after graduation. After a year like this, however, I needed that "blob time." I can only imagine others felt the same.

But now, it's time to get back to work and let you all know what I have coming up. 

1. AP Reading Reactions: Again, I am reading AP Lang exams from home. (First time synthesis!) I will post my immediate reactions to the work as a reader, and as a teacher. I always appreciated this information as a young AP Lang teacher - to hear from the assessors what issues are being seen and what conversations are happening. Look forward to a post about this after the reading next week. 

2. Year of AP Lang REDESIGN: So I have created an entire year of AP content TWICE now. BUT I wouldn't be me if I didn't constantly upset the balance and change everything, so this summer I plan to redesign my Year of AP content (not replace, but add another set) that matches up with the College Board design and utilizes the personalized method I have been sharing about. 

3. Book Units: Next year, I won't be teaching my AP Literature class anymore. It is a bittersweet change as 1) I am so excited to be moving into a new position in which I am an instructional coach part time but 2) I was just kind of getting into my groove teaching literature again. Knowing that the course is being taken over by newbs, I am going to put together some units for them. While this is work for my Teacher Pay Teachers site, I'll be making a free version to post here as well.


So stay tuned! The goals are big, but this is my version of fun. (I know. It's sad and confusing. Ha ha). Be back soon with more.
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Today, I am here to talk about the scariest part of personalizing learning - allowing kids to create their own assessments. 

I say "scariest" because to give up control of how students how mastery is REALLY hard. For a long time, I told myself I was the best person to assess their work because I knew every facet of the test and standards, but let's face it: They're the expert on themselves. Not me. I had to let go of that little ego trip.

Now, I anticipate the argument that - as the teacher - you have the training and content knowledge to support the kids. That's fair. However, that same training and content knowledge can be used to guide them to the desired outcome. Guiding them to their own discovery is always going to produce more meaningful results. Period.

But it is scary. Terrifying, in fact, for a Type A person like myself. Before I jump into how I do this, I want to clearly something. In my previous series posts, I have talked about the many reinventions of personalization in my classroom. From ugly to bad to alright. It wasn't until my most recent iteration that I was courageous enough to attempt student designed assessment (and, as I mentioned in my last post, I am still assessing them on my terms in the "I Check").

As I've said. Personalization is a spectrum and a process. Start small (choice boards, options, reflection) and then jump into the really scary stuff.

So, if you're ready, let's jump in...
​

For starters, simpler is better. The first step needs to be prioritizing standards. I have talked about this previously when writing about standards based grading, but I cannot express how essential it is for student designed assessment.

I say this because... I did it wrong. (#oops). As I mentioned in my primary post about personalization, I paired standards so that students needed to analyze and develop. In my head, they would use this as a way to analyze a mentor text and then compose their own. In reality, they ended up just creating two products for each unit. In hindsight, I'd narrow to one standard. Lesson leared.

So Step 1: Prioritize Standards and Content.

The next step is to facilitate the design process. I created a template for students which they fill in and submit for approval. I check them off - either approving the initial submission or adding feedback. 

As we've navigated this process, I feel that it is 100% more successful if I just sit and talk with the kids. Therefore, I plan to use an "elevator pitch" in the future where students give me a short proposal for their assessment and we have a discussion after. Without this discussion, I felt they were just choosing the first assessment that came to mind whereas when I talked with them, we were much more intentional about choosing something that interested them.

More fodder for the next go-around.

Step 3 is to consider assessment. This is something I have a lot of room to grow with. As you'll notice, the template has a place for students to create a rubric of their own - which was great in theory, but failed in practice. They needed more examples of proficiency levels to really do this step. Let's be honest: They needed a lot more everything to successful with this step.

Having dropped the ball in a very obvious way, I am brainstorming ideas for the next iteration. Here are some ideas bubbling around in my crazy mind:

1. At the beginning of the unit, have a class activity to create rubrics in a scaffolded way. First, have the students create their own. Then, have them compare and create consensus with a partner. Then a small group. And then as a class. 
2. Rubric Templates: Create fill in the blank versions of each rubric for them to use as a guide.
3. Exemplar Analysis: Again, at the start of the unit, looking at a range of samples (novice to mastery) to determine how the rubric should look.

I am excited about tackling this on the next time around. For now, we live with what we got. Ha ha.

I know people have their beef with College Board, particularly this year, but I'm not one of them. Instead, I am deeply grateful for the amount of materials they have created in that last few years as it makes assessment development hella easy. (If you haven't - check out AP Classroom immediately).

That is usually where I start when I sit down to design an "I Check." The ability to sort the question bank by skills is hugely helpful. Most of my "I Check" performance tasks are designed after the questions from this bank. However, the one below is something of my own design (from when I was making things harder for myself... as usual). 

The main image below is a screenshot from my Schoology page - the basic overview. Below that I have the prompt students use as well as the handout I created for the task itself.
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For our design, we require that students reach proficiency with their "I Check." That means they have to earn 91% on the work before they can move on. Because we use standards rubrics, they are just blank (otherwise I would share). That said, my biggest indicator of proficiency is that they can identify multiple reasons for why this essay would get the sophistication point and explain their annotation in the margins. 

Therefore, if they can achieve all of the bullet points, I consider it Mastery, or 100%. The sophistication point is elusive, so we reward "moments" and strive towards consistency.

​If that makes sense...

Now to talk grading - because if we are being honest, that is the first and sometimes only concern that English teachers have. 

One of the biggest fears people have with personalizing learning is that students are going to be handing things in at all different times. While on the surface, this might seem frustrating or hard to organize, I feel it makes my feedback better. I score without the fatigue of reading 50 of a single assignment. Instead, I look at a variety of things all the time.

Also, and this is HUGE, I grade RIGHT. IN. CLASS. That means, I try to avoid grading outside of class. Why? Because if the student is in the room when I am scoring I can either A) score with them sitting beside me or B) pose questions to clarify meaning and help them correct. 

I promise you. Personalizing - though admittedly a lot of work upfront - is a dream once you get going. These conversations about feedback (instead of notes on a paper) have been so much more impactful in getting students moving in the right direction.

In fact... My goal next year is to grade EVERYthing in class, all the time. If it's worth doing, it's worth taking the time to sit with the kids and score. Fortunately, using a personalized flexible format, gives me the time to make that happen!

• Guiding Students Through Performance Task Design ("I Show")
• Teaching Reflection (...if I even figure it out).

(And if you are wondering, I did finish those mock exams... Until I got the makeup ones today).

Time to talk about learning... or more specifically, time to talk about student-driven learning.

What I call the "I Learn" phase is my best effort to achieve that self-directed learning experience. It is also... the most daunting part of the entire process, in my humble opinion.

I'll explain by showing an example of how students might learn a standard, such as Style and Sophistication in my class at the moment.
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As I mentioned in an earlier post, my students are currently working through units based around AP standards. This one (which covers 7A and 8A) asks students to analyze style and create style in their own writing.

​When they open their unit template, their learning options are laid out...

They can...
A) Read and take notes from a textbook.
B) Participate in a small group.
C) Watch videos.

Each of these are like designing a lesson on its own, so as you might imagine, creating options takes a lot of time and a lot of materials. This is what makes this - for me - the most daunting. That said, it helps that there are so many great resources out in the world. Here are the materials we are using for this unit.
​

​A) TEXTBOOKS
I have two go-to textbooks which I have class sets of. For different units, I refer students to different books - depending on what is provided in each. I would highly recommend these two texts as a reference for students in their learning:

B) SMALL GROUP
This is as simple as students sitting down to talk about the content with me. Starting this portion of the year - where students are exploring 6 different units - my colleague and I created short PowerPoints that we could use to guide these discussions. 

Here is our Style & Sophistication one...

C) VIDEOS
Now, I don't wanna brag, but I have some good video content on my YouTube channel. That said, I don't have nearly enough to cover an entire year of AP Language. Fortunately for me, College Board started the incredible task of creating videos (and MULTIPLE videos) for every skill. #blessed

Because we used my videos for the first part of the year, now I am directing them to the College Board videos. My expectation is that students take notes during videos so they have something to prove they put in the time.

Here are a few of my more popular videos:

D) ACTIVITIES
Ok... So I didn't mention that there was an option D before. That's because I haven't implemented it yet! As I've mentioned, this is a process that I've been adapting and changing each time. In the next manifestation, I am focused on providing activities (worksheets, graphic organizers, projects) that students can also learn through. 

The good news is that after teaching the course for 6 years, I have tons of these activities already to go. I just need to search the catacombs of my many, many folders to find all the gems.
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Knowing that students will choose their own adventure (so to speak), I still need some evidence that they don't gloss over this step - even before their assessment in the "I Check." Therefore, I require them to hand in some evidence of their learning.

Most of the time, these are notes they took from reading or watching videos, but it might also be summaries, annotations, marked up PowerPoints, etc. Using Schoology, I set these up so they MUST submit their evidence before they can move on.



Personalizing the learning process is scary - even after seeing it be successful. As teachers, we away want to be in control of the information they are getting. That's why we preview videos before we assign them or make our own version of other people's PowerPoints. This need to construct the narrative is well-intentioned but exhausting. As someone who used to obsess about recreating everything myself - it was a big leap to point students in a direction and hope they land on the right information.

That said, the same is accomplished with the next step for students, the "I Check." At that point, I can redirect or provide feedback to clarify what I want. For me, the surprise was that I rarely had to do this. If kids watched videos or read, they seemed to catch on just the same to what I covered in small groups. In other words, I didn't need to dress anything up for them; they got it on their own!

Even so... the "I Check" is hugely important. Stay tuned for my post on designing these assessments and for sample material!

I started this post last night during conferences. Then... it became a novel. (Classic Steph).

What can I say? I get so excited thinking about how we can personalize learning that I could talk for day. (Which is also why I have started this series... I just can't shut up). 

But as I sat in conferences, I couldn't help but think about my first round of conferences as an AP teacher. Every other conference eventually came to some version of... "He/She has never had a B before." Usually followed by my explanation of weighted grades and the rigor of AP classes... until I'd give up and say something like "It'll get better."

Grades were honestly running my classroom. Kids were so desperate for points one year that they literally brought thousands of canned items when I offered to drop an FRQ for the class that brought the most. They spent (or, their parents spent) HUNDREDS of dollars to drop one 50 point assignment. The pressure to keep an A and that influence on my classes was more exhausting than any number of pages I had to grade.

Something had to change. And significantly.

It was around this time that my school adopted Schoology - which offered a host of options under the Mastery tab to let me see students' achievement levels. Looking at the new feature, I was drawn to the fact that I could attach learning objectives to assignments, and Schoology would calculate not just the numeric grade, but also the proficiency.

Quickly - as they often do - my wheels started turning, and fast! I think it was just a few days before a new school year when I decided to jump onboard. I drafted some learning objectives (based on nothing really... they weren't great) and asked my colleague (God bless her) to jump down the standards based grading rabbit hole with me. 

And as with everything, the process went through multiple transformations and deviations. From bad to okay to maybe alright? Let me walk you through it.
​

Because my first attempt was a last minute impulse leap - as you might imagine - we had multiple issues. Even within that first year, I changed the setup at semester time because I had quickly realized my flaw.

What was that flaw, you ask? I used the proficiency calculation instead of a decaying average. 

Now these words might mean nothing to you, so let me explain:

• Proficiency Calculation: In this format, students grade was based on their highest level of proficiency. It didn't matter which order the grades came in, as long as they demonstrated proficiency at some point they were good (a.k.a. "Got the A").
• Decaying Average: This format is slightly more complicated, but essentially, all scores contribute to a score, but the last assessment of a standard is weighted at 75% of the grade. 

Any teacher with half a brain could anticipate what problem I ran into with the proficiency calculation:
As soon as kids got a proficient score on something, they started blowing off subsequent assignments, saying "I already have the A so it doesn't really matter."

In a writing class, practice is key, so this apathy towards repeat assessment immediately caused problems. I'm not saying this method can't work. I just didn't have the refined curriculur design that would have been needed to make it work. So, at semester time, I gave the proficiency calculation the ol' heave ho. (Not admitting my own ignorance - of course - but rather, telling the kids we had to step it up for second semester and focus on consistency. Like a real pro...ha!)

We carried on with the decaying average model for the rest of the year. 
​

Starting a new year, I felt better knowing that the decaying average worked, but two roadblocks had yet to be resolved:

1. The Kids Didn't Really "Get" It
2. My Learning Objectives Suuuucked

In all honesty, I still don't think I have resolved #1 (but I'll share some changes that helped), and #2 is something I am working on every year. I grabbed a screenshot of my Resources page to show you how many variations of the standards I have been through. Like I said... MANY variations.

The following year, AP came out with their updated Course and Exam Description and that helped A LOT. Without that, I felt like I was kind of floating out in the middle of nowhere without the anchors I needed to measure kids. So before the changes implemented in 2019, I was just trying stuff out until it fit.

SIDE NOTE: This process is something that can't be overlooked. It would be easy to say you just plug in all the Common Core standards and start assessing your class, but for me, a huge process has been learning to prioritize and organize standards. And even more importantly, having the freedom to do so. One of the main reasons my adaptation of SBG has been pleasant is because I am not on a core English team and I have a little flexibility with my learning targets. Any system that expects full representation of every standard is delusional. Standards based grading must rely on multiple assessments of each standard, so expecting FORTY TWO standards - even over the course of two years - is unrealistic. (I'm looking at you, Common Core!). 
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Now we have arrived at the 19-20 school year. You know, those magical pre-COVID times when all we were worried about was the new composition style questions on the exam. Remember that? 

In all honesty, last year I OVER simplified. (It's like I knew something everyone else didn't). I never had a good way of labeling multiple choice so previously, I had just said "Critical Reading" and called it good. So with the new standards in place, I decided to just break that into the four core categories in the CED (Course and Exam Description): Rhetorical Situation, Claims and Evidence, Reasoning and Organization, and Style. 

I pretty much had a mix of old standards and new, but I did differentiate between what proficiency was in the first semester versus the second semester. It's not something I would recommend in hindsight. The more I learn about competency based learning, the more I realize that the target shouldn't move just because time passes. 

But - another lesson learned! 
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For this school year, I fully adopted the CED standards. And to no one's surprise... I won't be able to get them all in this year. Even in a "normal" year, I think I would struggle to get to some standards in the CED. 

However, I do feel our work has been more intentional and focused this year. Really narrowing down those reading standards to the subpoints and specific targets has allowed me to 1) use AP classroom to its full potential and 2) zero in on student weaknesses. 
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The picture above is a snapshot of my Mastery page on Schoology. You'll see my standards now have the correct numeric code from the CED (....and that we need to work on 8A).

This spring, in order to move one step closer to a personalized format, I actually have them narrowed down to six units, pairing the analysis standard with the writing one. 

If you haven't noticed yet, nearly all of the learning objectives in the CED have a pair. In the one above, 3.B asks students to analyze a text for thesis and 4.B asks them to write a thesis. These pairings between analysis and development are consistent throughout the objectives. 

So for this spring, I have made these pairs for 5B/6B, 7A/8A, 1B/2B(kind of), 5C/6C, and 3C/4C. Students are designing assessments that show me both sides of the skill. 

Like I said, the learning objectives (or Roadblock #1) have always kind of been in a state of flux while I adjust and adapt to kids. The other hurdle, or Roadblock #2 mentioned above, has been a similar slow march.

Helping Students "Get" It
We did take more intentional steps this year to be transparent, but as you can imagine, switching to this style of grading is a pretty big jump. While my district is moving in this direction, I frankly wasn't willing to wait, so educating students, parents, and other teachers on my system has been a learning process of its own.

That said, here is my advice. (Well... what I have so far. We're still taking steps).

1. Take time to explicitly walk students through the gradebook.
2. When students ask about an "assignment" in the gradebook, remind them that the gradebook is standards, not tasks. 
3. Explicitly announce which standards you are working on at every step.
4. Create resources to help them understand. (For instance, I created a syllabus video this fall and linked it in my gradebook for parents to see).
5. Find a way to be comfortable defending standards based grading. 

My last piece of advice can be the hardest. I have spent years explaining and re-explaining my gradebook, rationale, and process to all stakeholders, but it has become easier and easier every time. And, even better, I have the data to support why it's working now. It's one of those times where you have to dig your heels in a bit at the start and persevere, but it'll pay off!

As for next year and the year after, I have no intention of reverting back to numeric grading, and as my district adopts it universally, I'll adapt my methods to suit. 

That said, I do know my next evolution involves upgrading my learning objectives to proficiency scales - more to come on those - and continuing to reform my personalized methods. 

There aren't simple answers when it comes to this process. (But I'll sure try to help!) It takes time and patience. It takes trial and error. It takes a lot of reflection. In other words, it takes resilience - something we've all mastered in the last year, I think.

But I will say this... Now that I am working in my most personalized model, I have never seen stronger relationships with my students or greater conversations about learning in my classroom. It honestly makes me so excited for our next attempt. (And excited to keep sharing what I learn with you!)
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