Effective Communication in the Gradebook - Part 1 (Math)

Seventh post in a series from our staff-led Institute Day.  This will be a two-part blog post, with the first post reflecting on the math component, while the second post focuses on the science component and the teacher take-aways from the session.

Rachel Barry (Math) and Quinn Loch (Science) presented this session, which focused on these two questions:
     1.  How can I show formative feedback in the gradebook?
     2.  How can I communicate progress in the gradebook?

MATH

To begin, it is important to note that these ideas and implementations are constantly evolving.  I am constantly discussing alternatives with my colleagues to determine what is the best way of giving feedback and communicating a student's progress.  I am in my seventh year of teaching, and I have yet to maintain the same grading system and gradebook set-up in two consecutive years.

- Formative Feedback is reported in the gradebook using a 0% Category.
All grades not on a summative quiz or unit test go in the 0% category. This helps students and parents see progress, without affecting a students grade.

- Use comments in Infinite Campus to display student progress on a math standard.
Shows multiple attempts on same math standard.

Teacher View:

Student View:

- Students reflect at the end of a unit on their effort and performance.
At the end of each unit, students reflect on their effort and performance using the Reflection document below.  The Checklist grades are in the formative category of the gradebook, while the quizzes and unit tests are both summative categories.  They log in to Infinite Campus to fill this out themselves.  Then, they answer the following two questions on the back:

1.  What are you most proud of from this unit?

2.  What are you going to change to improve in the next unit?

The purpose of this document is for students to realize that if they complete the work in class (through a Schoology Checklist), they will be successful on the quiz.  Also, if they go through the reassessment process, they better their performance on topic.  Most of the time, when they have completed a retake, they also score better later on the unit test.  

Check in tomorrow for Part 2, focusing in Science!