This whole thread but I'm going to take the opportunity to hype up #ungrading and self-promo this piece @j9love.bsky.social and I wrote. We emphasize feedback and give students ownership over grades. 1/2
jsepajournal.org/index.php/js...
Shamelessly promoting my work w/ @j9love.bsky.social Different discipline but we draw on the book @texasinafrica.bsky.social suggested. We have suggestions on how to scaffold. You can still shift assignments/ incorporate elements of ungrading before going all in.
jsepajournal.org/index.php/js...
FFS the Chronicle just spiked my blood pressure with this headline. (It's just about routine classroom observations)
Everyone concerned about data loss right now should learn about the End of Term Web Archive, which I believe has been working on preserving federal websites for the past 8 months. The dataset you fear has been lost may well be here
Just an incredible project. Thank you to everyone involved
If you cannot call it what it is when all in a week: a government removes every mention of a group of people, destroys information about them en masse, bans their discussion in schools, restricts their ability to travel and starts seizing and refusing their official identification, when will you?
JSEPA Vol 3, Issue 1 - Promoting Social Justice section "Ungrading: Socially Just Assessment Practices for the PA Classroom" https://doi.org/10.24926/jsepa.v3i1.5891
Vol 3 Issue 1 - Promoting Social Justice
💡Innovative & equitable-focused pedagogy paired with practical applications
Ungrading: Socially Just Assessment Practices for the PA Classroom By: Jeannine M. Love @j9love.bsky.social & Jamie Levine Daniel @jamielevdan.bsky.social
doi.org/10.24926/jse...
Some of my winter break reading to prepare for the semester—and this Administration.
It should prob be remembered that “birthright citizenship” was the product of the abolitionist mvt, which understood that no person of color would be safe from deportation or bondage if their citizenship could be questioned or taken away
Student reached out earlier today to find out if ICE could raid schools. Told them it was currently prohibited but that would probably change. Less than an hour later I had to write back to give them this terrifying update.
Mayor Adams agrees to not publicly criticize Trump as Day One executive orders rock NYC, nation
This is literally how fascism works.
Teaching a course on white nationalism this semester. That inaugural speech will pair perfectly with this reading on authoritarian tactics.
protectdemocracy.org/work/the-aut...
Ooh, I love the idea of starting the semester with it.
I see you included one of my other all-time favorite quotes as well!
“Start by trusting students” - @jessifer.bsky.social
But being fully present and authentic is the most effective way I’ve found to support student learning—and my own. I am looking forward to the lessons I’ll continue to learn from @liznorell.bsky.social 11/11
Being fully present in the classroom as our authentic selves can feel scary. Many of us have absorbed the lie that to do so is unprofessional. And many face disproportionate barriers and repercussions due to positionality that make authenticity more tenuous. 10/11
Over the years I’ve received many notes from students thanking me for my openness. From students who were cancer survivors, or caregivers, or enduring other forms of trauma. They thank me for modeling healing, for highlighting shared humanity, for letting them know they are seen and supported. 9/11
When I went on medical leave for my mastectomy, my students threw me a party, gave me cards, and even personal trinkets for luck. (One student gave me his rosary). The next semester when I was late with feedback due to exhaustion from chemo, they wrote me notes of love and encouragement. 8/11
Four years later when I was diagnosed with breast cancer (just five months after earning tenure) I was completely open with my students, no longer afraid to share. 7/11
I often said that, surprisingly (to me anyway), the fewer fucks I gave about “doing it right” the better teacher I became. 6/11
Over the next few years, I worked through my own trauma and learned to let go of what I thought I was “supposed” to do to be a good teacher. I opted for less over-scripted preparation, more improvisation in response to what my students (and I) brought into the room. 5/11
At the very end of the semester I opened up to my leadership students and the grace they extended to me brought me to tears and made me realize my fear and distrust was not only unnecessary but had been a barrier to authentic connection with my students. 4/11
When I returned to the classroom the following semester, I tried my damndest to be business as usual. I was a new prof and terrified of letting students know, afraid the knowledge would be weaponized against me, a lens to see all the ways I was falling short as I waded through my immense grief. 3/11
My late partner passed away during a semester research leave, and one month before my reappointment dossier was due. 2/11
Cover of tge book The Present Professor: Authenticity and Transformational Teaching. The image is of a lighthouse on a coast, set against a backdrop of the sea under a starry night sky.
Just started reading @liznorell.bsky.social’s book. The intro brought to mind lessons I’ve learned over the years about authenticity and presence in the midst and aftermath of trauma. 1/11
Just picked this up. Looking forward to it!
Absolutely love what @jessifer.bsky.social has to say about ungrading. His work deeply influenced my own ungrading approach and my work with @j9love.bsky.social. Our paper just came out and I will add that link in a follow-up post. 1/2
This was a fascinating article. I added several of their suggestions to my classes this semester. Explained it to my first class today and they were really, really interested in the process. Kudos to the authors (and thanks to their students for all the eval feedback)!
The word "ungrading" is an active present participle. It doesn't mean "not grading." Ungrading acknowledges the existence of grades and invites systemic critique, an undoing or thoughtful dismantling. Not best practices, but fluid, contextual practices to push against an insidious culture of grades.
📣📣📣 Our ungrading paper is officially out. Check out this work w/ @j9love.bsky.social in @jsepajournal.bsky.social. We must match what we teach to how we teach it, sharing power with students & fostering participatory practices. 1/5
#ungradingchat #academicsky #pasky
jsepajournal.org/index.php/js...
Our closing sentiment:
"Acknowledgment: We would like to thank our students. Thank you for trusting in us and in the process. Thank you for sharing your curiosity, your creativity, your knowledge, your fears, your hopes, and your insight and suggestions. We appreciate you." 7/7