"...and Not to Yield": Explorations in English Education

My Instruction and Assessment Philosophy Over the past couple years, I have been reading into standards-based grading and “healthy” grading practices. Along with a variety of blog posts, @TG2Chat/#tg2chat and the #sblchat community, the following resources have assisted me in developing my standards-based assessment (and, in turn, instruction) philosophy: ·          Grading from the Inside Out by Tom Schimmer ( @TomSchimmer ) ·          On Your Mark by Thomas R. Guskey ( @tguskey ) ·          Assessment 3.0 by Mark Barnes ( @markbarnes19 ) ·          Standards-Based Learning in Action by Tom Schimmer ( @TomSchimmer ), Garnet Hillman ( @garnet_hillman ), and Mandy Stalets ( @MandyStalets ) I believe that students must seek learning, not points, and that their grade in my course should be a reflection on tha...

From Workshop to Standards-Based Scoring After establishing a workshop model last year in my 9 th and 10 th grade English classes, I want to move closer to standards-based grading this year. For me, establishing an instructional model that more closely works with standards-based learning was an important first step. Please refer to this post for a summary. Now, I can continue my exploration. In this blog post, I will walk through the steps I took to establish the eight standards I will assess my students on in Academic English 9: Standard 1 : Analyzing Literary Elements & Devices Standard 2 : Analyzing Nonfiction Elements & Concepts Standard 3 : Evaluating Text Genre, Form, and Structure Standard 4 : Utilizing Evidence & Research Standard 5 : Crafting Focus, Organization, and Style Standard 6 : Composing Narratives Standard 7 : Expanding Vocabulary Standard 8 : Developing Speaking Skills Step 1: Prioritizing Standards Last year, I revi...