Week 2 of the course had the first set of Learning Objective assessments last week. A few observations on #masterygrading #MTBoS 1/8

The students needed a lot of time to understand how I set up the course. I should have put the syllabus on screen to discuss on Day 1, for an hour and 15 min. Even a week later, I see many chat messages “so no exams, no final?” And I get many emails asking confirmation 2/8

Students were invested right away. “How do I learn what I need to show true mastery and not just familiarity?” What does it mean to them to understand math? The assessments are designed to assess a strong understanding with ideas put together. 3/8

The fact that there are three chances- maybe more- establishes some trust. I know the students can learn it, not just an algorithm, and they know I want them to. When students don’t pass, they are incentivized to learn it- it’s not too late because there are two more tries 4/8

There’s room for me to improve while keeping student faith. I made one LO assessment too long and I told the students I would give them a fourth shot. Another one came too early and students weren’t ready, but they forgive me because they have two more chances. 5/8

They are thinking more deeply! A formula won’t cut it. The assessments are open book and open note. Like real life. 6/8

Students don’t know what to ask, but these LOs help guide the conversation. They are a lot of work for me, but also kind of fun- like designing puzzles where you have to control for how many reasoning steps are required 7/8

I really like teaching and I especially enjoy watching the students grow. It feels good that assessment is playing a positive role in that :) 8/8