Why I don't do RRR days anymore (kind of)

 Previous posts

1. Everyone needs a little R, R, and R. 
2. R, R, R update

RRR was a plan/activity/what not that I came up with many years ago. I presented it to my team as we embarked into Standards Based Grading and it was incredibly useful. In the past two years, however, I have all but stopped using it. In fact, last year I did not have a single RRR day for my kids. So, what changed? 

The original idea behind the RRR day (originally rest, reach, and remediate) was to allow students who were comfortable with material to get enrichment, students who had missed work to catch up, and students who needed individual support to get it. This is, as any teacher will tell you, no easy task on the best of days. With ~30 students in a room it can be quiet difficult. So, as we worked with my original framework, we experimented with a few things:

• making a list of activities students needed to do for each standard - This was always outside of normally assigned work. The problem with this is that it put exponential amounts of work on us to create these new materials. 
• making a list of options for students for each standard - This was easier in that I would provide a choice of a general activity (e.g. make a comic strip of our most recent story), but still required extra work on my part. It also sparked questions and, on occasion, confusion for students. 
• RRR days on a schedule - Originally I really wanted to do these days every other week. The problem I found was that some students developed a sense of entitlement that we'd have this day and they didn't need to pay attention or work any other day because they could just get me to explain it to them on this day. For other students, the entitlement came in the form of wanting a "day off".*
• Extra Grading - This was a major issue. I would find myself grading entire assignments just to move a grade from a 99 to a 100. Again, some sense of entitlement came out when, a few times, a student would say that I was preventing them from having a 100 or ruining GPA because I wasn't giving them a perfect score on RRR work: "But... I did the thing. That's a 100 right?"

* I don't use the word entitlement easily. It is a word often used against my generation. I want to be clear that I always try to give students the benefit of the doubt for as long as I can. Once a pattern becomes apparent, however, I will take appropriate action. 

So, I got rid of it. I started by saying that we'd have an RRR day when the grades showed we needed it. This didn't go over too well for some students. I found myself battling between letting certain students have a "free day" so that I could work with others and give them the support they needed. I was suddenly trying to manage behaviour while trying to do good work with students who needed it. 

And so, last year, I decided I would not do a single RRR day. Not a single one. Now, let's break that down. Let me address some of the very questions I got when I announced this to students:

1. So does this mean we can't redo any work? No, not at all. There will always be opportunities for resubmission and opportunities to try again. It will, however, look different. 
2. What about free days? I think I may have laughed out loud. I'm not super proud of that.... but I did. I don't do movies 99% of the time. The exception to this is that I occasionally do a movie short and sometimes I'll show an episode of Class of the Titans (NOT Clash). Even then, they don't take the entire period. This is not a slight on teachers who do show movies. I have on occasion shown one. It is a reflection, rather, of what I think I can do better. I can do a better job supporting the students in my room. That is what I'm always working on: how better can I support the students I see in my room. 
3. But XX does RRR days!?!?! And that's fine. My teammates can still do RRR, and some do. For me, I feel I can meet my students needs better in a different way now.

But... how did I address all the concerns that RRR is meant to address? Well...

• I always reserve the right to let students resubmit the exact same assignment at any time. If a student needs to fix something, or understands something new that they didn't before, of course I'm going to let them redo an assignment. I reserve this, however, and this is not available for every thing every day. This is simply for my sanity. 
• Instead... I ensure that I make plans to reassess things as part of class. If I notice that a majority of students did poorly or missed something I will adjust and reassess again shortly after (see post: the fault in our plans)
• Sometimes I'll even say, "check your grades. If you are missing or would like me to reconsider your grade for Standard XX, make sure you turn this in. 
• I set my focus on accommodations. My focus is becoming more and more centralised on what accommodations I need to make for any and all of my students. Some of these include small group or one on one instruction, alternative formatting, student choice, representation, etc. 

Ultimately I am doing a little bit more to make sure that students are accommodated in my class. By doing that and regularly reassessing through my lessons, we don't need to set aside a day for them to catch up and I ultimately have less work overall. Now, if we needed one, I would have no problem doing so. But I've found that I can accomplish RRR without needing to set aside a day 99.9% of the time simply by focusing my day on accommodations. If you're sensing a shift in the way I talk about things and how I go about things, you are correct. It's a shift I've always been pointed towards, but now I am actively on this path and I haven't ever loved my job more. <3

Standards Based Grading - I can take a grade for anything!

I thought I'd share quick ideas today on how to take standard grades without making formal activities or having loads of paperwork.

I try very hard to not take grading home. Firstly, I have 6 animals and they do not appreciate paperwork in the way I think my students would like. Secondly, I have a few chronic conditions that can make completing work difficult. So, I have to be careful with my time. I try to take grades whenever I can. This benefits everyone:

• grades get updated regularly.
• students who may not perform well all the time get may opportunities to reassess.
• students' grades reflects real levels of proficiency repeatedly through the year. 
• I get grades updated before the end of the school day and can go home a little lighter. 

So.... here are 10 ways you can quickly and easily input grades during class or informally:

1. During a running dictation (or scrambled eggs or QR code dictation), include some commands. Watch your students and, as they complete those commands, you can give a grade for what they do. This could cover listening, speaking, writing, comprehension. 
2. During a running dictation (etc.) listen for who is speaking in Latin, reading the sentences out loud. You can easily give them a grade for reading or speaking. 
3. Students who ask questions in the target language can receive a grade for interpersonal interactions, speaking, gesturing, etc. 
4. Students who use appropriate rejoinders in class can receive grades for interpersonal interactions, speaking, listening, comprehending, etc. 
5. Students who complete a brain break that is in the target language might receive a grade for listening and comprehending. 
6. Students who complete jobs in class using the target language can receive grades for interpersonal interactions, presentational interactions, speaking, listening, comprehending, etc.
7. Use group work and class discussion specifically to listen for your students who may not present well on paper and vice versa. Fill in grades as you can. 
8. Turn student work into a listening assessment. You can use student images or monsters created and use them to create descriptions in the target language. Students draw the image they hear and then you can project and discuss. This can be a listening, comprehending, TPR, discussion, etc grade.
9. If you have a great convo with a kid in the hall or outside of class in the target language, give them a grade for it! They've earned it!
10. A student who shows understanding non-verbally whether through action, picture, or writing should receive a grade for their ability to understand. It isn't output, but it is skill. Give them that grade as you can. Use that skill to build up their confidence! Applaud them!

Other Posts on SBG from PBP

1. RRR Update
2. Reflections on being a first year teacher again
3. SBG - Making it work
4. SBG - Mid Semester
5. The Fault in our Plans
6. Serpens

R, R, R - No Failure Classroom - An update

One of the things that Rachel and I really believe in is the No Failure Classroom. We've posted on this a few times and, today, it made an appearance in another blog that Rachel and I participate in. If you are interested, you can find these posts here:

1. Everyone Needs a little R, R, and R
2. Growing a Latin Program Part 2
3. No Failure Classroom at Work

One of the things, mentioned in two of these posts, is the R, R, and R day. Since its first implementation last year, we have changed the way we do this somewhat. In this post, I'd like to discuss these changes. 

Basic Premise

Not much has changed from our last post in regards to the reasoning behind offering this day. Ultimately what it boils down to is:

Comprehensible

Compelling

Caring*

1. We want our work to be comprehensible. Sometimes, students do poorly on an assessment because something was incomprehensible. This can be as simple as the instructions. It can also refer to the stress level, health, etc. of our students. A student who has a cold will often find things harder to understand. 
2. We want our work to be compelling. Students may perform at a lower proficiency level because something isn't compelling. Having a day like this allows students to show their skills using something they feel is compelling. 
3. We want our work to be caring. This speaks to both comprehensibility and compellingness and everything else under the sun. We want students to succeed. Having R, R, and R days allows our work to be caring in the ultimate way. Our classes aren't about a "gotcha" moment or "tricks". It is truly about acquisition and proficiency. 

* Credit to Rachel Ash for the three Cs

What We've Changed

Since last year, a few things have changed. Rachel and I are teaching upper level classes now, while our colleagues teacher the first years. Rachel's and my kids are now in their second year of R, R, and R. Our understanding of Comprehensible Input and the no fail classroom has improved and been updated. Knowing all that, a few things have changed. 

Latin I

In Latin I, much stays the same. Students are given particular activities to complete and meet about specific stories and activities. Latin I classes have R, R, and R days with less frequency than the upper levels, but we all reserve the right to have one whenever we feel we need one. 

Latin II+

In Latin II and above, we've decided that students should choose how they show their proficiency in the standards. This means they come up with their own way, rather than choosing from a list of assignments. I will be honest and say some kids have had a hard time struggling with this. When this comes up, I have a set of questions I start to walk through:

• What does the standard say?
• What do you think that means?
• What ideas do you have that you think will show your proficiency level in this?
• What have we done in class that has applied to this?

I also always allow them to redo or resubmit previous work. I will be honest and say most do not choose this option. Most students choose a different assignment that they want to do.

I did provide a FAQ for my students who were struggling with what to do on R, R, and R days*. What I have found, however, is that this kind of work requires students to rethink how they think of grades and class. This is good, but can be a process with ups and downs. Some days students seem to have a very good grasp of the process, and others they need a lot of guidance and sometimes get frustrated.

* Please note that these are based on our standards and may need editing for your use.

What's changed in general

One of the things that's changed in general is what we allow kids to do when they don't have work. I still stress that this should be community building, and most kids take advantage of that. I keep a box of activities ready for my classes. But, we also allow kids to work on other work or put their heads down. Here are the things I keep in my box. 

• Minotaurus and other board games 
• decks of cards
• puzzles of varying difficulties

I do spend money on these, but not as much as one might think. I only bring games that I have at home already, or ones that I made (I'm currently working on checkers sets using old fabric, paint, and bottle tops). I get everything else in bulk (cards) or from the dollar store (puzzles). I do spend some money on plastic bins to keep my puzzles in good condition. The box itself was a gift. 

Other Considerations

If this is something you decide to implement, I'd take a few things into consideration. There is no one answer to these, but I've attempted to provide my own thoughts on each issue. 

1. How often should I have a regular R, R, and R day? I honestly base this on the class. I have been giving one every other week this semester, but, given a few factors, we won't be having one until next week. It really depends on where you and your class are. 
2. What about special R, R, and R days, for example if everyone fails a test? We operate on the 80% rule. If 80% of a class doesn't make 80% or better, we take the burden on ourselves, rather than putting a retake or remediation on the shoulders of the kids, and work with the entire class. We had one such incident last year, which you can read about here. 
3. Can kids turn in work anytime? Or just on R, R, and R days? Personally, I don't offer work unless on an R, R, and R day. If a parent emails, I talk about these days as well. If a student comes to me, however, and asks specifically, I always take the work. This happens rarely, as most kids get the work done on the R, R, and R day. 
4. What about kids who take poor advantage of the system? We've always maintained the right to lessen these in frequency or to not have them should a student or a class take advantage. One of the reasons I am not having one this week is due to this very reason. We will have one later, but I am lessening their frequency since students do not feel like they need to take good advantage of the time that often.

Final Thoughts

Of course, however, I always bear in mind that kids are kids. One of the big reasons many teachers do not accept late work or offer retakes is because of the argument, "but this isn't how the real world works". And yet... it is exactly how the real world works. We receive and lose opportunities based on what we do and how we do it. We offer this day to our kids to allow them to show us what they couldn't do, be it on account of sickness, emotion, absence, or lack of understanding. These days take pressures off of kids who already feel overwhelmed at school - just like when adults take a "mental health" day (for example). When we miss a payment, or we fall on hard times, often we get a grace period, a fee (and a second chance), or, if we can work it out, forgiveness. That's what really stands behind these days: a chance for students to learn how to, and demonstrate, better skills, and get the help they need, just like we might in the "real world".

Reflections on being a first year teacher.. again!

While this was my 6th full year (7th including all teaching time) teaching, this was my first year in a new school. Not only was the location different, but the school population, size of my department, and school atmosphere was different.

• This was my first year working with another Latin teacher in the building (okay, well 3 other Latin teachers)
• This was my first year having less than four preps (5 classes of Latin I and 1 class of Latin II)
• This was the first time I proctored an AP exam. 
• This was my first year without a window in my room. 
• This was my first year sharing a door with another teacher. 
• This was the first time I did not know every single Latin student in my school.
• This was my first time, in a number of years, being in the same building with fellow foreign language teachers. 

There are a lot of lessons and firsts that I experienced this year and I thought I'd write this post to reflect on those and maybe, if it is useful, pass on some things to those who have yet to experience their "second first year". 

1. Collaboration is key. This was true last year for me as well - since we untextbooked. But, it continues to be true. Even though we are all in the same building and we teach a variety of things, collaboration is key. I don't say this to say something like, "you have to follow every lesson plan to the letter and be on the same day every day." I say it to say things like:
   * A fresh pair of eyes can be helpful.
   * Sometimes you are tired and need an alternate plan.
   * Hearing someone else's perspective might give you new ideas.
   * Stealing your colleagues ideas is okay! 
   I can't tell you how many times this year my colleague Bob Patrick (and my father) would take my lesson plan and tweak it and then we'd collaborate briefly at the end of the day and I liked so much of what he did that I did it myself the next day. Similarly, he'd tweak a plan and then see what I'd done with it and do it himself that way the next day. This made light work for both of us and gave us many new ideas. Similarly, we collaborate across levels. I would watch things Rachel did and steal them for Latin I or hear about what Caroline did in Latin III and adapt it for my kids to read. 
2. Communication is bread and butter. I came from a school where I was an individual Latin teacher. I worked well with my colleagues, but there was much in the Latin world that I was on my own to do. It is important, whether you are going or coming from a place with more than one teacher, to communicate. There was so much I had to learn (and am still learning) about how things are done here. It can be frustrating because I am used to trying to figure it out on my own and I don't always remember I have a group with me now who knows what it is I am dong. I am so thankful for how kind and understanding they've been with me! 
3. The stuffed animals may remain the same, but their personas will not! I took my stuffed animals with me and I've added to my collection since then. The animals that were my previous students' favourites are no longer sitting on a golden throne. The kangaroo has been traded for the llama; the koala for the grizzly bear; the sheep for the hippo. Similarly, the stories we tell aren't the same. This has been an adjustment for me, but it has been fun. I have had to forget 6 years of names and back stories only to discover new ones. 
   On a side note: I am more convinced than ever of the healing and therapeutic effect stuffed animals have. Students who are allowed to hold one are often calmer than without and they can be a quick and easy way to tell which students are feeling down or need a break. 
4. Learning a new campus is STILL hard. I have gotten lost so many times (and this is with a guided tour)... I've been late to meetings, ended up on the wrong side of campus, and even exited a building only to re-enter from another door and not realise what I'd done. This is one of my biggest learning curves, but it has given me something to bond with my youngest students over and we laugh about it. 
5. Duties, Drive-ins, and Dues. Chances are, no matter the school, district, etc. that the way duties, parking, and various "dues" are done is different everywhere you go. There will be things you like and things you don't. What I've found is that, even with the things I wasn't fond of, they work for this school. They wouldn't work for my old school, and so I am glad they are done this way here. Even as I adjusted to this way of doing thing, and grew tired of it, I still remember being glad of the change: having an assigned parking space, having my new duty station, proctoring the AP exam (yes, I enjoyed it!). Ya, I still groan sometimes, but what would school be without them?
6. It's okay to occasionally enjoy the cave that is your classroom. I will be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of change. Even change I initiate (and I am always looking to be better), has to sit with me for a bit before I'll take the chance. I am also a fairly strong introvert and I recede into my brain as often as possible; not because I hate people, but it is how I think best and recharge. Yes, making friends is important. Yes, being a presence in the school is key. But, also taking time to become comfortable and to make your space feel like your own is important. My first few days here were spent in and out of meetings, but we were also given a good bit of classroom time. I put my headphones in and took my time setting up my space. I didn't have it completely ready by day 1, but I enjoyed getting to know my space and make good use of it. I still put in my headphones during lunch and after school while I grade, or plan, or whatever. The school is new, my colleagues are new, but my cave is mine. There are some things, if you are like me, and find change and new people daunting that you can do to ease into it:
   * Meet one new person a day/a week.
   * Have a mentor of your choosing: someone you already know or are already comfortable with.
   * Make a 10-20 minute time of day, especially in the new year, where you don't check email. Get up and clean or decorate something. Read an article or catch up on teaching posts.
   * Leave early/on time (depending on your school's rules) one day a week. You can stay late, get caught up in work, plan far ahead all the other days. 

New schools, rules, people, and students can all be overwhelming, and they certainly were for me. There were days when I arrived, went into my room, and locked the door to prepare. I still get lost going to a new room or lab and I feel my students' frustration when I don't have the answer of where the lab is or how to get to a testing room. But, in all of this, I've learned a few things and come to enjoy a few things:

• I have great colleagues! 
• I have supportive administrators! 
• I have hilarious students! 
• I have a space that is my own and that I've made my own. 
• I actually liked proctoring an AP FL exam. (yes, I'm weird)

And all of these things don't mean that I didn't have them at my old school, or have them all the time. We all have bad days, weeks, and even months. I loved teaching my former students and I enjoyed working with my colleagues. I also love working with my current students and enjoy my current colleagues. Both are okay. 

I think I've learned that as much comparison as we all do when we move schools (it's natural). I've also learned not to compare them. My two schools have different demographics, different layouts, different rules, and different people. I like them both. and that's okay.

I want to close with this quote I saw. I don't know who said it, but I saw it on instagram and it spoke to me:

You'll be fine. Feeling unsure and lost is part of your path. Don't avoid it. Breathe. You'll be okay, even if you don't feel it all the time.

Activity - Who Is Better?

This is a two day activity (it could easily be a three day activity or a one day activity with an upper level class) that I came up with to review vocabulary for both our story and the final exam. I am calling it: Comparisons - Who is better?

Some Notes

There are a few things I want to point out in case you are exploring Standards Based Grading, Untextbooking, etc. 

• This activity would be great for standards that involve writing, writing with accuracy, list making, descriptions, and comparisons.
• This activity is great for novella reading with lots of characters or descriptions. It can be a review activity that leads into a chapter with lots of descriptions
• This activity works really well with nature vocabulary, body parts, colours, places, prepositions, and adjectives. 

My Set Up

We did this activity before reading chapters 6-7 of Magus Mirabilis Oz and also before the final. We've done a lot of nature, body parts, and colour vocabulary to read this book and I wanted something to review that before reading these chapters because, in these chapters, we meet the Cowardly Lion, review everyone's desires, and we have our first dangerous adventure with the Kalidae (fearsome half lion, half bear creatures who chase the characters across a ditch). 

Process

Day 1

approved animals with feet, hands, ears, eyes, hair, horns, wings,
teeth, fins, and a variety of colours!

On day 1, put students into small groups and give them some object to focus on. In m classes, we used a variety of stuffed animals that I chose based on the number of descriptors students could use and how easily these animals lent themselves to the "most" portion of the activity. 

Students were to describe the animal as best they could using their vocabulary notes and any resources I'd given them to describe the body, colour, etc. of the animal and then to describe where the animal lived (nature vocab). 

Finally, students were to pick from a list on the board of "most" adjectives and give a reason, in Latin, why the animal was the "most". 

Example using image to the right:

homo est mirabilis. Iacobus vocatur. aures duas habet. oculos magnos habet. os magnum habet. Iacobus dua bracchia et duos pedes habet. est homo mirabilis. Iacobus cornua longa habet. Iacobus est coloris caerulei. Iacobus est homo mirabilis. Iacobus sub aqua habitat. Iacobus magnam domum habet et cum coniuge habitat. tres filias habent. Iacobus est fortissimus quod cum trebus filiis habitabat. 

Translation:
This man is strange. He is called Jacob. He has two ears. He has big eyes. He has a big mouth. Jacob has two arms and two feet. He is a strange man. Jacob has long horns. Jacob is the colour blue. Jacob is a strange man. Jacob lives under the water. Jacob has a big house and lives with his wife. They have three daughters. Jacob is the strongest because he lives with three daughters. 

Day 2

On day 2, I took their responses and created this comparison presentation. We circled the descriptions themselves before I asked the question.... quid est.... melior/maior/sapientior? We then debated the reasons why one thing might be better than the other. You can see some student work below as I put it in the presentation*.


* all images used are either my own photos or obtained via google image search with creative commons or public domain status. 

Conclusions

I did this activity at the end of the year, so there was some push back because we had to write. That being said, students jumped into this activity immediately. Students got to choose an approved animal and, since I had gotten a few new ones recently, they were excited to grab one. Students very quickly described the animals and used me to extract the vocabulary they needed. 

I did give an example of what I expected because I wanted them to understand the three parts of the writing: description of the animal, description of where they lived, and an explanation of why the animal is the most whatever. 

Having the students do the writing (when they are ready) gave me plenty of material to pull from for a more formal discussion the next day.

Students REALLY liked this activity. They enjoyed choosing their animal, writing their description, and choosing their "most" adjective. They were visibly and verbally happy to see their work presented the next day and "show off" their skills when describing their animal. They loved having control over which animal was "the most". I think their excitement and pride came from the fact that we did this when I was 100% sure they could do all these things. This is definitely something I will use again. 

Art Dating

This week, I took my ones down to our local school's art show and we spent the period writing about and talking about art. This semester, we've learned a lot of vocabulary that describes things we experience and see, so this was a great opportunity to bring out these words again and dive deeper into our understanding. The kids really enjoyed the activity and we got lots of really good feedback. We were also able to take a standards grade for interaction and descriptions.

The other aspect of this time of year is that we are surrounded by testing. I might be missing any number of students any day from here on out and they may be missing me, if I am helping with testing.

The activity below is one I came up with to help get us back to our story Magus Mirabilis Oz and also to give students a relatively easy activity to get back into the swing of things after testing and spring break. I am calling it Art Dating.

Set Up

The set up required a bit of work from me, but that is because I was very particular about wanting to represent as many of my students as possible in the art work and also to make sure the images were rich with our vocabulary. I chose 15 images that represent various parts of the story The Wizard of Oz. I did a basic image search on Google, but ultimately pulled from artistic interpretations, book illustrations, stills from movies, photos from plays, anything I could find.* When it was all said and done, we had images that represented a variety of students, art styles, emotions, and parts of the story. 

I would say that making the most of a Google search is key here. To give you an example of the things I searched to find a variety of images:

Wizard of Oz, Wizard of Oz play, Wizard of Oz movie, The Wiz movie, The Wiz TV, Wizard of Oz 16th century China, Scarecrow in Oz, Lion in Oz, Wizard of Oz book, Wizard of Oz art, Wizard of Oz artwork, Dorothy and Scarecrow, Yellow Brick Road, The Land of Oz, Wicked Witch of the West, Glinda the Good Witch, 

I put all the images into a presentation and set it to rotate automatically every 15 seconds. 

* Please be aware that images I am using are not copyrighted to me and were only used in my classroom for this activity. I give full credit to those to whom the images belong. 

Procedure

Students looked at the scrolling images while I went over the rules so they could get a head start.

1. Pick an image. 
2. Describe the image as best as you can in Latin (5 min)
3. Trade papers.
4. Read their description and add to it. Make it the best description possible. Make it as clear as possible (6 min)
5. Repeat 3-4 as many times as you want in the class always getting a new paper. 
6. Trade one more time.
7. Read this final description and do your best to recreate it on a piece of paper. 

(I recommend playing some music during this to keep from a silent room.)

Standards

If you are doing Standards Based Grading, this kind of activity is great to pull an assessment from for a few standards I can see:

• writing standards - comfort with vocabulary, fluency, accuracy to image, etc. (you'll need names for each writing section on this one)
• comprehension standards - how well did they relate the description by their new image? did they get the shapes and colours accurately? How clear was their image?

Reflection

I learned a lot about this activity, as we all do I think, from my first period. There are a few things I changed through the day to make it clearer to my students, but also to elicit the kind of activity I wanted:

• Chit Chat - This activity really must be void of it until the colouring. If they are talking, they lose writing time, and they get an "easy way out" of finding the image. The same really goes for cell phones. Students who had cell phones out were distracted and felt like they were rushed. This required a few reminders. The music certainly helped because it got rid of the awkward silence.
• The NEED to be correct - Kids get really worried about getting things correct. The affective filter went up slightly when they were worried that they'd lose "points" or get a lower grade for not guessing the image correctly. When they realised they'd be creating their own images, the filter went down and they calmed down a little. I would make sure to reiterate this throughout the activity.
• Regular Time Warnings - Make sure to give a 2 or 1 minute warning so kids don't get caught off guard when the time is called.
• Variety - The students appreciated the variety of images: they connected a lot of ways: life representation, style of art, colour scheme, characters, animals, etc.
• Ease of Writing - This is my own observation and not something the kids told me. The students had an easy time writing. They were nervous, but once they picked/found an image, they wrote immediately. They didn't struggle with the writing, they just did it.

Examples

Below are some samples of work. The slideshow will rotate through repeatedly!

Standards Based Grading - a mid semester update

It's now been three months with grade books and assessing strategies completely aligned with Standards Based Grading. So far, we've posted three times in particular about how we are using Standards Based grading:

• Making SBG work in a traditional grade book
• Setting up our new grade books with SBG
• Everyone needs a little R, R, and R

For this mid semester update, I want to focus on the reactions we've had to what we are doing and the things we're noticing in our students. 

Grading Procedures and Schedules

Doing this the way we are, by using Active Grade in conjunction with our county grade books has resulted in a few road blocks that we are over coming, but also some interesting things we otherwise wouldn't be able to do. 

1. Extra Time - Yes, doing it this way requires extra time from us. It takes me longer because I enter grades into Active Grade (which does all the math for me, so I think it's worth it) and then transfer them to our county grade book. What I have done is that I separate my schedule out and grade one class a day and transfer grades once per class each week. A student or parent can log onto Active Grade at any time, but since our county grade books only update at night anyways, we can do this once a week. We are all handling this in our own way, but this is what I've found works for me. It also keeps the pile of work to pass out from stacking up and getting mixed together.
2. Saved Comments - Using Active Grade allows me to put in specific comments per student, per standard, per assignment. These comments are saved online for my or their viewing any time. Unlike a traditional grade book where the grade is input and nothing else, I can pass messages to students and save them so that when a parent or student comes to me with questions, a record is saved. Since it is done by standard, comments have moved away from things like, "you missed 5 questions" to "you should try the following extra exercises to help with this" or "you got this grade because you...." They are more detailed and personalised. 
3. Student Perspective - The by far most difficult part of this, I feel, is changing the student perspective. When I presented the idea both to my former students, and to this year's students, they were on board, but they struggle to understand that the numbers mean different things. Whenever I pass back a test, or quiz, or assignment I get a barrage of, "what does 4 mean?", "I missed 2 questions, what grade is that?", etc. I have to remind them that they  need to check Active Grade and familiarise themselves with the proficiency guidelines. Some are becoming familiar and appreciate how things are being done, others are trying to master this new territory, but need more guidance. 

Assessments

1. Terminology - I have really had to change my terminology when considering assessments with SBG. Students have commented how my assessments (see bullet point 2) are more like their quizzes in other classes rather than tests, so we've changed the name from quiz or test to quest. Students aren't panicking and appreciate the brevity, clarity, and content of the assessments. Students are also understanding now how each assessment is broken into sections by standard. It makes it clearer for them, and reminds them, what we expect them to be proficient in and gives a nice guideline of what they need to work on, should their proficiency level be low. 
2. Structure - It occurred to me as I was writing my first test that, if I'm grading by proficiency in standard, I really ought to separate the test by standard, so I began doing that. Rachel was thinking along the same lines and we've both found it very helpful for students and for us. Organising the assessments this way speeds up grading tremendously and allows for easier commenting on proficiency. Grades are no longer about missing a certain number of questions, but rather about how proficient someone is in a certain skill.
3. Teacher Perspective - By assessing standards repeatedly and in multiple ways, I view assessments very differently. I no longer view them as this end all activity that students must make a certain grade on for us to move forward, but rather a checkpoint. What standards are they proficient in? What standards do we need to practice more (see our recent posts: The Fault in our Plans and Robert Patrick's Guest Post)? It is like a little reminder each time of where we are, where we've been, and where we are going.

Student Voice

1. Confidence - Students seem somewhat more confident when it comes to their voice, their concerns, and their needs. Students know what is expected of them more clearly and so they know what they need to do or what they need to ask for. 
2. Student Choice - Without a textbook, student can have a real say in what they are learning. This year in Latin I, I've decided that I want them to read longer readings and really learn how to communicate in Latin (based on our standards) at a deeper level. To that end, I gave students choices for the Spring semester. All were longer readings (novels really), but they had a wide span of content from science and history to legend to fantasy and adventure. The students really appreciated being able to make their own choice, which means they will enjoy what we do next semester - making for happy students and happy teachers. 

I'd love to hear if you guys are trying Standards Based Grading and how it is going for you. Are you seeing these things? What else are you observing?

The fault in our plans

I have the awesome privilege of working with three other amazing Latin teachers. As we continue on this journey of untextbooking and Standards Based Grading, we are documenting a lot. We document everything from amazing lesson plans we fall in love with to assessments that really speak to what we are doing to student feedback to lesson plans that fail. Today is a post about a plan that failed.

Robert Patrick and I administered a Latin I midterm. What we discovered after the midterm was that we, as teachers, had not prepared students for the skill we needed them to have for the midterm like we thought we'd had. In this post, I am going to separate things out as follows: What we did, what we learned, and how we fixed the issue.

What We Did

The idea for this midterm's format was based on a great assessment in another teacher's classroom. The midterm would consist of a listening section where characters we'd been reading about were read to students and students had to identify the character. In preparation for this, we gave student a list of descriptions and asked them to identify each character listed and make a picture for them. We also created a series of kahoot games to help them review shorter descriptions. Below is the script made for teachers at the very beginning.

For the midterm, we read the shorter descriptions and students were to write down the name of the character. We provided a character bank, but while there were 9 characters (Chaos was left out), there were 20 blanks, providing for multiple examples of each character.

What the midterm looked like for this section

What We Learned

It became very apparent to us that students were not prepared for this portion of the exam. I think a lot of things ran through our minds: Did they not study? Did I misread their comprehension? Did we not spend enough time discussing in Latin? What we discovered was that while this skill is necessary and is one we thought we had been preparing for, it differed from what we are doing in class enough that students needed more practice specifically in this skill.

Listening vs. Listening with visuals

I realised after our first of (honestly) about four discussions on this that we had been speaking Latin, regularly, to our students, but each time we provided some kind of visual:

• teacher created images
• student created images
• text
• cloze passages
• parallel universe passages
• questions
• false statements

Even when we do TPRS stories and TPR, visuals accompany listening skills. Students perform actions, demonstrate items, hold stuffed animals, watch the teacher for visual clues, and have vocabulary written on the board and referenced. All of these things are great activities and help build skills, including listening comprehension, but they do not prepare students for listening without visual aids. 

Fixing the Issue

The solution to this issue, we determined, is two-fold. First, we must re-administer the midterm. Second, we must prepare students better for this skill in the future.

The Midterm

We decided to re-administer this portion of the midterm. Students had the option, if they scored 16/20 or better to retake. If they scored less than 16/20 they were required to retake. In preparation for this retest we decided on two days of review to build the skill, in group levels, and individually. Robert Patrick put together my descriptions into their long form again, but only what was on the midterm, and recorded audio of these descriptions. On day one, students were placed in groups randomly and told that by the end of the period, they should be able to complete this activity on their own. We played the audio one by one and told students how many indicators each set of audio had. The audio played the description three times. Students identified the character and all of the indicators/descriptors each character had. On day two, we'd repeat this activity, but students would do it individually. On day three, we'd re-administer this portion of the midterm.

Example

1. Play recording (created by Robert Patrick)
2. Identify character - Saturnus
3. Identify 9 indicators
   English - Titan king, his mother was Gaia, his father was Uranus, he had a sister, his sister's name was Rhea, he had six sons and daughters, he feared his sons and daughters, he ate five sons and daughters, he ate one rock
   Latin - rex Titanius, mater erat Gaia, pater erat Uranus, deus sororem habebat, nomen sorori erat Rhea, sex filios et filias habebat, filios et filias timebat, quinque filios et filias comedit, unum saxum comedit

Preparing for the Future

We are still working on ways to foster this particular skill in the future (and are putting an all call for ideas!) So far, we've come up with some ways to practice this skill daily, weekly, or every once in a while.

• extended TPR (longer instructions)
• review of previous day's story (what kids remember happening)
• character/item descriptions (much like the activity in the midterm)
• listen and draw (teacher reads description, students draw what [s]he says)

Conclusions

This, I feel, was an important process for me. I am already seeing my thought processes change because of Standards Based Grading, and for the better. While this plan was, originally, a failure, it has really guided my thought processes even more to be even more critical of what I am teaching and how. It also points to a skill that, often as Latin teacher, we overlook. We are really good at using readings and visuals, but we miss the listening part by itself. Robert and I have discussed ways to ensure that our students are proficient in this skill. I know that I am now looking for ways to incorporate it into my daily practice. 

Everyone needs a little R, R, and R

I am very excited to write this post. This is something that I've been working on since we decided to switch to Standards Based Grading: R, R, and R, or, Review, Reach, and Relax.

My original idea was that every once in a while, we'd give kids a chance to get some review, do some extra work that they needed or wanted, and connect with each other in a way they may otherwise not. Since then, we've all been working on ways to make this work well inside a classroom.

What is it?

What it isn't:

• a free day
• a day to work on other classes' work
• a day to check out
• a sleeping day

What it is:

• an opportunity to get extra work and prove proficiency
• an opportunity to make up missing work
• an opportunity to get tutoring
• an opportunity to go beyond requirements and prove proficiency
• a brain break

Set Up:

We began by creating a document with each standard at the top of a page. Then, as we go through activities and content, we add possible review, and reach activities to help students demonstrate proficiency. Here's the Latin I list of activities.

For relaxing activities, we all offer whatever we have. Rachel has more games than I, but what I offer is: card games (regular cards and Crazy 8s), various puzzles, the lego Minotaur game, or books in Latin, on history, and on culture to read. I am trying to expand this whenever I stop by the dollar store or Target and look at the simple game and puzzles they have. I also bring in books, and am looking at games made for Latin as well.

How it works in real time:

We've so far done this two ways. Rachel gave an entire day to Latin II to work and I gave half a day to Latin I. I'm breaking these down a few ways: procedure, observations, changes.

Latin II - Full Day

Procedure

Rachel and I posted all the standards we had activities for on the board and asked students to check their grades. If they had less than an 85% proficiency rating overall, they were required to work to bring up this grade. If they had better than an 85% proficiency rating overall, they could choose to better their grade or relax with some activities. 

Observations

These are observations of my own:

• Most, if not all students met the requirements.
• Because of their grades, few students chose to better their grade.
• Students chose a brain break and really got into it, making for a great bonding experience
• Because of the variety of activities, everyone had an opportunity to do something.
• Students seemed to appreciate the opportunity, and were very open to this new way of doing this.

Changes

Rachel and I discussed a few things and I am making these changes for next time.

• More activity options for each standard
• More relax activities to make smaller groupings
• More time between R, R, and R days instead of the planned once every two weeks.
• Take students to a computer lab and go over how Active Grade specifically works so that they can use it properly and not just as a "viewing" of their grades.

Latin I - Half a period

Procedure

We began our day with a review of a story we'd read. I was out the previous day and so this was a great way for me to see if students understood. Then, I explained R, R, and R day and my requirements. The main difference here is that I did not offer all standards or activities and I added a requirement. Students must have a proficiency grade of 85% overall and if they had a 0 or 1 in any standard (50-60%), they had to work on that standard, or a similar one. If they met both requirements, they could better their grade, or choose a relaxing activity. The other difference is that, in these classes, I did review grades and pulled students who were missing grades and asked them to complete an assignment.

Observations

• Most students met at least one requirement, if not both.
• Students were very open to completing or re-doing assignments, more than I've seen in the past where make up work or tutoring is extra and outside of class.
• Students found assignments easy to complete quickly.
• Students chose a brain break and really got into it, making for a great bonding experience.
• Because of the variety of opportunities, everyone had an opportunity to do something.
• Students seemed to appreciate the opportunity, and were very open to this new way of doing this.
• Half a period seemed like an appropriate amount of time to do this in for Latin I.

Changes

These are changes that I either wanted to do this time, but couldn't, or things that I noticed as the day went on. Between the Latin II day and the Latin I day, I did have time to bring in a few more books, Crazy 8s, and a new puzzle, so I even could implement the smaller group change.

• Take students to a computer lab to go over Active Grade so they feel more comfortable using it.
• Schedule another R, R, and R day in 2 weeks or so. 

Final Thoughts

I am really happy with this activity. I think, after doing it twice, and typing up this post, that it serves a lot of great purposes. My hope is that the more we do this, the more benefit the kids get. 

1. Allows me to check in with students
2. Allows students to really understand grades and proficiency levels
3. Allows students to have a brain break.

Extra Extra! Read All About It! One Sentence Stories

As we progress through our first year of complete Standards Based Grading, I find myself being more critical of the assignments and tests I give. I also find myself trying to find new ways to assess things, while still keeping the affective filter low for my students. One of our county standards is that students can write simple sentences appropriate to their level in Latin. In Latin II and above, this isn't such a big problem because they already have experience with this through timed writes and they can write for longer. In Latin I, however, I need to ease them into writing and prepare them for timed writes, which we plan to start in a week or so.

To achieve this, I've started including some basic writing and transcribing activities like:

• Dictationes
• Sentence Frames - mad libs for Latin. Here is an example.

I wanted one more activity, with a little more freedom, to review vocabulary and see what skills they'd already picked up (while not grading those skills for accuracy). So, we did an activity called

One Sentence Stories. 

Process

I set this up very simply by creating a document with instructions and also an approved list of words. I expanded this list to include est (is) and et (and), as well as the new words we'd learned that day on the board. Students were to write a single sentence that could tell a story, much like a newspaper headline. While their sentences could be simple and didn't have to be "above the fold" quality  (if you will), they needed to be interesting and make sense. Students then accompanied them with a detailed picture. The picture gave the assignment a visual quality and a fail-safe which allowed me to understand what they were saying even if the sentence wasn't perfect. These were graded on a 5 point scale as follows:

0 - student wrote English sentence, or only submitted a picture

1-2 - Student wrote an English sentence with a Latin word or two

2-3 - Student attempted a Latin sentence, but used names instead of Latin words or the sentence didn't make sense

3-4 - Sentence mostly made sense, but had an extra word (or was missing one)

4-5 - Sentence made sense and may have had the extra verb "est" (see observations below)

Observations

1. Students got very excited with this activity. The vocabulary list provided assistance, but also kept the assignment simple enough for those still working on vocabulary acquisition.
2. Most students worked with what they were given. Some wanted to know extra words or constructions. I told them to "work within the confines of what we know."
3. The most, by far, common mistake was that students would put "est" (is) and another verb. This is a reflection of how English works. In English, we often use a helping verb along with
   
   another for present tense. In Latin, however, this is not the case. I've seen this mistake year after year, so I am not at all surprised by it. I did not cause a huge deduction on account of this because it is a common mistake for beginners to make. I do, however, want to draw their attention to it. 
4. Students were excited to be using vocabulary outside of the context of our stories.

Conclusions

• This was a great way to get kids thinking outside the box. They weren't tied to the mythology we'd been reading and were able to enjoy the vocabulary in a new way. 
• There were lots of grammar mistakes, but I know these to be later acquired for a Latin I class.
• I know which vocabulary the students know really well and which they don't. 
• My purpose was to see if they were able to use Latin vocabulary to create simple, meaningful sentences. They were. 

Serpens, an Easy Assignment for Both SBG and non-SBG Classes

Standards Based Grading is making me think a lot about how I design assignments and lessons. I think more inclusively and instead of designing assignments because I think they'll be good and useful, I consider their end results and whether I'm reaching my desired goals.

This is a two-day assignment (really about a day 1/2) I created for my students after we read a scene of a play I previously adapted for my classes. It's pretty straight forward, so I'm not typing a lot here to introduce it. Just a quick caveat. If you grade this with detail (which I chose to do), it takes some time to grade, probably 2-3 minutes per paper, so this can be a big investment. But the activities involved require and inspire an in-depth look at a reading and its vocabulary, so I feel it was a good activity--just not one I'll do too often.

Feel free to make a copy of this to your own files and change it to fit your classes!

SBG - Putting it in Action

In 2014, I posted my first post on Standards Based Grading. I had done my research and wanted to make things work within the confines I felt I had at the time and, while it worked, and my students and parents were happy, I still felt like I wasn't fully committing to SBG. This year, Rachel, I and our colleagues have made the decision to use SBG fully, along with untextbooking. So, here is our update.

After doing my research (shared at the end of the post), I took a look at some examples of how it was being done. The issue I ran into is that we are required to use a certain percentage spread in our gradebooks. So, I got a little creative. I knew I wanted to incorporate our county standards as well as some national standards. So, what I came up with was this:

1. Final Exam - remains the same; most counties dictate this anyways, so I did nothing to it. In the gradebook it will read "final exam".
2. Summative Assessments - county/state standards; these are the things that we have to justify if someone were to ask what we were teaching. We don't teach a textbook; we are held to the standards. Most of the time your school will have these ready for you on paper or online. If your county doesn't have them, you might look at state standards. 
3. Formative Assessments - commonly called "classwork"; ACTFL can do statements; I have really been pushing myself towards using the standards more often. I want kids to have useful tools for evaluating themselves and I want my evaluations to mean something. 

When I presented it to my colleagues, we were all in agreement that this would work as long as each grade counted just enough to make a difference. Nothing gets to kids more than working hard on an assignment and not having it count at all in the final grade. When we broke it down, the standards came out to Summative Assessments being about 4% each and Formative Assessments being about 3%. This is just enough to count and make a difference. 

Tracking Tools

We all have different ways of tracking kids progress, but we all agreed to record our grades and notes into a program called Active Grade. Here's a good analysis of Active Grade. We settled on Active Grade because it let us put in actual assignment grades, but grade standards within the assignment. We also liked it because it allows students to see their progress. It is completely customisable to your grading preferences and I've found it easy to move between classes, transfer students, and enter grades.

In addition to this, we all have our own methods of tracking kids in the moment. So far I've discovered that using SBG makes grading a lot easier, even though I may be assessing more than one standard:

• I can easily use Active Grade and assign some high flyers a single assignment and give them a grade for moving ahead without penalising others.
• I can quickly make marks in a notebook on student comprehension and activity and quickly translate that to the Active Grade gradebook.
• I can separate tests into the standards they work with. Students, parents, and myself are all clearly aware of what skill eat item tests. If I do it before giving the test, grading is simplified as well.
• Students can come in for very specific help, knowing exactly which skill they need help with. I can easily track that if I wish as well.

On Monday, we are going to have our first check in meeting where we'll see how we are all doing with Standards Based Grading. So far, I've gotten good feedback from the kids which I'll share in my next post on this. There are, however, a few things we're going to try and address over these next few weeks. My next post will not only be an update on how things are going, but about the problems we've come up with and how we've addressed them. My question to you all is this: Would you try SBG? Why not? What's your biggest concern about SBG?

Research Links and Resources

• Holding Ourselves to a Higher Standard - By the Iowa Academy of Science
• Seven Reasons for Standards Based Grading - ASCD
• Getting Started with Standards Based Grading - Active Grade
• SBG Implementation: Setting up the Gradebook - Always Formative
• The Tyranny of the Curriculum - TED talk
• Standards-Based Grading - Thinkthankthunk

Standards Based Grading (SBG) - Making it Work in a Traditional Gradebook

I think every teacher starts a new year with goals, for both him/herself and his/her students. I am no exception. My biggest goal this year was to find ways I could show real student progress and ensure that 100% of my kids do, in fact, progress.

In setting my goals, I already knew that there were some things I was going to do this year, for a fact:

• I untextbooked fully this year with all IV levels (more posts to come)
• I fully switched to culture instruction through research using the National Latin Exam syllabi
• I fully switched to only using direct grammar instruction in my upper levels (more posts to come)
• I reconsidered my retake policies and tutoring practices (more below)
• I re-read my own post on the No Failure Classroom and considered how to make my practices more fully integrated in this idea. 

I also knew, between my own research and discussions with my students, that diving into Standards Based Grading was something we all wanted. I don't want to spend this post talking about the theory, but rather how I am making it work, so allow me to give you some links to the research for your own perusal. This link takes you to my own Google Drive folder with information on Standards Based Grading. There is a PowerPoint with information and a page long list of articles, research, videos, etc. 

So, how am I doing it?

In Thought

I needed to lay out exactly why I wanted to do this and what the benefits would be. So, I spoke to my kids, we brainstormed, and then I applied the research. I kept what worked and reconsidered what didn't. 

1. Grades, if we are to use them, should be a measure of a student's progress with standards or goals, not their ability to complete an assignment or get something right on a first try. 
1. How does this apply to the number of grades I put in a grade book?
2. How does this apply to testing and test retakes?
3. How does this apply to absences and deadlines?
2. If students are to show real progress, they must be able to make that progress when they are ready, no matter when it happens through the year. 
1. Just because it is on my schedule, does that mean a student must succeed at that exact moment?
2. How do we ensure progress and not a memorisation of isolated facts, words, and ideas?
3. How do we motivate students to work towards progress and not panic when something requires extra help or instruction?
4. What happens when one, two, or three people need extra help and time vs. when an entire class needs extra help and time?
3. How do we address student, parent, and school needs and requirements while making a grade book work with standards?
1. Do we use graded numbers?
2. Do we change the weight of grades to fit needs?
3. Do we put standards in and leave them blank until the time comes?
4. How can we communicate regularly while meeting these goals?

In Practice

So, keeping these concerns and ideas in mind, off I went. I spent a good deal of my summer thinking about this, discussing it with teachers, and just when I had an idea of what to do, grading schemes were released for our school and I had to rethink it all. So, here's the final shell of my grading this year. 

Grade Book Setup

• I still put in grades based on assignment 
• One of my biggest concerns is what happens to grade books through the year. We collect and grade and collect and grade and, by the end, the final is worth very little and students who missed part of the year, came late, got sick, etc. have little to no chance of doing well, even if they do REALLY well. 
• One of the ideas behind SBG is that you have a set number of standards/assignments and students are constantly working to improve their grades based on their actual progress in the class. The students and I really liked this idea. It places the importance on the progress, not the grade, as it were. 
• So, I have separated our untextbooked curriculum into larger units. I put in each test separately (and we agreed as a group on smaller, more frequent tests), but I only collect one of each assignment that I want to. This gives a variety, but doesn't overwhelm the grade book. While we are in that unit, when we do a second assignment like one that has been graded, students may resubmit for a new grade, provided they've shown progress. 
• E.G. Jenny was absent when we completed a dictation, so she got an IP (in progress) in the grade book. When we did a second dictation, she submitted it for a grade. 
• E.G. Michael got a 70% on the story's comic strip. In our second story, we didn't do a comic strip, but we did answer questions based on comprehension. Michael asks his teacher to grade this new assignment in place of the previous one. 
• This limits my grading and limits their grades, making it more about progress and less about numbers. 
• I still put in number grades, but they are based on proficiency, NOT accuracy.
• I despise how sometimes our system allows people to memorise and resubmit. They've not learned anything knew, cannot use anything in a new way, but they have the right answers. 
• I also hate how an accuracy system sets students up for failure. Students who make minor mistakes are penalised, even if they fully understand how to use vocabulary and language. 
• So, I make sure to make my expectations clear with students and assignments, and I give credit where credit is due. 
• E.G. Sally, a Latin I student, answered test question "mater rogavit" with "the mother asks". She gets full credit for understanding the context of the story/word, even if tense is wrong, she didn't give a subject, etc. 
• E.G. Mary, a Latin II student, answered test question "mater rogavit" with "the mother was asking". She gets full credit for understanding the context, and also for identifying it was past test, even if it is not fully correct. 
• E.G. Bobby, a Latin III student, answered test question "rogavit" with "asks". He gets partial credit for understanding the context, but as an upper level student, it was expected that he also give subject and tense.  
• This puts the emphasis on being proficient in the language without making it all about accuracy. Since I am not giving any multiple choice tests this year (unless I have to), I have more freedom in giving credit where it is due, as opposed to simply marking it correct for accuracy. 
• I allow students to resubmit/retake any and every assignment as many times as they want. 
• Getting it right is important to me, not WHEN they get it right. 
• So, retakes are done as follows
• can be redone any time within a larger unit (if not, on a case by case basis). 
• cannot be redone before student attends a tutoring session
• This ensures they hear the information again, from a different source, in a different way, and also get to hash out any issues one on one (with me or a tutor)
• full credit is given where due. 
• E.G. Karen, a Latin I student, answered test question "mater rogavit" with "the father sees"initially, but answered "the mother asks" on a retake. -- 100% credit given
• E.G. James, a Latin III student answered test question "rogavit" with asks initially, but answered "he asked" on a retake -- 100% credit give
• Resubmissions are done in class.
• Since I'm not putting in 1,000 grades, I simply replace the old grade with a new one, provided progress is shown. 
• I require all students who fail an assessment to come to tutoring and students all know that I expect them all to have an 80% or better in my class. Anything lower comes with tutoring, parent contact, and conferences. 

In Actuality

So, what have the reactions been? In general, I have much more relaxed students who are performing better and take more control over their own grades. I have not been asked once this year for extra credit, or how someone can "bring their grade" up. Students are clear on expectations and they know what happens when they don't meet those expectations. I provide 100% risk proof fail safes and students have the materials and tools they need to succeed. The grade book is clear and instead of getting parent emails asking about what an assignment is or a test or what was missed, I now have only gotten emails acknowledging grade changes or making sure a student is keeping up his/her end of the bargain. 

I discussed this with my parents at curriculum night and got lots of positive feedback. When it comes down to it, I am not interested in tricking my students, only in seeing them succeed. I am convinced a Standards Based Grade Book (or as much of one I can have) is part of a grander plan to do this. 

Have any of you tried SBG or looked into it? How is it going?