Reset on Failure | Dylan Wiliam (Pt. 2) | Fake Grading War
May 22, 2023
auto_awesome
In this podcast, Tom Schimmer is joined by Dylan Wiliam, an expert in classroom assessment. They discuss the need for a societal reset on failure, the importance of feedback and its impact on learning, collaborative learning and promoting collaboration, exploring the definition of curriculum, and challenging arguments against standards-based grading.
Feedback should target the learner and promote growth, requiring critical thinking and reflection.
Failure should be reframed as an opportunity for growth and learning, not solely defined by winning.
Streamline feedback practices by focusing on essential content, allocating time for student response, and leveraging peer and self-assessment.
Deep dives
The Importance of Feedback in Learning
Feedback is a critical element in the learning process, but its effectiveness depends on how it is given and used. Traditional feedback that focuses solely on improving task performance may not lead to long-term learning. It is important for teachers to provide feedback that targets the learner and promotes growth and development. This requires teachers to go beyond providing directions or corrections and instead encourage students to think critically, reflect on their work, and make improvements. Creating efficient feedback routines involves allocating time for students to respond to feedback and finding a balance between individualized feedback and other forms of assessment, such as peer and self-assessment.
The Misconception of Failure in Sports and Education
In the world of professional sports, the idea of success is often equated with winning championships, while anything short of that is considered a failure. However, this all-or-nothing mentality ignores the complexities of competition, where there can only be one champion out of many teams. This mindset has seeped into other areas of life, including education, where students are often labeled as failures if they do not achieve certain accomplishments. It is crucial to reframe failure as an opportunity for growth and learning, acknowledging that success is not solely defined by winning but also includes the journey, the learning process, and the personal development that occurs along the way.
Efficient and Effective Feedback Practices
Teachers often struggle with finding time for providing feedback and ensuring that students act upon it. To streamline feedback practices, it is important to create slack in the curriculum by focusing on essential content and prioritizing teaching and assessment of those essential concepts. Teachers should allocate time for students to respond to feedback in the classroom, turning it into a dialogue and promoting active engagement. It is also beneficial to leverage peer and self-assessment as complementary forms of feedback. Multiple-choice questions can be an efficient way to gauge student understanding and promote higher-order thinking if crafted thoughtfully. The goal is to find a balance between individualized feedback and other assessment methods, optimizing the trade-off between time spent on grading and time spent on instruction.
Promoting Equity and Compassion in Grading
The podcast episode discusses the importance of promoting equity and compassion in grading. The speaker challenges the idea that equitable and compassionate grading promotes mediocrity, emphasizing the need for accurately reflecting student achievement. The episode highlights the value of standards-based grading, which focuses on assessing students' mastery of specific standards. It also addresses misconceptions regarding minimum 50% grading, explaining its purpose in preventing mathematically invalid grade calculations. The speaker emphasizes the importance of research-informed grading practices and calls for a commitment to equity and accuracy in grading.
The Power of Effective Collaborative Learning
The podcast episode explores the underutilized strategy of collaborative learning in the classroom. The speaker emphasizes the benefits of students engaging in conversations about their learning, promoting peer-to-peer interaction and supporting instructional decision-making. Effective collaborative learning is characterized by group goals and individual accountability, where students contribute their best learning efforts. The episode highlights the need for teachers to monitor the quality of conversations, ensuring accurate information exchange and avoiding misleading advice. Successful group work fosters inclusivity, challenges students appropriately, and focuses on maximizing individual learning within the context of a shared task.
In Don’t @ Me (2:31), Tom opens with an assertion that it's time for a collective societal reset on what it means to fail. Then (12:24) Tom is once again joined by Dylan Wiliam for part 2 of a conversation about classroom assessment. Finally, in Assessment Corner (59:04), Tom provides some commentary on the Fake Grading War created by by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne.
