Tired of grading overload? Discover how to make assessment in the world language classroom stress-free, proficiency-based, and actually useful for students with guests Andy Dykema and Pat Rolfes.

🎒 Want more sanity-saving tools? Grab the CI Survival Kit here: https://imim.us/survival

In this episode of Comprehend THIS!, we dive into “Assessment Without the Headache” with Andy Dykema and Pat Rolfes. We’ll chat about escaping the “points police” mindset, practical rubrics that actually work, authentic assessment tasks you can use tomorrow, and how to explain it all to skeptical admins or parents. If you’ve ever felt buried under red ink, this conversation will give you strategies, laughter, and the confidence to simplify grading while focusing on what really matters — student growth.

#WorldLanguageTeaching, #ComprehensibleInput, #LanguageAssessment, #LanguageTeachers, #TeachingPodcast, #CIclassroom, #ProficiencyBasedGrading, #ComprehendTHIS, #AndyDykema, #PatRolfes

Hosts:

Scott Benedict - https://www.instagram.com/immediateimmersion

Andy Dykema - https://www.instagram.com/@profe.dykema

Pat Rolfes - https://www.instagram.com/patrolfes73

Resources & Links:

Dynamic Discipline: https://imim.us/discipline

CI Survival Kit: https://imim.us/survival

Quick Write Paper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fasvJu7EsETzlvKdH-N09L204J8m3PWq/view?usp=sharing

Rubrics: https://imim.us/rubrics

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Host: Scott Benedict — Immediate Immersion

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<b>Hey and welcome to this week's edition of</b>

<b>Comprehend This Podcast.</b>

<b>How's everybody doing this morning?</b>

<b>So, okay teachers, let's be honest.</b>

<b>Grading can feel like</b>

<b>a teacher purgatory.</b>

<b>You know when you're staring at 37</b>

<b>identical answers to como</b>

<b>estas and wondering if you</b>

<b>really need to keep your</b>

<b>red pen industry in business?</b>

<b>Today we're diving into assessment</b>

<b>without the headache.</b>

<b>And I've got backup.</b>

<b>Joining me are Andy Dykema and Pat</b>

<b>Rolfis, two brave souls</b>

<b>who've managed to escape</b>

<b>their points police past</b>

<b>lives and live to tell the tale.</b>

<b>We're talking real rubrics, sanity saving</b>

<b>hacks and how to keep</b>

<b>a straight face when</b>

<b>your admin asks, but how do you know</b>

<b>they're learning anything?</b>

<b>So buckle up, grab your metaphorical red</b>

<b>pen to snap it in half</b>

<b>later and let's talk about</b>

<b>how assessment can actually make sense</b>

<b>without losing your</b>

<b>weekend, your mind or your caffeine</b>

<b>supply.</b>

<b>We'll be right back</b>

<b>after these short messages.</b>

<b>Ever feel like you're clinging to the</b>

<b>edge of your teacher</b>

<b>planner just hoping today's</b>

<b>lesson magically appears?</b>

<b>Enter the CI Survival Kit, a monthly</b>

<b>membership made for</b>

<b>teachers who love comprehensible</b>

<b>input but also love not reinventing the</b>

<b>wheel every Sunday night.</b>

<b>Each month you get fresh, ready to use</b>

<b>lessons, time saving tools</b>

<b>and just enough structure</b>

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<b>No stress, no guilt, just monthly help</b>

<b>from someone who gets it.</b>

<b>Sign up at mm.us slash survival and let</b>

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<b>Welcome to Comprehend This, real talk for</b>

<b>real language teachers.</b>

<b>No drills, no dry theory, just honest</b>

<b>stories, practical ideas</b>

<b>and a reminder you're not</b>

<b>alone in the CI trenches.</b>

<b>Let's dive in.</b>

<b>So welcome, welcome,</b>

<b>welcome Andy and Pat.</b>

<b>Pat is a returnee with us so</b>

<b>she's kind of a veteran here.</b>

<b>Pat is, I mean Andy is new to us.</b>

<b>So Andy, why don't you give us a little</b>

<b>bit of information</b>

<b>about yourself before we get</b>

<b>started.</b>

<b>Sure.</b>

<b>Hi everybody.</b>

<b>I'm happy to be here.</b>

<b>Thanks Scott for the nudge.</b>

<b>I've been using some stuff from your site</b>

<b>previously and kind of been, I started at</b>

<b>a pretty traditional</b>

<b>school in New Orleans.</b>

<b>I taught at Jesuit High School and so we</b>

<b>very kind of grant</b>

<b>translation, textbook heavy.</b>

<b>Then I went to St. Martin's Episcopal</b>

<b>School where I learned a</b>

<b>lot of CI techniques kind</b>

<b>of and you know have been to several</b>

<b>different conferences.</b>

<b>Working with</b>

<b>comprehensible and like that.</b>

<b>Then I've been at an I-tech called Morris</b>

<b>Jeff High School for</b>

<b>a while and then just</b>

<b>moved over to Franklin.</b>

<b>Pretty awesome.</b>

<b>Oh, I'm trying to, where's my camera?</b>

<b>I have my mug.</b>

<b>There we go.</b>

<b>Oh, there it is.</b>

<b>We're the number one</b>

<b>public school in Louisiana.</b>

<b>I'm proud to receive that distinction and</b>

<b>I just joined there</b>

<b>and I've used a mix of</b>

<b>CI and kind of traditional techniques and</b>

<b>really enjoying</b>

<b>getting into grading here.</b>

<b>Thank you.</b>

<b>Thank you.</b>

<b>You're welcome.</b>

<b>What about you Pat?</b>

<b>Give us a refresher about who you are.</b>

<b>I'm Pat Rolfes and I taught for 26 years,</b>

<b>23 of them in Worthington School District</b>

<b>in Southwest Minnesota which meant a 60</b>

<b>mile drive every day for me.</b>

<b>I spent 23 there, 30 back in the winter.</b>

<b>It wasn't so much fun.</b>

<b>I also spent three years up next to the</b>

<b>Canadian border and</b>

<b>international falls which was,</b>

<b>yes, the icebox of the</b>

<b>nation and we can prove it.</b>

<b>I have been using, before I left</b>

<b>teaching, I left teaching</b>

<b>three and a half years ago</b>

<b>now due to personal</b>

<b>issues, family issues, etc.</b>

<b>Not that I wanted to leave the kids but I</b>

<b>needed to take care of life.</b>

<b>Before that I had been using CI solely in</b>

<b>my classroom for give or take 15 years.</b>

<b>I had a good run with it.</b>

<b>I started out because my counterpart, the</b>

<b>German teacher, she</b>

<b>used it in her class after</b>

<b>attending a Blaine Ray conference and she</b>

<b>could see what the kids could do.</b>

<b>I was like, "I want my kids to do that."</b>

<b>She took me to summer workshop and I'm</b>

<b>like, "Okay, well, the</b>

<b>only way to do this is to</b>

<b>strap up my parachute and jump in."</b>

<b>That's what I did.</b>

<b>The first year, I'm not going to lie, it</b>

<b>was bumpy but after</b>

<b>that it got so much easier</b>

<b>and I wish I had figured it out earlier</b>

<b>in my teaching career.</b>

<b>Yeah, I got lucky where I did</b>

<b>get it in my early my career.</b>

<b>My second semester of</b>

<b>teaching, I got into CI.</b>

<b>Well, it wasn't called CI back then.</b>

<b>The only version of CI</b>

<b>we had was TPRS back then.</b>

<b>Now we've got so many different flavors.</b>

<b>We've got lots of variety, lots of</b>

<b>activities that we can do.</b>

<b>I'm with you on the commute.</b>

<b>For most of my career, I have commuted to</b>

<b>school between 20 and 30 miles.</b>

<b>The last 11 years, for the better or</b>

<b>worse, because there</b>

<b>was good and bad about it,</b>

<b>I was a mile from my school.</b>

<b>But that was way too close.</b>

<b>Kids were always in my business.</b>

<b>I went back to high school and now I'm</b>

<b>back to that 25 mile commute.</b>

<b>I'm with you, but</b>

<b>mine's in California traffic.</b>

<b>We don't have the snow,</b>

<b>but I have the traffic.</b>

<b>On my way home is when it's worse.</b>

<b>In the morning, I leave early enough so I</b>

<b>don't hit any traffic.</b>

<b>But then I'm at school two and a half</b>

<b>hours earlier than I</b>

<b>need to be, but at least I</b>

<b>get my work done.</b>

<b>I'd rather work and be productive for</b>

<b>that two and a half</b>

<b>hours and sit an hour and 15</b>

<b>minutes in traffic.</b>

<b>So I'll make that sacrifice.</b>

<b>On the way home, though, it's about 45</b>

<b>minutes to an hour to get</b>

<b>back, depending on the traffic</b>

<b>or if there was an accident.</b>

<b>The other day, it was last Monday, I'll</b>

<b>never forget, I was 0.8</b>

<b>miles from my exit, 0.8</b>

<b>miles.</b>

<b>And my GPS went from arrival to my school</b>

<b>in six minutes to arrival at school in an</b>

<b>hour.</b>

<b>Or there was an accident that happened</b>

<b>and blocked all the lanes of traffic.</b>

<b>So I was like, "Oh my gosh."</b>

<b>And then I did something</b>

<b>I've never done before.</b>

<b>And please, if there's any California</b>

<b>Highway Patrol people out</b>

<b>there, please do not come</b>

<b>and arrest me and give me a ticket now.</b>

<b>But another car I saw made a U-turn on</b>

<b>the freeway and went up the on ramp.</b>

<b>So went backwards on the on ramp, drove</b>

<b>up it instead of coming down it.</b>

<b>And another car did</b>

<b>it, another car did it.</b>

<b>I'm like, "Well, they're doing it.</b>

<b>I'll go ahead and do it too."</b>

<b>For the first time in my life, I made a</b>

<b>U-turn on a freeway and</b>

<b>I went up the on ramp.</b>

<b>So I used as an exit ramp when I was</b>

<b>supposed to be an on ramp.</b>

<b>It was a trucker's on ramp.</b>

<b>So nobody was coming down because they</b>

<b>saw the traffic, so</b>

<b>nobody was going down it.</b>

<b>And I looked behind me and I go, "Please</b>

<b>don't get me pulled over.</b>

<b>Please don't get me pulled over."</b>

<b>I'm looking behind me.</b>

<b>There are like 30 more cars behind me</b>

<b>doing the exact same thing.</b>

<b>So then it turns in an hour to get to</b>

<b>school in another 20 minutes.</b>

<b>So that saved me a</b>

<b>whole heck of a long time.</b>

<b>But yeah, that was my traffic.</b>

<b>Tell you traffic, traffic, traffic.</b>

<b>California traffic is a</b>

<b>whole different kind of animal.</b>

<b>I think I'd take the weather.</b>

<b>Yeah.</b>

<b>And Sacramento traffic is nowhere near as</b>

<b>bad as LA or San Francisco.</b>

<b>So I can't really complain, but yeah.</b>

<b>So that's that.</b>

<b>So let's go ahead and talk about today's</b>

<b>topic, which is</b>

<b>assessment without the headache.</b>

<b>So I don't know about you.</b>

<b>I'll tell you my story in just a moment.</b>

<b>But what does your grading look like now?</b>

<b>And if you made any changes in your</b>

<b>grading, what did it look like before?</b>

<b>And whoever would like to</b>

<b>start can go ahead and start.</b>

<b>Well, I think before I was very focused</b>

<b>on form rather than</b>

<b>function, if that makes sense.</b>

<b>And I think your point here, you</b>

<b>mentioned points police.</b>

<b>I think I was the point police, you know,</b>

<b>and I would like I</b>

<b>would have them write like</b>

<b>the numbers and take off</b>

<b>points from the face with the guy.</b>

<b>Or if they didn't put an accent or if</b>

<b>they felt thing and stuff like that.</b>

<b>I used to be really busy.</b>

<b>But what I'm trying to do now is really</b>

<b>focus on the IB use the</b>

<b>line, which I like a lot</b>

<b>in the rubrics.</b>

<b>And it says like, you know, errors do not</b>

<b>interfere with communication or and so if</b>

<b>the error does not interfere with</b>

<b>communication and the</b>

<b>writing thing, I try not to focus</b>

<b>on all, you know, and if it's up, I'll</b>

<b>signal it sometimes like I</b>

<b>have a underline something</b>

<b>I don't understand in writing or I'll</b>

<b>circle it if it's a</b>

<b>spelling error, or I'll do a</b>

<b>squiggly line underline if it's a like an</b>

<b>agreement issue to</b>

<b>help them do the revisions</b>

<b>and stuff like that.</b>

<b>But on things like that, I really don't</b>

<b>get to take off points.</b>

<b>So I'm really more focused on what are</b>

<b>they communicating the message is that</b>

<b>mostly comprehensible</b>

<b>rather than like super nitty.</b>

<b>And also thinking like</b>

<b>what's the developmentally?</b>

<b>And like, you know, verb</b>

<b>tense endings are development.</b>

<b>So appropriate to make that error, get</b>

<b>back to the key, fix</b>

<b>it, changes like that.</b>

<b>So but that happens with</b>

<b>feedback and class interaction.</b>

<b>So I think, you know, I think the long</b>

<b>version is that I just</b>

<b>feel a lot more, a lot more</b>

<b>nitpicky about it.</b>

<b>And what about you, Pat?</b>

<b>Well, now I'm free and clear of the</b>

<b>grading because I'm</b>

<b>hungry in the classroom.</b>

<b>But when I left the</b>

<b>classroom, let's put it that way.</b>

<b>I still had my number one,</b>

<b>I never ever used a red pen.</b>

<b>Never.</b>

<b>Because one of my friends, a teacher</b>

<b>friend said, all the</b>

<b>students always fear the red</b>

<b>pen police.</b>

<b>And it's like they see red on their paper</b>

<b>and immediately they have a heart attack.</b>

<b>And it's like, well, okay, so then I</b>

<b>would grade in whatever color wasn't red.</b>

<b>I mean, I wouldn't use black or blue</b>

<b>usually that much unless</b>

<b>it was very different from</b>

<b>the pen color than what they were using.</b>

<b>But I did a lot in purple.</b>

<b>I did a lot.</b>

<b>Yeah, there you go.</b>

<b>Turquoise.</b>

<b>Yep.</b>

<b>Yep.</b>

<b>That's what I would use.</b>

<b>I would do orange.</b>

<b>I would do pink.</b>

<b>I would, you know, whatever color.</b>

<b>And I too was for the longest time hung</b>

<b>up on the spelling and</b>

<b>the grammar of things</b>

<b>and so on and so forth.</b>

<b>But then I started just circling things.</b>

<b>And even though it was circled, it didn't</b>

<b>necessarily mean I</b>

<b>took points off for it.</b>

<b>If it was a point type</b>

<b>assignment, if it was a quiz, yes.</b>

<b>Unfortunately, then I would take points.</b>

<b>But that was a different situation.</b>

<b>It was an assessment that I needed to do</b>

<b>to keep my higher ups happy.</b>

<b>You know, you've got the guard dogs</b>

<b>waiting to catch you</b>

<b>not teaching something.</b>

<b>It's like, if they can talk to me, then I</b>

<b>know they understand it.</b>

<b>You know, they don't have speech bubbles</b>

<b>above their head when</b>

<b>they're talking to me.</b>

<b>So I don't know if they're spelling</b>

<b>things right or not in their head.</b>

<b>You know, they're communicating with me</b>

<b>and that's the goal.</b>

<b>And if that works, there you go.</b>

<b>But to keep, you know, the people happy</b>

<b>and admin and</b>

<b>everything, they got the quiz every</b>

<b>now and then.</b>

<b>And I usually saved it for Friday.</b>

<b>And we talked about how there was going</b>

<b>to be an assessment</b>

<b>coming up soon, you know,</b>

<b>the entire week so that they had plenty</b>

<b>of time to prepare themselves.</b>

<b>And it wasn't a surprise.</b>

<b>And I gave out perfect score stickers.</b>

<b>And you wouldn't believe how giddy high</b>

<b>school students would be</b>

<b>about getting a sticker</b>

<b>on their paper.</b>

<b>Oh, yeah.</b>

<b>Look what I got.</b>

<b>Look what I got.</b>

<b>And it's like, okay, you're a little too</b>

<b>excited about it, but that's okay.</b>

<b>But yeah, absolutely love those stickers.</b>

<b>And I would give out so many of them, I'd</b>

<b>have to keep replenishing my sticker pile</b>

<b>because, you know, they</b>

<b>knew about it all the time.</b>

<b>So they were ready for it and they felt</b>

<b>comfortable with it and</b>

<b>zippity doo, they'd go through</b>

<b>it in like five minutes or less.</b>

<b>And that would be my only thing I would</b>

<b>do on the weekend is grade that one quiz.</b>

<b>And I wouldn't be, you know, dealing with</b>

<b>essays and all that stuff.</b>

<b>But I saved for during the week and then</b>

<b>after school or before school, looking at</b>

<b>those.</b>

<b>Well, you may even see me looking around.</b>

<b>I was trying to see if I had one of my</b>

<b>multicolored pens, but I have the kind</b>

<b>that Andy has there.</b>

<b>I have the traditional ones and I have</b>

<b>the blue one and I have</b>

<b>the other one too that</b>

<b>you have.</b>

<b>So I buy them in four packs.</b>

<b>They're hard to find nowadays.</b>

<b>But I buy them on Amazon</b>

<b>and buy the four packs.</b>

<b>But I also have one that's got, I don't</b>

<b>know if it's six or seven colors on it.</b>

<b>It's a little fatter.</b>

<b>It's not by the same company.</b>

<b>And I got that's what I was trying to</b>

<b>find if I had a three</b>

<b>pack and I couldn't find</b>

<b>where I put the other</b>

<b>extra ones I was looking for.</b>

<b>So yes, I do do the colorful pens.</b>

<b>It's funny how that you mentioned about I</b>

<b>wrote some things</b>

<b>down, some notes, because</b>

<b>you said some good things here.</b>

<b>The red, my sister teaches elementary</b>

<b>school and they were told</b>

<b>that they couldn't choose</b>

<b>any one color for grading.</b>

<b>They had to be color agnostic so that</b>

<b>kids wouldn't associate</b>

<b>any particular color with</b>

<b>being bad.</b>

<b>So they had to rotate</b>

<b>through the colors as they grade.</b>

<b>So a couple of weeks in red, a couple of</b>

<b>weeks in green, a</b>

<b>couple of weeks in orange.</b>

<b>So no gray, no color, because I guess</b>

<b>they were finding that</b>

<b>kids who maybe their favorite</b>

<b>color was red.</b>

<b>Now it was being associated with being</b>

<b>bad and they all kind of mental things.</b>

<b>So that was kind of funny about that.</b>

<b>Stickers Pat, you're richer than I am.</b>

<b>I don't use stickers because you have to</b>

<b>get replenishing them.</b>

<b>I use stamps.</b>

<b>So I would.</b>

<b>Why would you use those too?</b>

<b>I would always find</b>

<b>Spanish stamps I would find.</b>

<b>And then I bought and I still have, they</b>

<b>did not lie, the never</b>

<b>ending lifetime stamp.</b>

<b>I have a giant stamp ink stamper and I</b>

<b>stamp them in there and</b>

<b>I've had it for my entire</b>

<b>career.</b>

<b>I bought it in my second year of teaching</b>

<b>and I'm now in my 24th, I think 24th year</b>

<b>and I have had it.</b>

<b>It's the same one I've been using year</b>

<b>after year after year.</b>

<b>The only thing my kids complain about is,</b>

<b>do you have anything other than blue?</b>

<b>So because it's been blue, I'm like, hey,</b>

<b>I bought this for</b>

<b>like $6 way back in 2002</b>

<b>and it's still going strong and it's</b>

<b>going to be there until I retire.</b>

<b>So I use that that way.</b>

<b>I don't run out of stickers.</b>

<b>I used to use, I, only time I use</b>

<b>stickers though was I</b>

<b>bought something from senior</b>

<b>Woolie and he threw in some stickers in</b>

<b>the pack and so I used</b>

<b>those until we ran out.</b>

<b>But absolutely.</b>

<b>I was getting mine at Walmart and they</b>

<b>would be just the</b>

<b>generic smiley face sticker.</b>

<b>There wasn't any Spanish written on them.</b>

<b>If it was like an essay or something,</b>

<b>then I would use my</b>

<b>pretty Spanish stickers that</b>

<b>I got from teachers</b>

<b>discovery or whatever.</b>

<b>Those I held onto with both hands and you</b>

<b>had to pry them out of my fingers.</b>

<b>But otherwise I used the happy face</b>

<b>sticker and they would</b>

<b>just go, I got one, I got one,</b>

<b>I got one.</b>

<b>I had.</b>

<b>I say, Mr. Hundo, this is</b>

<b>Mr. Hundo, if I can find it.</b>

<b>So like on paper, if you get a hundred,</b>

<b>Mr. Hundo comes out and</b>

<b>he got his eyes and so</b>

<b>he's like, he says, I just draw my little</b>

<b>ridiculous caricatures</b>

<b>and then the kids are</b>

<b>like, Oh, Mr. Hundo is back.</b>

<b>Well, you are way</b>

<b>more creative than I am.</b>

<b>And I was going to say when Pat was</b>

<b>talking with the smiley</b>

<b>faces, I don't want to spend</b>

<b>that much time.</b>

<b>I grade really quickly, especially</b>

<b>because when I taught in</b>

<b>Vegas, had 280 students.</b>

<b>So grading 280 quick</b>

<b>rights was time consuming.</b>

<b>So I found I don't even know if they</b>

<b>still make it, but the</b>

<b>Crayola markers, they had</b>

<b>they do make it.</b>

<b>But no, no, not that though.</b>

<b>But what I'm talking about is they had at</b>

<b>the end of the Crayola</b>

<b>markers, they had shapes.</b>

<b>So they still make those.</b>

<b>So they still make a smiley face, one</b>

<b>star, one lightning bolt.</b>

<b>And I would just stamp them on the papers</b>

<b>to save time because</b>

<b>drawing a smiley face</b>

<b>took too long for me to spend on a paper.</b>

<b>So I never I never did any of that.</b>

<b>So let me tell you about my situation.</b>

<b>When I started teaching, I</b>

<b>was not a certified teacher.</b>

<b>I was on an emergency permit, so I had no</b>

<b>teaching experience</b>

<b>and no teaching school</b>

<b>behind me.</b>

<b>I hadn't even started teaching school</b>

<b>yet, just had my bachelors.</b>

<b>So when you come in and you don't know</b>

<b>what you're doing, like</b>

<b>I had no clue what I was</b>

<b>doing, you just beg, borrow</b>

<b>and steal whatever you could.</b>

<b>So I took someone else's syllabus and I</b>

<b>took their grading</b>

<b>program just the way they had</b>

<b>in there.</b>

<b>Like, you know, how many percent for</b>

<b>projects, how many sent</b>

<b>for quizzes, tests, homework,</b>

<b>all that stuff.</b>

<b>And I just copied that down.</b>

<b>And that's what I did.</b>

<b>And then I had this girl, Brittany, and</b>

<b>I'll never forget her.</b>

<b>She sent me her senior picture, you know,</b>

<b>in school and, you</b>

<b>know, kids do that when</b>

<b>they're seniors.</b>

<b>And she wrote on the back because she</b>

<b>knew she goes, thank</b>

<b>you for passing me because</b>

<b>I was teaching Spanish to my first year</b>

<b>and she knew nothing.</b>

<b>Absolutely positively.</b>

<b>Not a single thing.</b>

<b>I don't know how she passed Spanish one.</b>

<b>She was a nice girl, but she couldn't do</b>

<b>any Spanish whatsoever.</b>

<b>But she always turned in her homework and</b>

<b>her projects were already always nice and</b>

<b>pretty.</b>

<b>So she earned her points for that.</b>

<b>And that saved her.</b>

<b>That gave her her C when she should have</b>

<b>had an F because she couldn't do Spanish.</b>

<b>And I should have been measuring how much</b>

<b>Spanish she could do, which was zero.</b>

<b>But that's not what happened using that</b>

<b>the grading program</b>

<b>that the other teacher that</b>

<b>I copied from, she was able to pass.</b>

<b>And so then I said to</b>

<b>myself, this cannot happen again.</b>

<b>So starting in my second year of</b>

<b>teaching, I did a whole</b>

<b>bunch of research over the summer</b>

<b>about standards based grading.</b>

<b>And I read a book, how</b>

<b>to grade for learning.</b>

<b>And that was my Bible.</b>

<b>I read that book.</b>

<b>It had nothing to do with languages, but</b>

<b>just how to grade for</b>

<b>actual learning, no matter</b>

<b>what the class was.</b>

<b>And it was a look at</b>

<b>standards based grading.</b>

<b>And I, from that point,</b>

<b>that's where I started doing that.</b>

<b>And in that second year, I was</b>

<b>experimenting on my kids' life.</b>

<b>And it was so funny because I always made</b>

<b>them think that it was their choice.</b>

<b>But I just kind of painted the picture</b>

<b>brighter on the side that</b>

<b>I wanted them to move to</b>

<b>because I was like, do we do averages?</b>

<b>Is that going to work better?</b>

<b>Is it going to be median?</b>

<b>Is that going to be worked better?</b>

<b>Or is it going to be mode?</b>

<b>Was that going to work better?</b>

<b>And how different ways to calculate.</b>

<b>We all know the average, which is mean.</b>

<b>The median was picking the middle number</b>

<b>when you put them in</b>

<b>high to low or low to</b>

<b>high.</b>

<b>And then the mode was picking the most</b>

<b>common number that</b>

<b>showed up in the kids grade.</b>

<b>So I tried all of these and they all had</b>

<b>their pluses and minuses.</b>

<b>But when I wanted to switch every</b>

<b>quarter, we switched</b>

<b>grading things to see how it was</b>

<b>going to work.</b>

<b>And I ended up sticking with the median.</b>

<b>That was the most accurate one.</b>

<b>And we stuck with that one for a while.</b>

<b>But grading programs don't really do</b>

<b>median unless they turn it</b>

<b>on from the district side</b>

<b>of it.</b>

<b>So that was where I started with was that</b>

<b>percentage in points</b>

<b>back then and kids would</b>

<b>always ask for, you know, they would</b>

<b>fight for every last</b>

<b>living point they possibly</b>

<b>could.</b>

<b>And they weren't thinking</b>

<b>about the whole picture.</b>

<b>And so when I switched to proficiency, my</b>

<b>goal was to look at</b>

<b>them and say, when I look</b>

<b>at the kid, I have an image of what they</b>

<b>can do in the language.</b>

<b>And then when I look at the</b>

<b>grade book, it should match.</b>

<b>So if I thought that they were proficient</b>

<b>in Spanish, then that</b>

<b>was a B. I better find</b>

<b>a B in the grade book.</b>

<b>So I worked really hard in making sure</b>

<b>that their ability</b>

<b>matched the grade book.</b>

<b>And I played with the math</b>

<b>and I am not a math person.</b>

<b>I cried over the math.</b>

<b>I'm like, okay, math</b>

<b>teacher, please help me understand.</b>

<b>I put in 100% in the grade book for a</b>

<b>child and their grade went down.</b>

<b>How is that possible?</b>

<b>I couldn't understand the math and I</b>

<b>would go after school</b>

<b>every day, explain to me this</b>

<b>math.</b>

<b>I've got to figure this out.</b>

<b>And I came up with a system that I've</b>

<b>been using and I've</b>

<b>been using for the majority</b>

<b>of my career is grading</b>

<b>towards that proficiency.</b>

<b>And now I look at my kids and I can say</b>

<b>that is a top kid and the grade matches.</b>

<b>That is a struggling</b>

<b>kid and the grade matches.</b>

<b>And so the grade isn't because you showed</b>

<b>up and smiled and did all your work.</b>

<b>It's how well you did your work.</b>

<b>And so that for me was really the key to</b>

<b>it because I really</b>

<b>wanted to make sure that</b>

<b>the grade wasn't a</b>

<b>let me give you a grade.</b>

<b>It's when that you earn, but also</b>

<b>reflected what you</b>

<b>actually can do in the language.</b>

<b>And we lost Andy, so</b>

<b>hopefully he'll come back shortly.</b>

<b>But that's how I</b>

<b>worked with the grade book.</b>

<b>It made that big change for me.</b>

<b>And I'll add one other thing.</b>

<b>Somewhere in the middle of</b>

<b>that, I had to grade grammar.</b>

<b>I stopped grading specific grammar, but</b>

<b>when I did grade</b>

<b>grammar, how I did it, because</b>

<b>the typical way is you look at it and you</b>

<b>subtract points for not putting an accent</b>

<b>mark or subtract a point or a half a</b>

<b>point for not spelling</b>

<b>it correctly or the word</b>

<b>order.</b>

<b>What I did is I thought of it like math.</b>

<b>What's the lowest common denominator?</b>

<b>What was the least of</b>

<b>an answer I would expect?</b>

<b>And they would get full</b>

<b>credit for that answer.</b>

<b>And if they made it more correct, like</b>

<b>the accent mark was</b>

<b>there or the spelling was</b>

<b>there or the right order was there or the</b>

<b>indirect or direct</b>

<b>object pronoun was there,</b>

<b>they would get plus point.</b>

<b>They would get bonus points for that.</b>

<b>So that's kind of how I dealt with it.</b>

<b>Instead of taking a negative aspect,</b>

<b>taking away points, they</b>

<b>got more positive points</b>

<b>for doing it.</b>

<b>So that's kind of how I approached that.</b>

<b>I wish I would have thought of that.</b>

<b>It would have been a lifesaver as to</b>

<b>worrying about every</b>

<b>accent, every nuance that like</b>

<b>I said, if the whole goal is</b>

<b>comprehension, they don't</b>

<b>have speech bubbles above their</b>

<b>head.</b>

<b>So if they're able to say it right, I</b>

<b>shouldn't care whether</b>

<b>they should be able to spell</b>

<b>it right.</b>

<b>Yeah, exactly.</b>

<b>That would have been a lifesaver there.</b>

<b>Well I know you're not teaching right</b>

<b>now, but what were some</b>

<b>of the assessments, the</b>

<b>kind of go to assessments that you like</b>

<b>to use to assess your students?</b>

<b>Well, if it was an assessment for the</b>

<b>powers that be, it'd</b>

<b>be straight up points.</b>

<b>It would be, you know, they got 19 out of</b>

<b>20 on their quiz or whatever.</b>

<b>If it was for me in the classroom kind of</b>

<b>thing, then I use some of your rubrics.</b>

<b>I might have fine tweaked them a little</b>

<b>bit to fit my room</b>

<b>culture a little bit more,</b>

<b>but I use some of your rubrics from</b>

<b>Immediate Immersion,</b>

<b>especially on the free rights.</b>

<b>I even took some of those, the free right</b>

<b>ones and used them</b>

<b>when I had them do like</b>

<b>a more lengthier essay that they got to</b>

<b>work on for a couple of days in class.</b>

<b>I said, it's not an essay,</b>

<b>you're writing me a story.</b>

<b>You need to include this many characters,</b>

<b>you need to have there</b>

<b>be a problem, you need</b>

<b>to solve the problem and</b>

<b>everybody ends up happy.</b>

<b>You're not blood and gore here, guys, so</b>

<b>nobody gets hit by a meteor.</b>

<b>If you can't say it in Spanish, which is</b>

<b>the language that I</b>

<b>taught, if you can't say it</b>

<b>in Spanish, you don't get to say it.</b>

<b>You got to come up with another way of</b>

<b>saying it because you</b>

<b>don't get your dictionary,</b>

<b>you don't get your phone, you don't get</b>

<b>your iPad and the papers stay here.</b>

<b>It's got to come out of your head.</b>

<b>So, then I would usually let them have</b>

<b>their notebooks for</b>

<b>like the last 20 minutes or</b>

<b>half hour or whatever, that way they</b>

<b>could verify whatever</b>

<b>they wanted to verify.</b>

<b>So it wasn't a complete assessment</b>

<b>because I let them, you</b>

<b>know, in their books or in</b>

<b>their notebooks.</b>

<b>Yeah, it was a lot of your rubrics that I</b>

<b>used, your speaking rubrics.</b>

<b>You know, when I would be listening to</b>

<b>them talk about</b>

<b>whatever country they drew and</b>

<b>they had to tell me three interesting</b>

<b>facts about it and they</b>

<b>had to tell me if they had</b>

<b>a president or whatever for a leader and</b>

<b>something that they found fascinating.</b>

<b>Whether it was the fact that Shakira came</b>

<b>from that particular country or that, you</b>

<b>know, it has 487 volcanoes</b>

<b>or that, you know, whatever.</b>

<b>They had to give me a</b>

<b>fascinating detail to them.</b>

<b>I remember that one because one of my</b>

<b>students said, "It's got</b>

<b>really awesome amusement parks."</b>

<b>And he called it, he couldn't say</b>

<b>amusement parks but he</b>

<b>kept saying "montanez rusas,"</b>

<b>you know, roller coasters.</b>

<b>And I'm like, "Really?</b>

<b>Roller coasters?</b>

<b>What are we talking about here?"</b>

<b>And it took me a minute.</b>

<b>I'm like, "I bet he</b>

<b>means amusement parks."</b>

<b>And I was right, that's what he meant.</b>

<b>But he got the point</b>

<b>across, he communicated it.</b>

<b>Yeah.</b>

<b>It just took me a little bit on the</b>

<b>uptick to put data on.</b>

<b>To catch on, yeah.</b>

<b>So those assessments, my principal who is</b>

<b>my direct supervisor would</b>

<b>ask me, "Well, how are you</b>

<b>assessing these kids?</b>

<b>You don't have very many</b>

<b>grades in your grade book.</b>

<b>I can see your grade book online.</b>

<b>You don't have very</b>

<b>many grades in there."</b>

<b>I said, "I assess them from the minute</b>

<b>they walk through the</b>

<b>door to the minute they leave</b>

<b>my door.</b>

<b>I'm assessing them.</b>

<b>Not all assessments are written down.</b>

<b>And, you know, if they can understand me</b>

<b>when I'm presenting a</b>

<b>lesson, well, then their</b>

<b>listening assessment is 100 percent.</b>

<b>If they can produce what I ask them to</b>

<b>produce, well, then their</b>

<b>speaking assessment is 100</b>

<b>percent."</b>

<b>And likewise and so on and so forth.</b>

<b>I don't know about how you do your</b>

<b>classes, but that's kind of</b>

<b>what I thought was if they</b>

<b>can understand, well, then it's getting</b>

<b>through the muck and</b>

<b>they're understanding it.</b>

<b>And so it's 100 percent.</b>

<b>They said, even if it was a little bit</b>

<b>more complicated of an</b>

<b>idea, I slowed way down.</b>

<b>That was my most difficult piece of</b>

<b>either assessing or just</b>

<b>simply life in the classroom</b>

<b>was to go slow enough.</b>

<b>I like zoom and they'd be like, "Huh?"</b>

<b>Like, "Okay, yep, that's right.</b>

<b>Dad, back her up here.</b>

<b>Let's back up the cart.</b>

<b>We'll try again."</b>

<b>And I'd go her way down and then they'd</b>

<b>be like, "Ah, yeah, I</b>

<b>got that this time."</b>

<b>So that would be how I would assess is</b>

<b>basically on a daily</b>

<b>basis, but occasionally in the</b>

<b>grade book just to make Pappy.</b>

<b>Yeah, for me, I only did those essays</b>

<b>that you were talking about on finals.</b>

<b>So I would not do them otherwise because</b>

<b>I actually hated them.</b>

<b>Andy is back.</b>

<b>Let me add him back in.</b>

<b>One moment, Andy,</b>

<b>getting you back in here.</b>

<b>Welcome back.</b>

<b>I usually get them when it was</b>

<b>parent-teacher conference time because</b>

<b>that way I could show</b>

<b>the parent, "Look what your kid can do,"</b>

<b>and they've written an</b>

<b>entire sheet of paper worth</b>

<b>of Spanish, I said, and this is after</b>

<b>four and a half weeks in a quarter.</b>

<b>And that's when I would do mine would be</b>

<b>around parent-teacher conference time.</b>

<b>"Look what they did this time."</b>

<b>And then the next time they had it for</b>

<b>the end of the quarter, I'd</b>

<b>attach it to the information</b>

<b>to go home and it would be front and back</b>

<b>of a sheet of paper.</b>

<b>And they would grow each chunk, and so</b>

<b>that's what I wanted the parents to see.</b>

<b>It wasn't about them writing the essay.</b>

<b>It was about what I could prove to the</b>

<b>parents they could do.</b>

<b>Yeah, we didn't have parent conferences.</b>

<b>We always had open house, but it was way</b>

<b>at the beginning of</b>

<b>school year, so there was no</b>

<b>chance to doing that.</b>

<b>So I did that, but I hated that one</b>

<b>because it was too polished, and I</b>

<b>couldn't figure out what</b>

<b>they actually needed help on anymore</b>

<b>because if they cleanly</b>

<b>erased it and rewrote it,</b>

<b>I couldn't tell there</b>

<b>is even a mistake there.</b>

<b>So my go-to, my absolute most absolute</b>

<b>favorite of all assessments</b>

<b>is the Quick Write, and I know</b>

<b>Andy wanted to talk about that, and we'll</b>

<b>talk about it a little more</b>

<b>in a moment, but I'll just</b>

<b>tell you about my assessments I use.</b>

<b>My Quick Write I love.</b>

<b>There's no planning.</b>

<b>There's no time to fix errors</b>

<b>or any of that kind of stuff.</b>

<b>It's pure.</b>

<b>What they get right is what they know,</b>

<b>what's been acquired, and what's not</b>

<b>right is what I still</b>

<b>need to work on with them.</b>

<b>Now, I told you at one time I had over</b>

<b>280 students, and I do not like grading.</b>

<b>I know I teach about grading and all this</b>

<b>stuff, but it's not something I look for.</b>

<b>I get to grade all these papers, and</b>

<b>having a stack of papers</b>

<b>in my inbox stresses me out.</b>

<b>So I always get my papers back within 24</b>

<b>hours, always, always,</b>

<b>always, always, always, always.</b>

<b>I find a way because it stresses me out</b>

<b>to have that there, that stack of papers.</b>

<b>I don't like to have it.</b>

<b>So I had to find a way</b>

<b>to grade really quickly.</b>

<b>So I'll put it back up here.</b>

<b>You can get a copy of my rubrics that Pat</b>

<b>was talking about here, but</b>

<b>I use my rubrics to grade.</b>

<b>I do not mark up papers.</b>

<b>I thought I was doing it wrong, but I</b>

<b>didn't want to do it</b>

<b>because it took too much time.</b>

<b>I know, personally, I took German,</b>

<b>French, and Spanish in school.</b>

<b>My German teacher would mark up every</b>

<b>single error, and we had to</b>

<b>rewrite it to correct the errors.</b>

<b>You always get a little sunken feeling</b>

<b>when you got that paper</b>

<b>back, and I had all that blood</b>

<b>all over it with all</b>

<b>the little marks on it.</b>

<b>So I didn't want to do that to my</b>

<b>students, but I had no</b>

<b>research to back it up.</b>

<b>I just had my personal</b>

<b>anecdote that it made me feel bad.</b>

<b>Even though I got good grades on it, I</b>

<b>said, "I don't really</b>

<b>think I deserve the A because</b>

<b>look at all this red</b>

<b>marks that was on the paper."</b>

<b>So I didn't want to do it to my kids, but</b>

<b>then the research shows,</b>

<b>and I can't quote where the research is.</b>

<b>It's been told to me, and</b>

<b>I am not a research person.</b>

<b>If someone says it is, that's the way it</b>

<b>is, I don't go and back it up.</b>

<b>It's just not me, I'm</b>

<b>not that kind of a person.</b>

<b>They did analysis on three</b>

<b>different ways of grading.</b>

<b>One is to mark up every wrong answer and</b>

<b>mark it all up on the paper.</b>

<b>One was to pick one common error, let's</b>

<b>say subject verb agreement,</b>

<b>and just mark those errors on the paper.</b>

<b>The other one was not to mark up</b>

<b>anything, but just put a positive comment</b>

<b>at the end of the paper.</b>

<b>Then they compared growth over time.</b>

<b>And there was negligible</b>

<b>growth between the three of them.</b>

<b>Whether marking up the</b>

<b>paper, marking up only one error,</b>

<b>or putting a positive comment down, there</b>

<b>was negligible growth.</b>

<b>If there was any positive growth, it was</b>

<b>in the third one with</b>

<b>the positive comment.</b>

<b>That was the only growth that they saw,</b>

<b>and it was negligible.</b>

<b>So I'm like, "Why would I</b>

<b>want to spend 15 to 20 minutes</b>

<b>marking up a paper if it's not going to</b>

<b>help them in any way?"</b>

<b>And most of the time, the kids</b>

<b>would just look at the grade,</b>

<b>crumple it up, and throw it in the</b>

<b>garbage, and wouldn't even</b>

<b>pay attention to all the marks.</b>

<b>That was 20 minutes of my</b>

<b>life, so I didn't do that.</b>

<b>The other thing was that I did for a kid,</b>

<b>when I saw that that</b>

<b>positive comment thing could work,</b>

<b>I put smiley faces on my papers.</b>

<b>So I had a girl whose writing was trash.</b>

<b>I couldn't understand it at all, but I</b>

<b>put a smiley face on it.</b>

<b>She was so excited, she</b>

<b>got a smiley face on it.</b>

<b>She goes, "I'm going to work and get two</b>

<b>smiley faces next time."</b>

<b>So the next time, I put two smiley faces</b>

<b>on her paper, because</b>

<b>I heard her say that.</b>

<b>And then I didn't give her any more</b>

<b>smiley faces for a few weeks,</b>

<b>and then I gave her a couple</b>

<b>more, and she kept working.</b>

<b>But it was such a problem, I actually</b>

<b>went to her English</b>

<b>teacher and asked her,</b>

<b>"Does she have a</b>

<b>problem writing in English?"</b>

<b>Because her Spanish is so poor, that I'm</b>

<b>thinking it's coming from,</b>

<b>she doesn't have a strong English</b>

<b>background in writing.</b>

<b>Instead, her English</b>

<b>writing was pretty bad as well.</b>

<b>I didn't mark up her papers, all I did</b>

<b>was put these smiley faces,</b>

<b>and she got to four smiling</b>

<b>faces every once in a while.</b>

<b>But from the beginning of the year to the</b>

<b>end of the year, she went from</b>

<b>a solid F to a C- in writing.</b>

<b>And all I did was put a smiley face on</b>

<b>her paper, and we do</b>

<b>them weekly every time.</b>

<b>So it does help a little bit, because she</b>

<b>felt more confident by</b>

<b>getting those smiley faces.</b>

<b>I decide I do not want to</b>

<b>waste all that time on the papers.</b>

<b>Now, here's my exception.</b>

<b>I always invite you to...</b>

<b>We should be able to try and</b>

<b>put the rest of the work...</b>

<b>If you want to know what you did right</b>

<b>and what you did wrong</b>

<b>and go over your paper,</b>

<b>you're welcome to come see me before or</b>

<b>after school, not during lunch.</b>

<b>Because that's not an</b>

<b>investment of time on their part.</b>

<b>They're already at school.</b>

<b>Before or after school, come</b>

<b>see me with your paper in hand,</b>

<b>and we will go through</b>

<b>it line by line by line.</b>

<b>This way, we both benefit.</b>

<b>Number one, I can ask questions like,</b>

<b>"What did you mean here?"</b>

<b>Not me trying to guess</b>

<b>what you're trying to mean.</b>

<b>So I can show them the</b>

<b>right way to express that.</b>

<b>And then two, they're</b>

<b>seeing why I'm seeing the errors</b>

<b>and why those errors are problematic</b>

<b>because they are</b>

<b>hindering my comprehension.</b>

<b>So we can both benefit because it's a</b>

<b>discussion between us</b>

<b>and it's more memorable.</b>

<b>And because they gave up their personal</b>

<b>time before or after school,</b>

<b>it became much more strong.</b>

<b>They were more invested in that.</b>

<b>And I only get three or four per year</b>

<b>that ever want to do that.</b>

<b>And those kids are the kids</b>

<b>who are truly going to benefit.</b>

<b>They're not the kids</b>

<b>who look at their grade,</b>

<b>crumple it up and</b>

<b>throw it in the garbage.</b>

<b>They really want to understand.</b>

<b>So I'll put in the time for those kids,</b>

<b>but putting it in for all 280 of my kids,</b>

<b>when only three or four</b>

<b>are going to benefit from it,</b>

<b>it's not a good use of my time.</b>

<b>And I'm going to tell you, it only takes</b>

<b>to grade one of those essays.</b>

<b>It only takes me as long as</b>

<b>it takes me to read the essay.</b>

<b>I don't spend any more time.</b>

<b>So if it's 100 words or so on average,</b>

<b>we're talking a minute, maybe</b>

<b>a minute and a half at most.</b>

<b>So I can get a class of</b>

<b>40 done in 45 minutes.</b>

<b>Easy.</b>

<b>So it was really easy for me to get them</b>

<b>back in the 24 hours.</b>

<b>So I that's my absolute</b>

<b>most favorite assessment,</b>

<b>followed by my speaking assessments,</b>

<b>because I don't do the</b>

<b>speaking assessments.</b>

<b>They're skits because</b>

<b>that's a drama performance.</b>

<b>That's not a Spanish speaking assessment.</b>

<b>And my kids spontaneously have to get up</b>

<b>and speak about pictures</b>

<b>or whatever it might be.</b>

<b>And I can get through a whole class in</b>

<b>one period with time left over,</b>

<b>even if I have 45 kids in the classroom.</b>

<b>So both of those, I love</b>

<b>them because they're pure.</b>

<b>They don't have time to plan it.</b>

<b>They don't have time to practice it.</b>

<b>They don't have time to polish it.</b>

<b>It is what it is what it is.</b>

<b>And that really gives me the truest</b>

<b>picture of what they</b>

<b>can do in the language.</b>

<b>And so I like this very much.</b>

<b>And welcome back, Andy.</b>

<b>Now we got your back here.</b>

<b>Yeah, sorry.</b>

<b>I thought my phone was going</b>

<b>to last longer than it did.</b>

<b>So that was hubris on my part.</b>

<b>Yeah, I love that instant assessment,</b>

<b>like doing it right in the class.</b>

<b>I think that's huge.</b>

<b>Yeah.</b>

<b>And I think I like your point about the</b>

<b>agency and the economy also,</b>

<b>like having the kids, like the ones who</b>

<b>are really going to</b>

<b>be curious about this,</b>

<b>like really come and do that.</b>

<b>And can I talk about one thing, like one</b>

<b>of my former colleagues does</b>

<b>that I really like and want to feel?</b>

<b>Absolutely.</b>

<b>Absolutely.</b>

<b>And it's kind of a little related to, I</b>

<b>don't know if you know,</b>

<b>it's Señora Chase, but she has these</b>

<b>things called magic cards, which I love.</b>

<b>And that's oh, yeah,</b>

<b>so that's the free ride.</b>

<b>Yeah, that's the free ride.</b>

<b>I'm just getting it ready because I'm</b>

<b>going to have you talk about it next.</b>

<b>So go ahead and talk about</b>

<b>what your magic cards first.</b>

<b>Okay.</b>

<b>So magic cards, I think were great.</b>

<b>And she does it for listening, reading,</b>

<b>writing and speaking.</b>

<b>And then, oh, sorry, wait, there we go.</b>

<b>And you have just one, one,</b>

<b>like this is like a quadrant.</b>

<b>And then you have the</b>

<b>kids name on the back.</b>

<b>And then if you do card talk, like, like</b>

<b>Mike Pito, I think this card talk</b>

<b>where you like have them draw something</b>

<b>they like or whatever.</b>

<b>I use this for like</b>

<b>random calling on people.</b>

<b>And I haven't rolled it out in my new</b>

<b>school yet, but I intend to.</b>

<b>And the way I intend to do it is put a</b>

<b>summative for each of these.</b>

<b>Like we have semester summatives for, we</b>

<b>would go by semester.</b>

<b>So I'm going to have a semester summative</b>

<b>for reading or reading and a semester</b>

<b>summative for what is that?</b>

<b>Listening, writing and speaking.</b>

<b>And then if a kid, for example, like this</b>

<b>is for like little small in-class.</b>

<b>Like if I ask a kid a question and</b>

<b>they're able to like give me a decent</b>

<b>answer in Spanish and,</b>

<b>or if they don't understand it, if they</b>

<b>ask me for clarification,</b>

<b>then you put like a check, you just put a</b>

<b>check mark in the, you got</b>

<b>your pen out of your hair.</b>

<b>And the check mark is like, hey, they did</b>

<b>pretty well with that.</b>

<b>Right. And then if</b>

<b>they, you know, if they</b>

<b>start reading aloud and then they, you</b>

<b>know, kind of forget a place and then,</b>

<b>or then then they can check out and</b>

<b>they're doing it kind of</b>

<b>half, but, you know, halfway,</b>

<b>I do a squiggly line, right?</b>

<b>And then if they refuse, like if they,</b>

<b>you know, like, hey, I need</b>

<b>a volunteer to read aloud.</b>

<b>Can you do it? And they're</b>

<b>like, no, you know, I don't know.</b>

<b>That one's, that one's a little, I don't know.</b>

<b>That one's a little, I'm not so convinced</b>

<b>on that, but if it</b>

<b>doesn't go well, you put an X.</b>

<b>And then like, what I intend to do is if</b>

<b>I get, once I get 10 marks</b>

<b>in a column, right? So like,</b>

<b>you know, they did this listening thing</b>

<b>and they understood</b>

<b>it, that's a check mark.</b>

<b>And then out of those 10, I can be like,</b>

<b>okay, they have 10</b>

<b>check marks. That's 100.</b>

<b>Or if they have nine check marks and one</b>

<b>squiggly, that's a 95.</b>

<b>And that's their</b>

<b>speaking magic card summative.</b>

<b>So that's, that's how I'm thinking of</b>

<b>doing it. And then one</b>

<b>thing that my colleague does,</b>

<b>he does, he has this, the kids put this</b>

<b>in their notebooks every day. So they</b>

<b>just draw this little,</b>

<b>this little like thing in the notebooks.</b>

<b>And he gives them, like,</b>

<b>the kids have to tell him</b>

<b>to like, in certain class, they have to</b>

<b>say, Prope, you have to</b>

<b>sign my notebook. And they,</b>

<b>they're like, okay, I did, you know, I'm,</b>

<b>he uses my V rubric. So he's out of</b>

<b>eight. So it's like,</b>

<b>I, the kids like, I deserve an eight out</b>

<b>of eight for speaking today because of</b>

<b>this. And he's like,</b>

<b>you know what, you're right. Then he</b>

<b>signs it up. And they're like, I read</b>

<b>aloud today. I think</b>

<b>I get an eight for reading. And he's</b>

<b>like, well, you kind of goofed off a</b>

<b>little bit. So we're</b>

<b>going to call it a six of eight. You do</b>

<b>it better next time and stuff</b>

<b>like that. And then he makes</b>

<b>them add up their average and puts that</b>

<b>in as a summative, like</b>

<b>later on in the quarter. So I</b>

<b>think the agency and like the immediate</b>

<b>feedback are the two</b>

<b>things that I really love about</b>

<b>strategies. Yes. And I do something</b>

<b>similar, but I don't do</b>

<b>it all the four categories.</b>

<b>I have name cards that I use for my kids</b>

<b>to call on. But on the end, I</b>

<b>tell them any time that they</b>

<b>speak to me is a potential speaking</b>

<b>assessment. So when I'm</b>

<b>speaking to them, like when we do</b>

<b>conversation days, or if I know a kid's</b>

<b>really nervous, I'll try to</b>

<b>engage them in conversation</b>

<b>as they walk into the classroom. So</b>

<b>they're not even thinking it's an</b>

<b>assessment right there.</b>

<b>They're just, you know, they're coming</b>

<b>into class and I'll go, oh, how are you</b>

<b>doing today and trying</b>

<b>to get them to engage with me for a</b>

<b>couple of minutes in</b>

<b>Spanish. Then I'll go on their card</b>

<b>and I'll put I don't do a checkmark. I do</b>

<b>an ABCDEF thing on there.</b>

<b>And then after two or three of</b>

<b>them, I will average them together to</b>

<b>give them a quiz grade in</b>

<b>speaking. So it's a little bit</b>

<b>informal. It's just for the speaking one</b>

<b>that I do that on because</b>

<b>everything else I have tangible,</b>

<b>something tangible, they're turning in. I</b>

<b>have a listening assessment,</b>

<b>I have a reading assessment,</b>

<b>I have a writing quiz, but the speaking I</b>

<b>do that. Now, if they're</b>

<b>having a bad day, I don't</b>

<b>put that in there. I'll just put like you</b>

<b>said, like an X in there,</b>

<b>which just tells me they're</b>

<b>having a bad day and I need to come back</b>

<b>at them again in the future</b>

<b>to do that. So that's kind of</b>

<b>how I do one of my speaking quizzes. It's</b>

<b>really informal, but we</b>

<b>have conversation days every</b>

<b>Monday where I'm spending the whole</b>

<b>period. We're talking about different</b>

<b>things, not always about</b>

<b>what they did over the weekend or</b>

<b>whatever the topic is of the day. And</b>

<b>then I'll make a note of</b>

<b>those kids on there. I know my rubric, I</b>

<b>know it in my head, so I can</b>

<b>just put the grade down. And</b>

<b>then after about three or four grades,</b>

<b>I'll average it together and</b>

<b>then put it in for the grade in</b>

<b>the grade book. So that's kind of how I</b>

<b>do that. And I don't know</b>

<b>if I got that from Anne Marie</b>

<b>Chase or if I picked it up on my own, I</b>

<b>don't know. I'll just I'll</b>

<b>give credit to her because</b>

<b>it probably did come from her. I don't</b>

<b>know, but that's what I've</b>

<b>always done and it works out</b>

<b>really, really well for me. But I only do</b>

<b>it for the speaking portion because</b>

<b>that's the only thing</b>

<b>I don't have any tangible unless they</b>

<b>record it. But on a casual</b>

<b>conversation thing, it's not,</b>

<b>I don't have a tangible thing to prove</b>

<b>it. So that's why I do it</b>

<b>that way. So I like that.</b>

<b>I like that. Yeah. And that makes sense,</b>

<b>you know, because like, I</b>

<b>guess what I've given reading</b>

<b>points for is like reading aloud, like I</b>

<b>do a write and discuss, or</b>

<b>I'll have a kid like read,</b>

<b>volunteer to read a paragraph of a out or</b>

<b>something like that, because I want to</b>

<b>get them speaking as</b>

<b>much as possible. And I'll have them</b>

<b>partner read to each other.</b>

<b>So sometimes I've given reading</b>

<b>grades, quote, unquote, stuff like that.</b>

<b>But I do like, but but</b>

<b>you're right, we do have reading</b>

<b>assessments that we do have writing</b>

<b>assessments. Yeah, for me, I</b>

<b>only want to assess the reading</b>

<b>comprehension. And so by reading out loud</b>

<b>doesn't show me whether they</b>

<b>understand what they read or</b>

<b>not. It just shows they can whether they</b>

<b>can pronounce it correctly</b>

<b>or not. So I don't assess</b>

<b>that particular piece. And one of the</b>

<b>things someone mentioned to me just</b>

<b>recently reminded me</b>

<b>that I used to do this, I haven't done it</b>

<b>in a while. But during</b>

<b>reading a novel, I'll take</b>

<b>maybe 10 minutes for a once a week when</b>

<b>we're reading a novel may</b>

<b>take four weeks to read a</b>

<b>novel. So I do it four times. And I'll</b>

<b>have kids read two sentences, but in</b>

<b>English. So we're going</b>

<b>through the thing and they're going to</b>

<b>read to me. We're reading in the novel</b>

<b>and there's I call them</b>

<b>up, okay, Johnny, next two sentences read</b>

<b>into me in English. And I give them a</b>

<b>grade based on that.</b>

<b>And not to put in a grade book, but for</b>

<b>me to note whether they are high</b>

<b>performing, mid performing or</b>

<b>low performing in comprehension so that I</b>

<b>know I need to work with</b>

<b>them about certain things or</b>

<b>I might use it to scaffold and say, Okay,</b>

<b>now I this kid needs to</b>

<b>have three versions of a</b>

<b>embedded reading. And this kid might need</b>

<b>to have five versions of an</b>

<b>embedded reading. So there's</b>

<b>five steps in there. So I'm using it that</b>

<b>way because I can see</b>

<b>how much they struggle with</b>

<b>doing it. Now don't let them struggle for</b>

<b>long doing that. As soon as they</b>

<b>hesitate, I give them</b>

<b>the word they need is I don't want to</b>

<b>make them feel dumb. But I</b>

<b>want them I want to be able to</b>

<b>tell whether or not they can actually</b>

<b>understand what they're</b>

<b>reading. So I'll have them do that</b>

<b>live translation and not for the</b>

<b>translation sake just to see whether they</b>

<b>understand what they're</b>

<b>reading. But I only do that 10 minutes.</b>

<b>And a spell takes 10</b>

<b>minutes to go through all 30 kids</b>

<b>once a week for four weeks. So I get a</b>

<b>feel for where they are so</b>

<b>that I know when I give them</b>

<b>a practice how I should scaffold it for</b>

<b>that particular student,</b>

<b>if they're really strong,</b>

<b>then I can give them the original have to</b>

<b>scaffold it at all. But if they're in</b>

<b>that mid level, I might</b>

<b>have to scaffold it, you know, a two or</b>

<b>three different embedded</b>

<b>version embedded reading</b>

<b>versions to bring them up to that final</b>

<b>one. Or the third one</b>

<b>might be I need to do not only</b>

<b>give them three or four versions, but</b>

<b>also, I might have to gloss</b>

<b>it a little bit more than I</b>

<b>would have to for other kids. So</b>

<b>everybody got a different</b>

<b>version of the same story.</b>

<b>But it's at their written at their</b>

<b>particular level or given enough</b>

<b>scaffolding for their</b>

<b>particular level to be successful. So I</b>

<b>use that activity. Yeah,</b>

<b>that makes sense. I like that.</b>

<b>Now we're getting close to the end where</b>

<b>I already can't</b>

<b>believe we're almost through.</b>

<b>I know Andy said he wanted to talk about</b>

<b>my quick write paper. So I</b>

<b>put it up on the screen so we</b>

<b>can all see it. I know if you're</b>

<b>listening on a podcast, you can't see it.</b>

<b>But you're welcome. I</b>

<b>will put the link to it in my in the show</b>

<b>notes so that you can take</b>

<b>a look at it after the fact</b>

<b>and download your version of it for it as</b>

<b>well. But Andy, what did</b>

<b>you want to say about this?</b>

<b>Well, I kind of wanted to just propose an</b>

<b>idea because I have a</b>

<b>rotating schedule. I wanted to</b>

<b>put my idea on how I'm thinking of using</b>

<b>these and see how it lands</b>

<b>and what your thoughts are.</b>

<b>Because I think it's a great writing</b>

<b>assessment because it's got all kinds of</b>

<b>potential. You can write about the</b>

<b>cultural topic you've been</b>

<b>covering. And you can assess skills, like</b>

<b>all kinds of different writing skills,</b>

<b>just depending on what they want to write</b>

<b>about. And they can show a</b>

<b>bunch of different skills.</b>

<b>So what I was thinking is of doing this</b>

<b>every two weeks because</b>

<b>we have a me day and an</b>

<b>aid alternating every other Friday. So I</b>

<b>was going to call it</b>

<b>Freeride Friday and just do</b>

<b>20 minutes every Friday. And then I was</b>

<b>going to post the word</b>

<b>counts. So say, for example,</b>

<b>because they have a big push to kind of</b>

<b>display student work. So on</b>

<b>my wall, I was going to say,</b>

<b>okay, period 1A students wrote an average</b>

<b>of 190 words in two minutes or 146 words.</b>

<b>And furthermore, they averaged in novice</b>

<b>mid level. And furthermore,</b>

<b>this was like a high point</b>

<b>that they did. And then if there's like a</b>

<b>group feedback thing, I</b>

<b>could kind of put it out and</b>

<b>just do like a whole class debrief. And</b>

<b>then on the back of it,</b>

<b>like, as you can, it's got these</b>

<b>things that the kids can work on a niche</b>

<b>individually and have</b>

<b>grades. So I was curious,</b>

<b>like, what your thoughts were about like,</b>

<b>if you had experience with</b>

<b>like posting, posting results</b>

<b>like that and making it kind of like a</b>

<b>data driven and proficiency driven</b>

<b>activity. And then also</b>

<b>like just, yeah, just your thoughts on</b>

<b>that. Well, I do I</b>

<b>don't post the actual quick</b>

<b>writes, but I do we have a board that I</b>

<b>put on the results board,</b>

<b>that my kids we compete against</b>

<b>each other in the same level. So I'll put</b>

<b>in the weekly average scores</b>

<b>up there. Now they know that</b>

<b>once I do it, I do it the traditional</b>

<b>way, the way it was presented to me way</b>

<b>back when by Blaine Ray</b>

<b>back in 2001. So I do it starting at 10</b>

<b>minutes, when the class</b>

<b>average hits 100, then I drop the</b>

<b>time by 30 seconds with our goal getting</b>

<b>to five minutes by the end</b>

<b>of the school year. The first</b>

<b>class at each level, because I used to</b>

<b>teach levels one, two and three. Right</b>

<b>now I'm only teaching</b>

<b>this semester, I'm teaching levels one</b>

<b>and next week, next semester, I'm</b>

<b>teaching one and two.</b>

<b>Each level, the first class at each level</b>

<b>that gets the 100 word</b>

<b>average at five minutes wins</b>

<b>the pizza party on me. So it's a</b>

<b>competition. So I am like, Come on period</b>

<b>two, are you ready to</b>

<b>let period one beat you? Look, they're</b>

<b>down to nine and a half minutes and you</b>

<b>guys are still at 10.</b>

<b>Come on, you can add in a couple more</b>

<b>words to get in there to get it out. I</b>

<b>pit them against each</b>

<b>other to do that. So that's how I do</b>

<b>that. I put that up there</b>

<b>and it is data driven because I</b>

<b>want to know how many words I tell them,</b>

<b>we're going to have bad</b>

<b>days, you're going to have this,</b>

<b>but I want to see from the beginning of</b>

<b>the year to the end of the</b>

<b>year, I want to see a general</b>

<b>upward trend. And if you write the same</b>

<b>amount of words, but we went down 30</b>

<b>seconds, that's really</b>

<b>an increase of words. And I've kind of</b>

<b>played with maybe I should</b>

<b>do a word per minute version</b>

<b>instead of a average, because then they</b>

<b>can actually see that we went</b>

<b>down nine and a half minutes.</b>

<b>Last week, you wrote 100 words this week</b>

<b>at nine and a half</b>

<b>minutes, you wrote 100 words,</b>

<b>we went down 30 seconds ago, I didn't</b>

<b>improve. Well, yeah, you did</b>

<b>your word per minute went up,</b>

<b>you know, slightly because the time went</b>

<b>down. So I'm kind of</b>

<b>playing with that idea.</b>

<b>Now for the exemplars, what I've done in</b>

<b>the past is I've saved some I have them</b>

<b>saved where I typed up kids, they</b>

<b>couldn't tell by the handwriting, took</b>

<b>the names away, couldn't</b>

<b>tell by the handwriting. And I typed them</b>

<b>up error for error. So</b>

<b>every error that was in there,</b>

<b>I had to turn off grammar check, I had to</b>

<b>turn off spell check,</b>

<b>because it would automatically fix</b>

<b>the errors. I left them in there, they</b>

<b>didn't put punctuation in</b>

<b>there, I didn't put punctuation.</b>

<b>So they're the exact copy just typed out</b>

<b>of the errors. So I have a</b>

<b>cop, I have a couple examples</b>

<b>of A's, couple examples of B's, couple</b>

<b>examples of C's, couple examples of D's,</b>

<b>and a couple examples</b>

<b>of F's. And then I caught make copies of</b>

<b>these, and we would</b>

<b>calibrate the rubric together as a</b>

<b>team as a with the kids and everything.</b>

<b>So I put them in small</b>

<b>groups, they all have a copy of the</b>

<b>essays, and in no particular order. And</b>

<b>then they're supposed to grade within</b>

<b>their group and give each</b>

<b>one a grade. They have the rubric, and</b>

<b>then we discuss we'll go, okay, essay</b>

<b>number one, how many</b>

<b>people gave it an A? How many people gave</b>

<b>it a B? How many people gave it a C? How</b>

<b>many people gave it a D?</b>

<b>Do you get an F? And I would have them</b>

<b>justify why they gave what they gave. And</b>

<b>then I would say what</b>

<b>I would give. And then I would say why I</b>

<b>would give that particular grade. And</b>

<b>nine times out of 10,</b>

<b>they graded harder than I did. But they</b>

<b>got a really good feel of</b>

<b>what a good paper looked like.</b>

<b>And I did that twice a year, so that they</b>

<b>could do that. They got a really good</b>

<b>thing. It's something</b>

<b>we also do as a team, we would do too, so</b>

<b>that we were all grading off</b>

<b>the same rubric. And we all</b>

<b>interpreted the same rubric the same way.</b>

<b>So that when we did grade,</b>

<b>we were all relatively in the</b>

<b>ballpark of each other. So one teacher</b>

<b>wasn't giving an A to where the rest of</b>

<b>us thought that was a C</b>

<b>type of a situation. So that worked</b>

<b>really, really well. But I don't see a</b>

<b>problem if it's okay.</b>

<b>The problem here, at least for us in</b>

<b>public schools,</b>

<b>especially in California, is FERPA.</b>

<b>So posting someone's grade or a graded</b>

<b>paper up there, even</b>

<b>if it's a good grade,</b>

<b>with their name attached to it, can</b>

<b>violate FERPA. So that's something. And</b>

<b>kids go, what do they</b>

<b>care? It's an A. Some kids don't want to</b>

<b>be known as the smart kid.</b>

<b>They don't want that identity.</b>

<b>They really try to hide that in the</b>

<b>classroom. They don't want people to</b>

<b>think they're the smart kid</b>

<b>because the smart kids get called nerds</b>

<b>and geeks and all those</b>

<b>kinds of things. They don't</b>

<b>want that kind of notoriety. So if it's</b>

<b>okay in your state and in</b>

<b>your school, then great. I think</b>

<b>it's great to show that kind of stuff and</b>

<b>let kids feel that. "Oh, I've got the A</b>

<b>paper. I've got that</b>

<b>type of thing." But they were just so big</b>

<b>on us about FERPA. We</b>

<b>couldn't even have kids grade</b>

<b>each other's papers because that other</b>

<b>kid would know that grade.</b>

<b>And we used to even be able to</b>

<b>post grades on the wall with only their</b>

<b>student ID, but kids could</b>

<b>figure out kids student IDs.</b>

<b>Because they use the student IDs for</b>

<b>everything, for lunches and all that</b>

<b>stuff. So we weren't</b>

<b>allowed to post that anymore either. So</b>

<b>they just really are really</b>

<b>big about that. They said,</b>

<b>you can't have anything more than if you</b>

<b>had two pieces of</b>

<b>identification, then you couldn't post</b>

<b>it. So if there's two pieces of</b>

<b>identification on there, you couldn't do</b>

<b>it. So we just stopped doing</b>

<b>that kind of stuff on there. Like a</b>

<b>poster or something, if</b>

<b>their name was on the back,</b>

<b>that was fine. But that is just for us.</b>

<b>And it just may be our</b>

<b>school district, California.</b>

<b>I don't know, but they're really strict</b>

<b>about that FERPA with us.</b>

<b>Yeah.</b>

<b>We're not even allowed to talk about a</b>

<b>student. Let's say if I had a</b>

<b>student, but you didn't have</b>

<b>that student, I couldn't talk to you</b>

<b>about that student. Even if</b>

<b>I want to get something like,</b>

<b>how do you, you know, I've got this</b>

<b>student who's doing this,</b>

<b>this, this, this in my class.</b>

<b>Do you have any ideas of how you would</b>

<b>help that student? We</b>

<b>couldn't talk about that student.</b>

<b>Because if we didn't have that student in</b>

<b>common, it wasn't any of your</b>

<b>business about that student.</b>

<b>So I know I think of us as a whole school</b>

<b>community, but they're</b>

<b>so strict on FERPA that</b>

<b>here that we get. And how are you</b>

<b>supposed to help them?</b>

<b>By talking to the other</b>

<b>five teachers that they have.</b>

<b>But you could say, let's say I knew that</b>

<b>Andy was really good with</b>

<b>troubled kids, kids who've got</b>

<b>a poor background, not poor, like money</b>

<b>wise, but they have a bad background.</b>

<b>Their life is really</b>

<b>tough at home for whatever reason. And he</b>

<b>has a really good way of</b>

<b>connecting with those kids.</b>

<b>And I've got one of those kids in my</b>

<b>class and I can't find a</b>

<b>way to connect to that kid.</b>

<b>I couldn't go to Andy and ask him, how</b>

<b>would you handle this?</b>

<b>Because he doesn't have that kid.</b>

<b>And I think that's not being efficient.</b>

<b>Use your whole school</b>

<b>community. You may not have that</b>

<b>kid today. You might have him next week</b>

<b>or a year from now, but we're all a</b>

<b>school community and we</b>

<b>should be able to work together to talk</b>

<b>about that kid. That makes</b>

<b>sense to me. Yeah, that makes</b>

<b>sense to me. But we've got some comments</b>

<b>here. So let me go ahead</b>

<b>and put those up there before</b>

<b>we finish here. Paula says, great</b>

<b>assessment ideas. Paula says, I teach</b>

<b>English as a foreign language</b>

<b>in my country, but I can relate to many</b>

<b>things you've experienced</b>

<b>as Spanish teachers in the</b>

<b>States. Yes, it doesn't matter what you</b>

<b>teach. Any language as a</b>

<b>second language works the same way.</b>

<b>We do the same kinds of activities. So</b>

<b>thank you for engaging with</b>

<b>us, Paula. We appreciate that.</b>

<b>What country do you teach in Paula?</b>

<b>Oh, while she's coming up with that. So</b>

<b>those are some ideas that I</b>

<b>have. I think it's a really</b>

<b>good idea though to post if you can do</b>

<b>so. Like a wall like</b>

<b>that. I think that is really,</b>

<b>because kids sometimes feel like that.</b>

<b>Bolivia. So we've got</b>

<b>Paula from Bolivia. Excellent.</b>

<b>Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. So I</b>

<b>really think that's a good</b>

<b>idea because it used to be,</b>

<b>we used to post all the kids work up a</b>

<b>lot to make it look, you</b>

<b>know, to give them the kudos</b>

<b>that they deserve. And sometimes I think</b>

<b>sometimes we get laws that</b>

<b>are, that aren't very student</b>

<b>friendly. Yeah. Yeah, I like your idea of</b>

<b>like making it kind of a class</b>

<b>competition because I</b>

<b>do feel some of my kids are like</b>

<b>academically competitive. And I just</b>

<b>need, I feel like that</b>

<b>can challenge a little bit of that. Like</b>

<b>first, come on first</b>

<b>period. What's up? Like, yeah,</b>

<b>wake up at the morning. Last period is</b>

<b>doing better than you. And</b>

<b>they're ready to go home.</b>

<b>I know this is my second year back in</b>

<b>high school. So my</b>

<b>kids are writing really,</b>

<b>last year because they were all taught</b>

<b>with the textbook, they</b>

<b>couldn't do much writing. My two's,</b>

<b>my ones were better than my twos. But I</b>

<b>used to go, come on, sixth</b>

<b>graders can do better than you.</b>

<b>I taught six graders for 11 years and</b>

<b>they are writing better</b>

<b>than you. And you guys are 10th</b>

<b>graders. What the heck is up with you</b>

<b>people? You're going to</b>

<b>let 11 year olds beat you.</b>

<b>I would, I would, I just kind of pit them</b>

<b>back and forth with each other. I'm like,</b>

<b>come on. There's a pizza party on the</b>

<b>line. Do you want me to spend $200 on</b>

<b>pizza for you or not?</b>

<b>Right. So yeah, it was, it was kind of</b>

<b>funny. Yeah. So we are</b>

<b>coming to our end. We actually</b>

<b>a little bit over, but I want to do one</b>

<b>last thing. What's your one</b>

<b>tip for keeping your sanity</b>

<b>with assessments?</b>

<b>Whoever would like to start.</b>

<b>Andy, go ahead. Since you were out of</b>

<b>the, out of the chat</b>

<b>there for a little bit.</b>

<b>I'd say, and I'm not always good at doing</b>

<b>this, but I would say, just</b>

<b>make your plan for assessing</b>

<b>it like before. Right. Like I, if, if</b>

<b>you're going to assess something, like,</b>

<b>is it possible to do it</b>

<b>to a set, to grade it and enter the grade</b>

<b>in class while the kids</b>

<b>are doing so? And if so,</b>

<b>do that because just like, you know, I'm,</b>

<b>I'm very similar piles</b>

<b>of papers. They just like,</b>

<b>and I have this pile and then I moved the</b>

<b>pile on top of another pile</b>

<b>and then it gets under another</b>

<b>pile and it's just like piles. So if you</b>

<b>can simplify it, like</b>

<b>absolutely do. And if you can</b>

<b>make like little assessments, like if all</b>

<b>you care about assessing right now is</b>

<b>Sarah and the start,</b>

<b>it's okay to make a 10 question quiz,</b>

<b>like do they know the</b>

<b>difference? Do they not? And then just</b>

<b>get it instant feedback in class. Right.</b>

<b>But, but yeah, just, I think smaller,</b>

<b>smaller and quicker feedback is always</b>

<b>better. That's my thing.</b>

<b>What about you, Pat?</b>

<b>Well, like I said before,</b>

<b>from the moment they walk into the room</b>

<b>to the moment they leave the room,</b>

<b>they're being assessed.</b>

<b>Can they communicate with me? If the</b>

<b>answer is yes, then hey, they, you know,</b>

<b>win the prize for the</b>

<b>day. If they are sitting there with this</b>

<b>very confused look on their</b>

<b>face going, huh, then okay,</b>

<b>there's something I need to work on to</b>

<b>get them to that point. So from the</b>

<b>minute they walk into</b>

<b>the minute they leave, they're being</b>

<b>assessed. It's just</b>

<b>sometimes you've got to put something</b>

<b>in the book to keep the other people</b>

<b>happy in the school district. Yes. So you</b>

<b>do what you got to do</b>

<b>to keep your job. Absolutely. That's</b>

<b>right. And I will say for</b>

<b>myself is if it doesn't tell me</b>

<b>how well they can do the language,</b>

<b>whatever language it is,</b>

<b>it's not going in the gradebook.</b>

<b>So a notebook check doesn't tell me how</b>

<b>well they can do the language. That's</b>

<b>just putting a grade</b>

<b>in for a grade sake, and it doesn't tell</b>

<b>me how well they can do the</b>

<b>standards. So that doesn't go</b>

<b>in there. One of our teachers likes to do</b>

<b>the paper cut out flowers</b>

<b>in Mexican culture. They</b>

<b>make a little paper flowers. She wanted</b>

<b>to do that. She goes, I'm</b>

<b>all about that. I'm like,</b>

<b>that doesn't tell me how well they can do</b>

<b>the language. So it</b>

<b>doesn't go in the gradebook.</b>

<b>You're welcome to track those things.</b>

<b>Like I track the number</b>

<b>of words my kids write on a</b>

<b>quick write, but that doesn't tell me how</b>

<b>well they can do Spanish.</b>

<b>It just tells me how fast</b>

<b>they can write the words. The actual</b>

<b>using the rubric to evaluate</b>

<b>that quick write is where I</b>

<b>get the value of what it's of how well</b>

<b>they can do the language. And that's what</b>

<b>goes in the gradebook.</b>

<b>Typically my grades, I only have 15</b>

<b>grades per quarter in my</b>

<b>gradebook. I have three grades.</b>

<b>Well, actually, it's only 12 now because</b>

<b>I take it away. One of the</b>

<b>things I only assess listening,</b>

<b>reading, speaking and writing, and I</b>

<b>grade it three activities in each of</b>

<b>those. So going into</b>

<b>the final or the midterm, you'll have two</b>

<b>listening assessments,</b>

<b>two reading assessments,</b>

<b>two writing assessments and two speaking</b>

<b>assessments. And then</b>

<b>on the midterm or final,</b>

<b>they'll have that third one because it'll</b>

<b>have listening, reading,</b>

<b>writing and speaking on it.</b>

<b>I embed culture within those. So I don't</b>

<b>grade culture separately</b>

<b>anymore. I used to grade it</b>

<b>separately, but I don't. I embed it in</b>

<b>what I'm already doing. So</b>

<b>I learned that from IB. So I</b>

<b>embed it in what I'm doing and so I don't</b>

<b>assess it separately. So I</b>

<b>only have 12 big grades in my</b>

<b>gradebook that really determine what my</b>

<b>kids can do. Do I have</b>

<b>other grades in the gradebook</b>

<b>to make admin happy? I do. They're under</b>

<b>a category that is</b>

<b>worth zero. So it looks like</b>

<b>there's grades in the gradebook, but it</b>

<b>doesn't add or subtract to the grades</b>

<b>because those things</b>

<b>do not tell me whether or not they</b>

<b>understood or they did, they performed</b>

<b>any of the standards.</b>

<b>And I'm not for I have a friend who's</b>

<b>always about notebook checks. I'm like,</b>

<b>why? Why are you doing</b>

<b>notebook checks? I want to see if they're</b>

<b>organized or not. Well, just</b>

<b>walk around the room and you</b>

<b>can see if they're organized or not. And</b>

<b>you can pick out the kids who</b>

<b>aren't and you can help them</b>

<b>if they need help with that. But I'm not</b>

<b>going to collect all</b>

<b>these notebooks. Look at them,</b>