It's OK to get messy!

One thing I've realized about the move to formative assessments and assessment literacy is that it's really messy and things don't always work out the way you wanted them to.  There are false starts and failed attempts.  And, there is no perfect time to get started without unraveling many perfectly good assignments and lessons.  That's scary and uncomfortable.  But I also know firsthand the benefits to students when I know (and students know) where they are in their learning and I can respond quickly to misunderstanding.  And I know for sure that a wider swath of students is buying into my teaching, and that feels good.  So, that means that I'm trying new formative things this year when I can, often adapting things on my drive into work. There is no master plan. The results are not always pretty!

I'm trying something new over the next couple days in Rhetoric.  Inspired by Catlin Tucker's blog post on "Stop Grading at Home," and her "Station Rotation Model,"  I've been experimenting with ways to provide feedback (and grade) kids live in class.  I've been wanting to do it all year, have tried a couple things that have been too cumbersome, and only now, with trepidation, am I taking the full plunge.  I'm excited, and I expect that some things will go well and others will be a mess.  

And that's why I'm writing now.  I know that you might feel like assessment literacy is daunting and intimidating.  I know that teachers, as a rule, like things to be planned and outcomes to be predictable; we like the tried and true.  So, in case I haven't made this clear before: I'd like to give you "official" permission to experiment with assessment literacy and permission to fail.

Try. Experiment. Attempt. Jump in. Take a stab at it. Give it a go.   Use your classroom as you might use a science lab, with a well thought-out experimentation plan and a means for analyzing and evaluating the results. It's okay if you blow something up.  It’s okay when your plan fails.  In fact, that's where the learning happens.