Teaching History with Mrs. Byars

If you've read my blog before, you know I mostly write about my experiences trying to reform grading practices in my traditional world history classroom in order to help increase equity and student motivation. Over the past few years, I have tried different formats of Standards-Based or Standards-Referenced learning and grading all within the limitations of a traditional online grade book and strict reporting windows. When I first started the grade reform journey I did not know I would end up going standards-based and what I eventually settled on was something called Reflective Standards-Based Grading . In this type of grading, you work towards learning objectives and students self-assess on those learning objectives with a clear rubric for each standard. They must provide evidence of mastery when they self assess which is typically classwork, quizzes, tests, essays, or projects. They turn this in for summative assessment and are given feedback if they do not achieve mastery ...

I was so lucky to attend a breakout by Jennifer Casa-Todd about Digital Leadership instead of Digital Citizenship. She is the author of the book SocialLEADia and an advocate for empowering students to use social media to share their voices with the world. I took my notes and tweets from her presentation and created this digital #sketchnote. It was the kind of session that made me feel like I had to do something right away because if I didn't, I was failing my students. Social Media allows students to experience all aspects of digital citizenship and 21st-Century skills. If we as teachers are supposed to develop these skills, why are we not using social media in class? No longer can we stand behind a lecture on digital citizenship or a video, students need to go out there and try things in an environment where they will be supported. Let students be online in a way where we raise them up and celebrate their success and help them learn and grow from their mistakes. We can...