ALL ABOARD THE

KNOWLEDGE EXPRESS

WOOT WOOT! Welcome to a new way of looking at the classroom and a new way
to learn. Were going to be doing something totally different in our calculus
classroom. You arent going to get two or three tests which determine your
quarter grade. You arent going to see scores like 82% which, if you think about
it, dont tell you a whole lot about what you know and what you dont know. For
once in your schooling lives, youre going to have a lot more control over things .
Things? you ask?
Yeah, I mean you are finally in the drivers seat.

PRELUDE: THE PROBLEM WITH GRADES

Ive been doing a lot of thinking about grades, and to me, there are a couple
things that strike me as a teacher as a little bit absurd.
1. You take a test on, say, trigonometry. You get a 73% on it. I put that in my
gradebook. What does that 73% tell me as a teacher, or you as a student?
Does it mean that you know 73% of the material? Probably not. Does it
mean that you are really weak in one area and strong in a few others? Who
knows! Does it mean that you made a bunch of algebraic errors, but
understood the concepts? Yo no se!
2. Lets say I give you a test and things just werent going your way. You know,
one of those off days, and you froze up. Or you fell asleep studying the night
before. Or you thought you knew the stuff but it turned out you didnt. Or
(and this has happened to me) you totally forgot there was a test. And you
bombed. I return the test to you, and you sigh, maybe cry, maybe shrug
your shoulders. Then life goes on. Lets be honest here. Do you go back
and relearn the things you didnt know?
I thought not. But as a math lover, that hurts. My heart breaks a little.

I dont want grades to be a stick I dont want you to be scared of

them. I want grades to be a carrot a motivator. And I want them
to mean something.

OUR SOLUTION TO GRADES Standards Based

Grading
At some point during a unit, youll get a list of skills that were learning.
In the past, here are some of the skills weve covered, so you can understand
what they look like.
(1) Perform a sign analysis for a rational function
(2) Sketch the basic shape of a rational function
(3) Identify an equation for a rational function given a sketch of the function
(4) Explain clearly what a hole and an asymptote are
(5) Identify the equations of basic piecewise functions given simple piecewise
graphs
(6) Sketch the graph of a piecewise function given the piecewise equation
Youll also get a grade sheet that looks like this for you to keep track of your
grades:

Every so often we will have an assessment. Sometime a short one during class,
sometimes a longer one that takes the whole period. These are going to be
assessments, asking you to do a handful of problems on a few skills. On

each of these skills, youll get a score from 0 to 5, representing how well you know
each skill (there is a rubric in this packet).

So after the first assessment, your grade sheet might look like this:

(And thats exactly what my gradebook will look like too.)

Your skill grade is calculated by totaling your points and dividing that by the total
possible points. Currently your skill grade is (1+4+5+3+4.5)/(5+5+5+5+5)=70%
But crust! You really messed up on Skill #1. And you feel like you made a silly
algebraic error on Skill 5 and you really can do better. YEEEEARGH
But heres where the magic comes in. Lets say you arent happy with your scores
for Skills #1 and #5 and want to improve them.

No problem! As a teacher, Im all for you showing me youve learned

something. My heart swells! It almost bursts!
You can re-assess any skill ONCE to show me you understand it better. You just
have to send me an email (see below for details) and if youve done enough work
to show me you truly can and do understand the topic better, you can re-assess 1!
Its a privilege that has to be earned, but something I want you to do!
(Occasionally Ill let you reassess a skill twice, but you have to give me
justification for this.)
The point of this is: I want you to succeed. I am on your side.
1 You can reassess up to two skills each week on Friday if you are approved.

So lets look at what happens!

Lets say you worked really hard, and you figured out what youre doing! On the
reassessment, you earned a 4.5 on Skill #1 and a 4 on Skill #5.

Guess what? You showed me you figured it out. You put in the hard work and now
you get it. As a teacher, I want to reward that! So yes, I dont care about that 1.
You now have a 4.5. (However, and this is important for you to understand your
score for Skill 5 is now a 4 The last score is the one that counts, because thats
the most current level of understanding you have of the topic! This isnt a freebee
system You have to show me you know and can retain your understanding. In
other words, yes, your score can go down.)
But now, lets look at your grade. It is (4.5+4+5+3+4)/(5+5+5+5+5)=82%.
In general, you want to be getting 4s and 5s (showing fairly good to solid mastery
of the skills) to be in the B/A range.
Back to our example. What if you reassessed Skill #4 after working a lot of
practice problems and talking things over with a friend and you got a 5 on it.
Then your skill sheet will look like:

 and your grade will be (4.5+4+5+5+4)/(5+5+5+5+5)=90%.

You can reassess until around week before the quarter ends. (Ill announce the
exact date in class.)
For example, you can reassess skills in Quarter 1 until November 1 st.
In short, were going to have a bunch of smaller assessments, which will test
specific skills. Your latest grade stands. If you arent content with your score, you
can always reassess individual skills to show that you really do get it.

THE MEANING OF GRADES

In this new system, the standard grades have a very specific meaning. You will be
allowed to apply reassess at any point in the quarter (barring the last week or so).
So at the end of the quarter, your skill grade will reflect simply two things: your
most recent mastery of the skills.

I dont want to be the teacher who gives all As. But heck, I want to
be the teacher who has students who earn all As.

RUBRIC
Your solution shows that you have totally mastered the skill or concept involved,
meaning that you have demonstrated a full understanding of the concepts involved,
have clearly shown all steps of your reasoning, have used notation correctly, have
organized your work neatly and logically on the page according to the standards
expected by mathematicians around the world, have written exemplary and clear prose, and
have made no algebraic errors. (A 4.5 will be awarded if there is a very small error in
computation.)

Your solution shows that you have a good grasp of the skill or concept involved, meaning that
you have demonstrated a strong understanding of the concepts involved, however you made

some minor error OR you failed to present your work in a neat and organized manner
according to the standards expected by mathematicians around the world. A minor
error would be something like (i) not showing all steps of your reasoning, (ii) not using
notation or vocabulary in a consistent and appropriate way, (iii) not writing your
mathematics in clear academic language, and/or (iv) making a small error in computation.

Your solution shows that you have some conceptual understanding of the skill or
concept involved, but have not thoroughly mastered it, meaning you have made one
or more major errors such as (i) not completely answering the question, (ii) showing
confused reasoning, (iii) not using consistent notation, (iv) writing muddled prose,
and/or (v) making multiple errors in computation.

Your solution shows that you have a minimal conceptual understanding of the skill or
concept involved, but are still unsure about basic aspects of the topic, meaning you
have made one or more major errors such as (i) not completely answering the
question, (ii) showing confused reasoning, (iii) not using consistent notation, (iv)
writing muddled prose, and/or (v) making multiple errors in computation.

1
0

Your solution shows that you have a very weak understanding of the skill or concept
involved, meaning you may have confused reasoning, poor prose, and/or one or more
serious errors in computation.
You left the problem blank, or have nothing of substance written.

THE PROCESS FOR REASSESSMENT

1. Work on improving your understanding the skills you didnt do as well as
youd like on. Do old homework problems, work with another student, meet
with me, whatever!2
2. Fill out the reassessment application email (a blank version is on the course
conference fill it out) with the details about one or two skills you want to
reassess. (You cant reassess more than two skills at a time.)
If you want to reassess on Fridays E or F band study hall, or
extended break, you have to email me by Tuesday at 5pm.
Howdy Mr. Shah,
I would really like to reassess Skill #___.
The reasons I think I didnt do well on that skill are [list the reasons, and also what
your misconception was, IN DETAIL]:
[list reasons here]

2 Theres only one thing. You cant reassess the same day you meet with me. I dont want you
just parroting what we talked about. I want to make sure you really understand the material,
independent of me!

Since the assessment, I have done the following specific things to make sure I
understand the skill [BE SPECIFIC... include who you worked with, how long you
worked with them, what problems you practiced, etc.]:
[list the different things you did to work on the skill]
[If you want to reassess a second skill, copy the above and fill it in for each skill.]
Would it be possible to reassess the skill(s) during Study Hall on this upcoming
Friday [pick one and delete the other: extended break / E band / F band]?
[IMPORTANT REMINDER: To reassess on Friday, you must send me the email by
Tuesday before 5pm.][Also, if you cannot reassess during extended break or E
band, please explain why (clubs are not a legit excuse) and write down your frees
for Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday.]
Always a devoted math student,
[your name]

If you have shown me youve done concrete things to fix your misunderstandings,
Ill approve the application email and off you go to study hall! Every so often, I
may ask you to bring your completed, corrected homework and your class notes
for me to see before letting you to re-assess.
3. Thats all. Youre done! Your score on this reassessment is your current score
for your skills.

FINE POINTS
1. You cant reassess more than 2 skills at once.
2. If you want to reassess a particular skill more than once, you need special
permission. You need to sit down with me to talk about what happened the
first time you reassessed.
3. You can reassess any skill until about a week before the end of the quarter. I
will give you the exact date each quarter. (Thats just to allow me enough
time to grade and enter all the scores in the gradebook.)
4. Watch out for days when we dont have school on Fridays. Clearly you cant
reassess those days.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU

This new grading system has about a gazillion advantages to it. And hopefully its
going to take the stress out of testing, and put the focus on really learning the
material. At the same time, with the independence that this class is going to give
you, it will force you to be responsible.

I suspect the biggest challenge will be keeping up with the work nightly, and
studying for assessments.
Picture this. Youre at home, its 11pm, and you have to do an intense biology
packet (or study for a European history test, or well, you get the picture) and
study for a calculus assessment. You think ah, well, Ill figure it out later really, I
promise myself I will! I must! The calculus assessment comes about and you get a
few things, but you bomb a few things, and you think hey, I can just reassess. But
the work of senior year keeps piling on, and you have already made some gaps in
your understanding, and you can only reassess a couple skills at a time.
Youre digging a hole for yourself, and you keep putting things off, thinking oh, I
can deal with it later. I can reassess it again. Later. Itll all work out.
It wont.
Youre going to learn that doing your work every night, and studying for
assessments, are the two most important actions you can take to succeed in
calculus.
You might not believe me, and want to tempt fates well, so Ill just say: with
freedom comes great responsibility.