Rethinking Homework and Grading

I am going to take a risk and offer a class to our teachers at my school.  The University of North Dakota allows qualified individuals to offer continuing education credits.  The district  will purchase the books and pay for the credit cost as well.  It is my sneaky way to get a small pocket of people to begin challenging their homework and grading practices.  Hopefully it will spread from there.  Below is an example of what the course will look like.  I hope to embed blogging and Twitter chats for opportunities for reflection.  It is a win win in my opinion.

My objective:

This learning event will provide focused professional development for individuals in our school.  This will be by volunteer only.  We will read “RethinkingHomework,” by Cathy Vatterrott and “Elements of Grading” by Doug Reeves.  The participants will blog and reflect on what they have read and how it challenges their thinking as well as how this will this change what they do.  This will be offered over the course of a school year with the intent of completing all required hours during that time.  The two books that we will read, discuss and write about are fairly radical and will really challenge each participant’s philosophy in terms of grading and homework.   

Example Session #1
Start Time	Rethinking Homework - Discussion	Mike McNeff
7:00AM – 8:00AM	Discussion of Chapters 1-2	Masters – EDL Ed.D Cohort	1 Hour
1 hour	Twitter discussion related to topic	Masters – EDL Ed.D Cohort	1 Hour
1 hour	Blogging: reflection on Chapter 1-2	Masters – EDL Ed.D Cohort	1 Hour

I plan to write about the process when approved by UND.