Making Peer Assessment Work in PE Clarifying what students look for can lead to feedback a partner can actually use. This is the third article in the four-part series Assessing Without Sacrificing Activity Time. In last week’s article, we looked at how stations can create opportunities to assess students more closely without stopping activity for everyone else. This week, we shift some of the assessment process beyond the teacher and look at how students can use clear criteria to assess a...
17 days ago • 5 min read
Assessing with Stations Using stations can help us assess smaller groups more closely while reaching most or all students in a single class. This is the second article in the four-part series Assessing Without Sacrificing Activity Time. In last week’s article, we looked at how focusing on a few students at a time can make it easier to gather useful information about their learning while students remain active. This week, we look at how stations can create opportunities to assess most or all...
24 days ago • 4 min read
Assessing a Few Students at a Time Narrowing our focus makes assessment more manageable and gives us a clearer picture of student learning. This is the first article in the four-part series Assessing Without Sacrificing Activity Time. The series grew out of a question I hear often from PE teachers: How can we assess student learning without losing valuable activity time? This week, we begin by looking at what changes when we focus our assessment attention on a few students at a time. You’ve...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Behaviours Matter in PE. But Should They Be Part of the Grade? A clearer way to support behaviours while keeping grades focused on learning For many PE teachers, the new school year is starting to feel a little closer. As we think about what we want our classes to look like, we are also making decisions about the expectations we will set, what we will pay attention to, and what will ultimately count when it comes to assessment and grading in our classes. Behaviours are often right in the...
2 months ago • 4 min read
The grade that almost ended my teaching What getting exposed in front of a mother taught me. Recently, I wrote about a grading conversation that changed the trajectory of a department I was leading. But, years earlier in my career, a different grading conversation almost made me quit teaching altogether. It was both the most infuriating experience of my career, and the one that changed me the most. But first, a little context. There is a good chance you know this feeling: you're sitting at...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Three Years of Talking, One Moment of Clarity What finally moved a stalled PE program, and what it might mean for you. Recently, we looked at grading in PE through the 4-part series, from determining a grade all the way back to the purpose of grading itself. Thank you to all for the messages, questions, and stories that were shared along the way. They made the experience of creating the series more than worthwhile and very eye opening for me. As many of you shared your past and current...
3 months ago • 5 min read
Why We Grade in PE The principle guiding the whole series. A quick note on what is inside. This is the final part of the series, where we step back to the purpose of grading. After the article, you will find the full series gathered in one place for easy access, along with a way to stay connected and go further into grading and assessment. This is the final article in our four-part series on grading in PE. In the previous article, we stepped back to consider what counts for grading, the...
4 months ago • 5 min read
What Counts for Grading in PE The decision that shapes the grade. By the time we sit down to determine a grade, the gradebook is already full. Last week we looked at how to organize and make sense of what is in it to help us determine a grade. But the information we use reflects a decision that is made much earlier, one that shapes everything that follows: what counts for grading? This week we will step back one stage before organizing our gradebooks to look at how we can consider what counts...
5 months ago • 5 min read
Organizing & Summarizing Learning in PE A grade is only as good as what is in the gradebook. This is the second article in the four-part series on grading in PE. In last week's article, we looked at how to determine a grade through professional judgment rather than a calculation. This week we step back one stage and look at how we organize and summarize evidence of learning, and how that shapes the grade we determine. Organizing and Summarizing Learning in PE Before we get to the point of...
5 months ago • 4 min read