There has to be more to it than this. Tell me there’s more to it. I can’t do this anymore.

When I first started Project 180, I wanted to see what would happen when I took grades off the table. Would kids do? Would kids learn? So, I took a risk to find out. We started the year with an “A” in hand and 180 days ahead of us. 

Kids did. And kids learned.

Now, two-and-a-half years into Project 180, I am still taking risks, steering away from the status quo and challenging convention. I no longer hand kids an A on day one (in truth, I never intended to stay at the far end of that pendulum swing), but I do differently by providing a select-and-support approach to grading, an approach that still swings far from the other end (traditional grading), allowing learning not grading to be at the center of our work.

What does that look like? Hard to put a finger on it. Looks and sounds a little different each day. Some days it’s as quiet as a church. Other days it’s as noisy as a stadium. And most days it’s up to the kids. I give them freedom because I want their commitment. It’s their learning, not mine. Some would suggest that we cannot give sixteen-year-olds such freedom, that they are too young to make the right kind of choices and thus need guidance through compliance. I don’t buy that. I don’t want that. I don’t want my kids to comply because such an end suggests a forcing, and I believe we cannot force kids to grow. Oh, I think we can–and most do–drive them with carrots and sticks along the way, but I am not convinced that results in much more than a going-through-the-motions experience for our kids where they “learn” it and leave it on a test and we smack a grade on it and call it learning. I am not interested in their compliance. I am interested in their commitment. And while I have yet to discover the way to do this. I am looking–every day–for a way. 

Last Friday, I shared this message with my kids. 

That is what I want for and from my kids. Is it an easy place I live? Certainly not, doubt taunts me daily. But I cannot go back. I have seen to much good to go back to the one-size-fits-all madness of standardization. And as I face the challenges from such a formidable force, I will stand fast in my belief that the better path is humanization in education. That’s my commitment.

Today’s Trail

Along today’s trail we will experience…

…reconnecting through Smiles and Frowns.

…preparing and rehearsing answers for our Truth Project interviews.

…reflecting in our Journey Journals.

…hearing a Sappy Sy Rhyme.

Happy Monday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.