Morning, all. Project 180 will officially get underway in less than a week. And while I am excited about this new adventure, I would be less than honest if I didn’t also share that I am scared. And that anxiety makes me live in my head, thinking a lot about the possibilities of success and failure, especially failure. Of late, I have been thinking quite a bit about the number of conversations that I will likely be engaged in as others ask me about what I am doing, and why I am doing it. Here are some of my rehearsed responses as to the why, in no particular order.  Thought I would share.

• I want to learn.

• I want to see if kids will learn without traditional grades.

• I want to see if kids can learn better without traditional grades.

• I want to challenge conventional thinking.

• I want to challenge the status quo.

• I want the focus in my classroom to be learning, not grading.

• I got tired of playing the grade game.

• I want to call attention to the absence of any real foundation for traditional grading practices.

• I want to expose the incredible amount of autonomy that teachers have over their grading practices.

• Am I not entitled to the same autonomy as every other teacher?

• I believe education has to change.

• I believe true motivation is intrinsic.

• I think learning is a process, a long process in which different learners arrive at different stages at different times, and our traditional practices don’t honor this. In fact, I think our traditional practices unwittingly punish this.

• I believe students must take ownership of their learning, and I believe this happens through commitment, not compliance.

• I have to face 20 years of doubt and misgivings about my own grading practices. I can no longer ignore the haunt of those ghosts.

• I want to grow.

Happy Friday.