Welcome to the Modern Classrooms Project Podcast. Each week we bring you discussions with educators on how they use blended, self-paced, and mastery-based learning to better serve their learners. In this episode, Monte Woodard is joined by Sarah Hower, who shared insights into her innovative approach to grading and feedback within a Modern Classroom.

Sarah emphasized the importance of utilizing technology to streamline assessments while maintaining a strong focus on student learning. Sarah's approach involves a careful balance between automated and teacher-driven grading. She uses automated tools like Google Forms for formative assessments, providing immediate feedback to students. For deeper learning, she conducts mastery checks in person, engaging in one-on-one conversations with students to give them personalized feedback, which fosters stronger teacher-student relationships.

Here are the key takeaways from this podcast:

• Student Empowerment: Sarah's approach empowers students to take control of their learning. By providing self-paced resources and allowing retakes, students gain a deeper understanding of the material and learn from their mistakes.

• Parent Communication: Sarah highlights the importance of communicating her grading approach to parents. Her model encourages students to be proactive in discussing their progress, leading to fewer questions from parents about grades.

• Balancing Automation and Personalization: The blend of automated grading for formative assessments and personalized, in-person feedback for mastery checks strikes a balance between efficiency and effectiveness in grading.

Sarah's philosophy of feedback underscores her belief that good feedback should be timely and actionable. She states, "Good feedback is timely and quick, and it gives kids actions or things to improve on." Her innovative use of AI tools, like ChatGPT, in the future promises exciting possibilities for enhancing feedback and learning in the modern classroom. As she put it, "If it works, I feel like it's super cool."

Overall, Sarah's approach showcases the potential of modern technology in education, emphasizing student engagement, transparency with parents, and the continuous pursuit of improved learning experiences.

Discussion questions for PLC and PD: 

• How can educators strike a balance between automated grading tools and personalized feedback methods, as demonstrated by Sarah Hower, to enhance student learning and motivation in their classrooms?

• In Sarah's model, students are encouraged to take control of their learning through self-paced resources and retakes. How can teachers facilitate a classroom culture that empowers students to engage actively in their own learning and view mistakes as opportunities for growth?

• The role of technology, such as AI-driven tools like ChatGPT, is becoming increasingly prominent in education. What are some other innovative ways educators can harness technology to improve feedback, streamline grading, and create more personalized learning experiences for their students?

Our Host

Monte Woodard is a 6th and 8th-grade teacher at the Field School in Washington, DC, and Modern Classrooms Expert Mentor. She's taught in Georgia, Florida, and DC and has taught every branch of science in 6th-8th grade. In her free time, Monte loves reading, crocheting, and playing video games. 

Our Guest: Sarah Hower

• Connect with Sarah via email.

If you like what you hear in this episode, share it with a friend or subscribe to get updates when new podcasts are published.