Chad Husting presented in a ChemEd X Talk on February 9, 2021, and spoke about how he has transitioned to standards based grading during a pandemic! He shared some tips that have solved many of the problems that teachers struggle with including having a mix of face to face and virtual students and keeping up with late work, make-up work and missing assignments! You can watch the edited recording of Chad's Talk below.
ChemEd X Talk Recording: Edited video of Chad's ChemEd X Talk - (2/11/2021)
Recommended Resources for Standards Based Grading
At the beginning of the Talk, Chad mentioned he is appreciative of many that have shared resources about their experience with standards based grading. He said that he has learned a lot from Lauren Stewart who has served as a ChemEd X lead contributor for several years. Check out Lauren's blog. Robert Marzano was another person he mentioned. There are many ways to access Marzano's resources as he has published many books and offers professional development. A quick internet search offers a variety of both fee based and free resources.
Participants in the Talk also offered resources
- Thomas Guskey
- Lee Ann Jung
- Cathy Vatterott
- Emily Rinkema
- Stan Williams
- The Standards Based Classroom by Rinkema and Williams
Additional Q & A
Aside from questions that Chad answered in the video, he followed up on a few questions we were not able to get to below.
Question: I’m curious about your limiting students to a 8.5 on a redo as their max grade. Why limit them?
Chad’s response: We have some students who would do poorly on the first assessment on purpose to have extra time or ideas for the second. This encourages them to try to take the first one seriously.
Question: This seems like it would work well in a high school or even a middle school situation. What do you think about using it for higher education (for a non-majors … Intro to College Chemistry class)?
Chad's Response: I used to teach as an adjunct at a junior college and I do think it would work.
Question: Do you provide students with details of what they should do to exceed expectations before hand?
Chad's Response: I am trying to do this more and more. I try to pass out the rubric, examine the assignment and then start a discussion on what they think the “higher order thinking” questions are that they would need to complete to get “Exceed”. It is a bit challenging but I think I am getting better at it. Like anything, it just takes practice and a slightly different way of thinking.
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To find the schedule of future ChemEd X Talks as well as more recordings of previous Talks, see the ChemEd X Talks schedule.
About Chad
In spring of 2020, Chad was named Virtual Teacher of the Year at Sycamore High School where he teaches high school chemistry and this year he was one of the top 20 screencastify creators in his district. Chad has created over 200 YouTube videos on topics in chemistry and is CK-12 certified. He holds a master's degree in organic chemistry and he also completed a 3 year training program with Project TIMU at Miami University that culminated with a published paper on assessment, Using Teacher Action Research in High School Chemistry to Develop Novel Assessment Tools. Have you ever done a "zero G" flight? Chad has! He has taken part in some of the same training astronauts experience while he was working on an experiment in zero g!