$35.00
This 4-hr virtual professional development will take you from uncertain to CONFIDENT as you determine your assessment strategy and grading policy for the entire school year.
“Rebecca is a very motivating teacher. I looked forward to watching her videos and learning how to simplify my teaching life. Since the pandemic, I have been feeling very overworked and am constantly working outside of school just to keep up with the demands of the job. With this course I learned how to lessen the amount of grading that I do which is the part of my job that I constantly am bringing home. I am going into this school year with a better mindset and can't wait to try out her strategies in the classroom! This course is totally worth the investment in time and money! My eyes have been opened to the possibilities of regaining my time outside the classroom to do things that I want to do and to not feel guilty about it.”
The goal of this mini-course is to equip you to determine your grading policy and assessment strategy for the entire school year. To do this, we will cover everything you’ve ever wondered about grading fairly and assessing students in a way that truly demonstrates their understanding. We will talk about the different types of assessments you can use, the different ways you can actually grade those assessments, and how to set up your grade book. I share grading hacks, how I assess my students daily without exhausting myself, alternative summative assessment ideas to ensure you are reaching every diverse learner in your classroom, and ideas for student-centered review days to take the pressure off of you!
At the end of this course, you will have a set grading policy and a grading plan that will be fair and authentic for your students, but also sustainable for you. You will have an entire toolbox of strategies to majorly decrease the time you spend grading so that you never have to bring a stack of lab reports home again.
This mini-course is the sixth “unit” in my comprehensive Secondary Science Simplified® virtual PD bundle. To check out the full bundle with over 15 hours of virtual professional development, click here.
Course highlights:
Grading Philosophy, Types of Assessments, Minimizing Time, Daily Assessments, Nontraditional Summative Assessments, and Review Days (30-60 min each, 4 hours total of video content)
(1) CER Signs, (2) RADAR Signs, and (3) Rubric Starter Pack folder with 7 editable rubrics
11-page printable PDF
Use this as evidence of your commitment to continuing education for your admin or district!
After going through the checkout page, you will receive a link to click and download a zip file of all of the resources included.
When unzipped, the folder includes:
It will take *4 hours to watch all of the video content (broken down into 6 separate video lessons).
However, at the end of each lesson, I give suggested “homework” and reflection questions for you to walk through. If you do all of the homework and use the support documents as recommended, it will most likely take you an additional 1-2 hours to work through it all.
*Note: The hours on the PD certificate included reflect only the time spent on the video lessons, as the additional time it will take to do the rest of the content will vary by teacher. Thus for consistency’s sake, all PD certificates included in my virtual PD courses are based on the amount of video content included.
It does not. All of the instructional content is delivered as pre-recorded videos on YouTube. This allows you the flexibility to work ENTIRELY at your OWN PACE and to consume the content whenever it best fits into YOUR schedule!
I totally get that, which is EXACTLY why I created a free virtual PD mini-course you can try out first before making an investment in this one!
My Labs When Limited mini-course is entirely free and designed to equip teachers who feel like they have limited time, resources, space, and energy to execute labs. It is set up exactly like this mini-course is so you can see the style before you invest!
In addition, if you find value in this smaller free course, you will ABSOLUTELY find value in this one!
Still unsure? Check out my free podcast for secondary science teachers here! This will help you discern if you like my teaching style as well.
I of course cannot speak for ALL schools and districts, but from my personal experience (and what I’ve heard from many, many teachers I’ve become connected with through It’s Not Rocket Science®), most PD opportunities provided by the district are not created by people with any classroom experience and are rarely relevant or applicable to what you are doing in your classroom. Many PD opportunities that are provided by the school are generic and not specific to being a secondary science teacher.
Oftentimes I found that these types of PD courses ADDED to my load rather than lessening it.
THIS course, however, was written BY a secondary science teacher FOR secondary science teachers.
Everything in it is PRACTICAL and MANAGEABLE. No theories or hypothetical examples that are completely unrealistic. Every example will be from my own experiences, with my own unpredictable students. Every strategy and system will be one I have actually used myself – both in a public high school and in a private school. I’ve been in your shoes and thus you can count on this course, and all my others, to be authentic and practical.
One of the biggest complaints I hear from other secondary science teachers if how much they have to grade. It is too much to keep up with on top of lesson planning, classroom management, lab prep, and you know, actually teaching. What I’ve found, though, in these conversations is that most teachers have never had the time or instruction for how to determine an intentional grading philosophy, with sustainable parameters and a fair grading policy.
We will cover philosophy, parameters, and policy in this class so that you can ensure (1) that you are fairly and accurately assessing your students, and (2) keeping the amount you have to collect and grade reasonable and manageable.
If you’ve ever questioned how best to set up your grade book, how much your should be grading or not, and how to ensure you are reaching every students in your classroom and providing them with enough opportunities to show what they know to you, then this course is for you.
*Note: This mini-course does not cover standards-based grading in detail. I do address SBG and many of the principles and philosophies shared will transfer to SBG but do know it isn’t specific to standards-based grading.
I am always hesitant to recommend anything to teachers outside of my wheelhouse. ALL of my teaching experience has been as a high school science teacher (with the exception of a few sections of 8th grade physical science a few years at the small private school I taught in.) Because of this, all of the information taught in my courses will be delivered from that perspective. I am confident that my resources will serve high school science teachers.
I think if you are a middle school science teacher, a lot of this would still apply to you. However, please know that I am not a middle school science teacher, so some of the strategies I suggest might not work for the age of your students.
If you are a non-science high school teacher, I think a lot of this content would work for you, however, (1) every example I use is specific to secondary science teachers, and (2) I do talk about labs and other very science-specific topics that will be irrelevant to you.
If you are NOT a secondary science teacher and are still interested, I recommend first checking out my free podcast and seeing if you find value in it. If you do, then I think you could still find value in this mini-course.
YES! As soon as you purchase the mini-course you will immediately receive a link that you can click to download a zip file. The zip file contains a folder that holds all of the resources and video links.
Due to the nature of digital resources, I cannot accept refund requests for any courses or resources that have been downloaded. This is because you cannot “return” the resources you purchased once you’ve downloaded them (like you can return a shirt you purchased and decide you don’t like.)
This is why I urge you to email me at rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com with any questions you have prior to purchasing so that I can help you determine if this mini-course is a good fit for you or not.
To read my full refund policy and the terms & conditions for this mini-course, click here.
YES! This course is a part of my comprehensive Secondary Science Simplified® virtual PD bundle. If you would like to purchase the full SSS bundle (which gives you a 20% discount on all of my virtual PD), email me at rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com with your Order # for this course and I will make you a custom coupon code to use when you purchase the bundle that will take off the $35 price of this mini-course off so that you aren’t having to pay for it twice!
If you are not interested in the full Secondary Science Simplified® bundle and just want to take another mini-course like this one, check out the others I have:
YES! You can find all of the information for how to purchase with a purchase order here.
Absolutely! However, each teacher taking the course will need to purchase their own license in order to take the course. All licenses are nontransferable, and good for 1 teacher for personal use. However, I do offer a multiple license discount!
Email me at rebecca@itsnotrocketscienceclassroom.com with your name and email, and the names and emails of your coworkers and I will send each of you a 10% off coupon code to use at checkout.
Click here to read all of the terms & conditions of this course. If you want the abbreviated version, below is a summary of what you may or may not do.
You may:
You may NOT:
YES! If you purchase this course today you get IMMEDIATE access to a zip folder with:
$35.00
