Melissa D
@Dean_of_math
Disruptor of the Status Quo. Mathematics. Assessment and Grading Practices. Developing Inquiry Classroom. Always asking why. #codebreaker
Looking to book a chat? Here's my calendly! calendly.com/thelearninglab…
For those of you on IG, I’m developing a space dedicated to math instruction and assessment and grading, called the Math Teacher Assessment Hub. I’d love for you to join me! @themtah
Please don’t give a math test on the first day. Or in the first week. Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk.
If next year’s teacher had to use your grade book as a source of information about your students, what evidence of learning would they find?
You don’t have to carry a bag of marking around. You can assess learning evidence in real time.
We need to help students tell their story, and see that they are key components and contributors to the assessment practices within the classroom.
Yes, everything we do in a classroom could go wrong. But what about all the ways and times they go right? It's time to see our classrooms through an asset-based lens. If we don't, how will we ever see our learners this way?
It's not inquiry or explicit instruction. It's both/and. We need to to stop bringing this deficit mindset into our classrooms.
Hey teachers (especially Math teachers), what if I told you that you don't need to be worrying about 'half marks' and points when you're assessing? Now is the time to start reimagining what your assessment philosophy is all about.
"Start designing learning" Learning IS the job, not teaching, after all. Always has been.
Imagine with me for a moment: what if high school math could look more like primary math?
The mathematics classroom needs to move beyond compliance and procedures. It needs to move towards critical thinking, conversation, and messy ideas.
The best education does not prepare students for a test… or for a college… or for a job. It prepares them to keep learning.
Let's keep in mind that this depiction is MILES away from what actual structured, thoughtful inquiry learning is about.
I have an ambition to meme my way into informing people of Direct Instruction's superiority.
Students complete a major task or assessment. You read and create feedback. Return to students ASAP? Nope! I think there's one more step: creating a "feedback" lesson to walk them through it together before returning individual feedback:
Assessment is both a snapshot in time, and documentary in long form.
A slight change of wording is a quick win to ask more engaging questions. mathsbot.com/cpd
I must be a learner before I am the teacher. deanofmath.wordpress.com/2025/06/19/to-…