ROOTED Newsletter: May/June 2022

I started to write the newsletter about grades and grading. It was the end of the semester, and I thought it might be a time to simply offer up some encouragement about how to free yourself from the burden of producing grades for your classes.

Then, May 24th happened.

(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

I really don't have words to describe how I felt on that day. A couple of weeks later, and we're now getting congressional testimony from survivors and pediatricians and others in the Uvalde community.

It's all too much, to be honest.

As the United States navigates another spate of mass shootings, as we once again mourn the lack of safety in our schools, as we hear the calls for gun reform and the accompanying cries of "don't politicize the second amendment" interjected between "thoughts and prayers," I can't bring myself to publish that piece on grades and grading.

It'll just have to wait for another time.

This Month on ROOTED

Back in May, Jared wrote an excellent, though-provoking piece on mindsets:

Deep Belief, Shallow Mindsets, and Surface Behavior – An Instructional Coach Ponders the Usefulness of Talking about Mindsets

It’s afternoon, the end of the school day, and faculty are getting ready for a weekly workshop while students scurry out the building. The session that day focused on un-grading—specifically as it relates to formative assessments for learning. The behavior or practice being discussed was whether or…

ROOTEDJared Colley

From Around the Web

I'm going to suspend our typical "around the web" segment for this issue so that we can focus on what to do for the people of Uvalde. Here are some helpful resources:

GoFundMe has a hub set up for Uvalde. This is one of the more heartbreaking things to see.
LULAC has also created a fund.

In addition, you might consider listening to this episode of This American Life:

The Parents Step In - This American Life

The government isn’t doing much to prevent school shootings. So parents are jumping in — and getting results.

This American Life

The episode looks at parents impacted by mass shootings — Aurora and Sandy Hook — and gives insight into the fallout from these shootings. Yes, there's heartache and grief and all of the things you'd expect. But the consequences are so much greater and so much more frustrating than you might imagine.

About

ROOTED Monthly is a fresh collection of posts, links, and ideas about teaching. Please feel free to forward this newsletter or ask friends to subscribe. We'd love to reach a larger audience, especially if it will be helpful to any educators out there. Lastly, we would love to feature your voice on ROOTED. If you have an idea for an article, please go to our submissions page and get in touch with us.