#ive thought for years one partial solution is to have multiple rubrics for the same projects

[uspspspsps]

(I swear I don't mean this combatively, but I'm not sure if it's possible to phrase it in a way that won't come across as somewhat antagonistic) how do you back this up with your grading policies? As a kid, we would read articles in class every few years abt how the american education system fucks kids up by teaching us that struggle is the opposite of learning rather than a fundamental part, and how our fear of failure was holding us back-- and then we'd just move on, as if telling us not to be anxious abt our grades was a sufficient solution to the incentive structures that gave us that anxiety. I was lucky enough to have very chill parents who didn't push me, I think the "gifted kid" path I ended up on did me more good than harm, but I knew my whole childhood that the goal of my participation in the K-12 education system was to (1) get into a good college and (2) get enough scholarships to afford it. Compared to other kids in my position I probably had a healthier relationship to school, but I didn't need people telling me I was a failure for getting a B to feel the stress of an imagined future slipping away from me. Getting into college is an arms race, and kids know it. It's all well and good to say it's OK to make mistakes (i mean that sincerely! it's definitely better than nothing), but if they're still penalized for it, telling them not to care about the penalty doesn't fix the problem.

Day 1 with my students every semester is so essential because I’ve got to get it imprinted on their brains IMMEDIATELY that you can fuck up it’s brave to fuck up this is a safe space for fucking up dare I say fucking up is essential for learning