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Two distinct concepts have come into my realm in the past week - and they both have something in common: nothing! Simply, this is the concept of "No More Zeros" when it comes to assessment and grading, and when it comes to productivity on a personal or professional level. NO ZEROS - at school To me, not assigning zeros on student work is a complicated and sometimes convoluted and misunderstood concept. Rather than giving away free marks to students, to me, a philosophy of No More Zeros means that students are provided with the opportunities to increase and ameliorate their marks. I do not believe that students should lose marks for distorting factors, such as handing in work late. Students might see a big ZERO in their online gradebook, but that doesn't mean they have zero understanding of the concept, or zero knowledge. In most cases, it means they didn't hand the work in! Who am I to determine this lack of engagement will equal a poor mark on a report card? Instead, shouldn't we be giving students the opportunity and experience to try, try again? Isn't that how we actually learn? “If you hand me an essay that’s really lousy, do I say ‘F, do better next time,’ or do I say ‘I’m not going to grade this. I expect a higher quality of work from you. I wrote comments on it. Let's set up a time, and we’re going to work on it together, and then I need you to turn it in next week,’” - Sarah Duncan No More Zero Days (Linked on Crackmacks) What’s a zero day? A zero day is when you don’t do a single thing towards whatever dream or goal or want or whatever that you got going on. No more zeros. I’m not saying you gotta bust an essay out everyday, that’s not the point. The point I’m trying to make is that you have to make yourself, promise yourself, that the new SYSTEM you live in is a NON-ZERO system. Didn’t’ do anything all day and it’s 11:58 PM? Write one sentence. One push up. Read one page of that chapter. One. Because one is non zero. You feel me? When you’re in the super vortex of being bummed your pattern of behaviour is keeping the vortex goin, that’s what you’re used to. Turning into productivity ultimate master of the universe doesn’t happen from the vortex. It happens from a massive string of CONSISTENT NON ZEROS. That’s rule number one. Do not forget. NO ZEROS - in work and in life I truly believe that in most cases "something is better than nothing". Doing one thing today is better than doing zero things! Of course, I think in general, we should set the bar higher for ourselves! But, it's not always possible, and it's not always ideal. We've hit a strange place, culturally. We've been in some sort of quarantine / isolation for a month now. Even if it hasn't been full on isolation, it's been a weird month. It's easy to have a few Zero Days in a row. Nobody is there to stop you. Many of us are able to continue working, but not everyone is. We all have families, partners, friends and neighbours who are becoming more and more accustom to Zero Days. Binging a whole series on Netflix doesn't really count anymore. So, are we getting ourselves, culturally and socially into a funk? That's why the concept of No More Zero Days is appealing to me. There is always something to work on, some project to start (or finish), some problem to solve, or some way to better yourself, your environment, or your family. Links about No Zero Grading Practices  Take good care,
-M
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11/16/2022 11:47:12 am
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