Episodes

  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 6: If You Build It, They Will Grow

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 6: If You Build It, They Will Grow
    Jan 23 2025
    TRANSCRIPT: Opening: Welcome back to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Over the past five episodes, we’ve journeyed through the art and science of building meaningful criteria. We’ve explored backward design, unpacked standards using Bloom’s taxonomy, created task-neutral criteria, refined them with quality language, added “This means that…” to ensure clarity for students and teachers alike, and made them first person so students see themselves in the assessment. Now, in our final episode of this series, we’re looking at what comes next. We’ll explore how your criteria can drive meaningful learning experiences while empowering students to take ownership of their progress…because “If You Build It, They Will Grow!” ________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: We have beautiful criteria. Now what? Criteria aren’t just for you to assess students—they’re for teaching, self-assessment, portfolios, communication and more! But it begins with this criteria. In speaking with educators’ things like retakes and redos, self-assessment, portfolio building and supporting students with disabilities have been difficult to manage. But guess what? The criteria you’ve built can now support you with all of these things! ________________________________________ Let’s Break It Down 1. Make Criteria the Heart of Teaching: Criteria are not just an endpoint—they form the foundation for planning, instruction, and assessment. o Design intentional tasks: Learning tasks should align directly with the skills and understandings outlined in the criteria. This ensures that students engage in activities that build toward proficiency rather than just completing unrelated tasks. o Let go or refabricate old tasks: Move away from activities that no longer serve the criteria. Redesign tasks to focus on developing skills and understandings that align with the criteria, ensuring every task has purpose and relevance. o Repurpose old rubrics and checklists: While these tools may no longer be central to assessment, they can support students in organizing their work and meeting task-specific expectations. However, they should not override the broader purpose of teaching to the criteria. o Emphasize skill-building over task completion: Shift the focus from completing assignments to developing and refining skills over time. 2. Feedback That Moves Learning Forward: Clear criteria simplify feedback, making it specific, actionable, and focused on growth. o Align feedback with criteria: Because the criteria are clear, strengths and areas for improvement often emerge directly from the criteria itself. This clarity ensures that feedback is targeted, meaningful, and easy for students to understand. o Celebrate progress and identify next steps: Feedback should both affirm accomplishments and highlight specific areas for continued growth, helping students focus on actionable steps to improve. o Incorporate feedback into learning: Feedback should not be a one-time event but an ongoing process that supports students as they refine their understanding and skills over time. 3. Support Students with Disabilities and Diverse Needs: Criteria create clear grade-level expectations while providing opportunities to meet students where they are by designing “windows” that guide them toward the criteria. o Illuminate and celebrate every level: Meeting students “where they are” does not mean pushing them to the next level immediately. Instead, it means creating pathways that highlight and celebrate their current level of achievement. o Design windows to the criteria: Windows are more than scaffolding; they provide accessible steps leading up to the criteria, allowing students to see the connections between where they are and where they can go. o Tailor next steps purposefully: Supporting students’ progress could mean helping a pre-level 1 student build foundational skills to reach level 1, assisting a level 3 student to move to level 4, or ensuring a level 4 student maintains their mastery. o Build confidence through recognition: By celebrating every level, students gain the confidence to embrace their learning journey. 4. Empower Students Through Self-Assessment: Clear criteria and “This means that” statements give students the confidence to reflect on their learning in meaningful ways. o Clarity builds confidence: The “This means that” statements provide students with a clear understanding of what the criteria look like in action, helping them accurately reflect on their progress. o Self-assessment supports reflection, not control: Self-assessment doesn’t mean students are in charge of determining their level, but it does allow them to speak confidently about their strengths, areas for improvement, and next steps. o Foster ownership of learning: By guiding students through self-assessment, you help them take an active role in ...
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    15 mins
  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 5 - To boldly build criteria where no one has gone before

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 5 - To boldly build criteria where no one has gone before
    Jan 23 2025
    TRANSCRIPT: Opening: Welcome back to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Over the past four episodes, we’ve unpacked backward design, explored standards, and crafted criteria that are both task-neutral and detailed. Now, we need To boldly build criteria where no one has gone before. Hyperbole aside, we need to take those to the next level by refining them to be student-centered and accessible. It’s good, but how can we make it great? ________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: 1) Writing criteria in third person—“Students will be able to…” can feel teacher-centric, even when task-neutral and strength-based. True it is our responsibility to assess students and use our professional judgment, but what if we shifted to first-person language? Could this small change help students take a more active role in assessment, build confidence, and foster ownership of their learning? What if we thought about criteria not just as something the teacher uses only but something that invites students into the process, which could help them move from compliance to authentic engagement. What if first person language helps students see the purpose and relevance of their learning. 2) What if we make sure our criteria is accessible, meaningful and clear to not just us but our students– couldn’t that bridge some of the gaps that even the most thoughtfully written criteria leaves? When looking at criteria, students often ask, “What does this mean?” or “I get that you have expectations, but what do I actually need to do?”—questions we can address with clear, actionable language like “This means that…” It translates criteria into steps that guide students toward standards with confidence and clarity. ________________________________________ Let’s revisit our Hiking 101 course and the standard: “Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” We’ve already crafted criteria for four levels of proficiency. Now, we’re adding some clarifying “this means that” language. Then we’ll put it all into first-person language. I’m going to work through this slowly so you can follow along. ________________________________________ Level 1: Before we get started, imagine a student at the very beginning of their journey. They’re just starting to figure things out and may feel a little unsure along the way. Previously we had: “Is in the beginning stages of identifying and attempting to apply strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness, and is working towards demonstrating understanding and consistency.” Now answer, what do you mean? – what does attempting and beginning stages look like? How will a student know they are there? This means that the student is figuring out which strategies and tools to use and may need help to adjust them during the hike. The result is that the student can complete the hike but may feel unsure or need to stop and rethink their approach along the way. Change it to first person: “I am in the beginning stages of identifying and attempting to apply strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness, and working towards demonstrating understanding and consistency. This means that I am figuring out which strategies and tools to use, and I may need help to adjust them during the hike. The result is that I can complete the hike, but I may feel unsure or need to stop and rethink my approach along the way.” ________________________________________ Level 2: Next, let’s picture a student who is starting to get the hang of it. They’re making progress but still figuring out how to handle unexpected challenges. Previously we had: “Applies some strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness with limited success, while continuing to work through challenges they are having in understanding and consistency.” Now answer, what do you mean? – what does limited success and working through challenges look like? This means that the student can use some strategies and tools on their own but may still need to make adjustments during the hike. The result is that the student is able to handle some challenges but might not feel fully prepared or confident in every situation. Change it to first person: “I can apply some strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness with limited success, while continuing to work through challenges I am having in understanding and consistency. This means that I can use some strategies and tools on my own, but I may still need to make adjustments during the hike. The result is that I am able to handle some challenges, but I might not feel fully prepared or confident in every situation.” ________________________________________ Level 3: Now think about a student who is feeling confident and capable. ...
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    16 mins
  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 4 - I Feel the Need, the Need for Detailed Criteria!

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 4 - I Feel the Need, the Need for Detailed Criteria!
    Jan 23 2025
    TRANSCRIPT: Welcome back to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Over the past three episodes, we’ve been hiking our way through the Hiking 101 standard. We started with backward design, unpacked the standard, and explored how to create task-neutral criteria. Today, we’re going to take those task-neutral criteria a step further by making them detailed and actionable: I Feel the Need, the Need for Detailed Criteria! ________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: In In the last episode, we designed criteria using some quality performance indicators. Here’s a recap. • Level 1: Is beginning to apply strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness. • Level 2: Applies strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness with limited effectiveness. • Level 3: Applies strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness effectively. • Level 4: Demonstrates expert application of strategies and tools with thoughtful precision. Now we need to address what the difference is between "limited effectiveness" and "effectively," or how "thoughtful precision" can feel too subjective. Using words like this can be an important first step—but they’re often geared only toward the teacher who wrote them and can feel ambiguous to others. Words like "adequate" or "proficient" help establish a baseline for understanding, but without further detail, they can leave too much room for interpretation and make it harder to communicate expectations clearly. This is where clear and descriptive criteria come in. They provide measurable outcomes, creating a shared understanding of what performance looks like among educators. When criteria are well-defined, they give teachers a consistent framework for evaluating performance, even for more qualitative aspects. Professional judgment plays a critical role in this process, as it does in all professions, but anchoring it in established criteria ensures that it’s professional and evidence-based, not personal or arbitrary. This balance is essential for fostering fairness and ensuring meaningful assessments that reflect the complexities of learning. So, detailed criteria solve this problem by painting a clear picture of what each level of performance looks like. They give teachers a solid foundation for consistent evaluations and informed decision-making. Here’s the key takeaway: detailed doesn’t mean complicated. Think of detailed criteria as a roadmap—it needs to be clear, concise, and actionable, not overwhelming. With this approach, educators can bridge the gap between subjective language and measurable results, enabling reliable and professional assessments. ________________________________________ Visualize This Scenario: So, we are back to our Hiking 101 course and have already revisited the standard, Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness. Now we need to shift from concise descriptors to detailed descriptions of performance levels. So I am going to go through each of the four levels as I shared them in episode 3 – concise and then how now in episode 4 they can be written with more detail and I’ll also explain the changes made so you can visualize it. Level 1 Concise (Episode 3): Is beginning to apply strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness. Detailed (Episode 4): Is in the beginning stages of identifying and attempting to apply strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness, and is working towards demonstrating understanding and consistency. Changes made: Additional qualifying language has been added. Beginning stages means “identifying and attempting to apply strategies and tools” and the outcome is they are “working towards demonstrating understanding.” Level 2 Concise (Episode 3): Applies strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness with limited effectiveness. Detailed (Episode 4): Applies some strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness with limited success, while continuing to work through challenges they are having in understanding and consistency. Changes made: The word “limited” is still there but it is clarified as “while continuing to work through challenges they are having in understanding and consistency.” Level 3 Concise (Episode 3): Applies strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness effectively. Detailed (Episode 4): Applies appropriate strategies and tools for safety, pacing, and environmental awareness effectively, demonstrating solid confidence and understanding. Changes made: The word “effectively” is there but the addition of “demonstrating solid confidence and understanding” Level 4 Concise (Episode 3): Demonstrates expert ...
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    16 mins
  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 3 - I love the smell of task neutral criteria in the morning

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 3 - I love the smell of task neutral criteria in the morning
    Jan 17 2025
    TRANSCRIPT: Welcome back to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Over the last two episodes, we’ve tackled backward design and unpacking standards—all while hiking through Hiking 101. Today, we’re taking the next step: creating task-neutral criteria. It’s time to move beyond task-specific assessments and focus on the skills at the heart of our standards. Using our Hiking 101 standard, we’ll explore how to write criteria that work across different tasks, ensuring assessments measure what really matters: student learning and skill mastery. Ahhh, "I love the smell of task-neutral criteria in the morning." ________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: Most criteria focus too much on specific tasks. Think about it—when you create an assignment, you likely write criteria for that particular assignment: • “Body paragraphs clearly develop the theme from the novel.” • “The birthday cake’s lettering is evenly spaced and legible.” While these may seem clear, they tie assessment to a single task, a thematic essay for a novel and decorating a birthday cake. Once the task is done, so is the learning. Even if students redo or revise their work, the feedback focuses on improving the task, not developing the broader skills the standard demands. Here’s where this becomes a problem: Learning isn’t about just completing tasks. It’s about building skills that students can apply across different situations. To do that, we need task-neutral criteria—criteria that focus on the standard, not the assignment. ________________________________________ Visualize This Scenario: If you haven’t listened to Episode 2 yet, I highly recommend going back—it provides the foundation for everything we’re diving into today. In the last episode, we worked with the Hiking 101 standard, “Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” We rephrased it to make it clearer: “Complete a hike safely by using tools, pacing yourself, and being mindful of the environment.” This simplified version aligns with Bloom’s Taxonomy at the application level, focusing on using skills in real-world situations. Now, imagine your instructor gives you the following task: “Plan and complete a hike up Teapot Mountain on a summer afternoon in August. The hike is expected to take approximately 3 hours round-trip, with temperatures ranging from 24-30 degrees Celsius.” The instructor provides a rubric, and here’s what it includes: o “Brought enough water.” o “Used a map or trail markers to navigate the route.” o “Demonstrated pacing by taking breaks during the ascent.” o “Followed Leave No Trace principles to protect the environment.” o “Prepared a detailed journal entry post-hike.” o “Took photos of at least five scenic spots along the trail.” o “Brought snacks to share with the group.” Looking at this rubric, it’s clear that some criteria align directly with the standard, while others are task-specific or completely unrelated. For example, bringing enough water is essential for ensuring safety and pacing—both key elements of the standard. However, criteria like “Took photos of at least five scenic spots” don’t connect to the standard at all. While they might enhance the experience, they don’t assess whether students applied the strategies and tools required by the standard. This highlights why task-neutral criteria are so important. By focusing on the skills outlined in the standard, you can assess students’ learning across multiple tasks—not just one specific hike. ________________________________________ Let’s Break It Down: Here’s first step in how to create task-neutral criteria from the Hiking 101 standard. I am going to use four levels here but you can use anywhere from 2 to 7. I strongly recommend however many levels you use, you are consistent: Start with the Standard: Remember, the goal is to align with: “Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” Create performance-focused statements In other words, what do you expect at each level? This step is often a transitional phase in criteria development, where the focus moves: • From defining what the student should do (the standard) • Toward describing how well it should be done (performance quality). To do this you need to use words that will distinguish one level from the next. Words like, foundationally, beginning, minimally, marginally, partially, emerging, signal early stages of learning or partial application. Words like, moderately, developing, sufficiently, adequately, reasonably, acceptably, competently convey satisfactory performance. Words like, strongly, proficiently, effectively, skillfully, thoroughly, clearly, appropriately, convey acceptable or intermediate ...
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    11 mins
  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 2 - This is the start of a beautiful proficiency scale

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 2 - This is the start of a beautiful proficiency scale
    Jan 10 2025
    Link to my Bloom’s Taxonomy https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6fxd9swyym0kzmo0mb0tq/Blooms-taxonomy-2024.pdf?rlkey=9drjow0o7qzjjp6xjrjkxxjxu&st=b0eqotkd&dl=0 TRANSCRIPT: Welcome back to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition episode two in our proficiency scale design series, This is the start of a beautiful proficiency scale! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Last week, we tackled backward design. This week, we’re taking on another mess educators face daily—understanding and breaking down standards. After all, as the title suggests…this is the start of a beautiful proficiency scale.________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: If you’ve ever looked at a standard and felt lost, you’re not alone. Some standards feel like someone took every education buzzword, threw them into a blender, and hit puree. In British Columbia, we have some of the most thoughtful and beautiful standards—but also some of the longest and even confusing (in my opinion). They can leave you wondering: What am I even supposed to teach here? No matter if you are here in BC or elsewhere the common issue is twofold: 1. Standards are often wordy, full of excessive complexity. 2. The verbs within the standard don’t always match the intended learning outcome. Last week, I spoke about the importance of backward design which means we must start with the standard. This week, our job is to unpack these standards—break them down into clear, user-friendly language that makes sense for us, our students, and caregivers. But breaking them down doesn’t mean throwing out the original. It’s about sense-making. Once that happens, you might here yourself say: “Oh, that’s what this means!” And then come back to the original to ensure nothing critical is missed. ________________________________________ Let’s Break It Down: Here’s where Bloom’s Taxonomy comes in (and by the way, other taxonomies also work well here but I’m going to stick with Bloom’s because a, I’m a huge fan of Benjamin Bloom and b, it’s in my wheelhouse). Bloom’s taxonomy is a brilliant tool because it helps us align the verbs in standards with the intended level of thinking. Verbs like create, evaluate, or analyze point to higher-order skills, while verbs like remember or understand focus on foundational knowledge. But—and this is key—the verb at the beginning of a standard isn’t always the intended focus. The full standard matters. For example, in Hiking 101, our imaginary course, imagine that one of the standard’s reads as follows: “Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” It’s long, it’s wordy, and it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. So, let’s unpack it together. ________________________________________ Visualize This Scenario: You’re part of Hiking 101. The instructor gives you this standard, expecting you to “Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike, ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” Sounds simple, right? But what does apply mean here? Appropriate strategies? Tools – what tools? Environmental awareness? Huh? Take a deep breath. Let’s break down this standard into steps: 1. First…Align it to Bloom’s: According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, apply means using knowledge or skills in a new situation. So, for the hike, you’re not just memorizing trail rules or identifying equipment, you should be able to do it in a new situation. 2. Second… look Beyond the Verb: This is important because it sometimes tells us what the strategy entails. For example, if the standard was Apply appropriate strategies to plan an independent hike, the words plan an independent hike fall more in line with create in Bloom’s taxonomy. Creating is more about inventing and designing. Now in our case, when we examine Apply appropriate strategies and tools to complete a hike — it justifies that in this case, the standard is definitively about using knowledge or skills in a new situation. Learn it and do. 3. Three…Define the Words Beyond the Verb: What are these appropriate strategies to plan an independent hike? This will come from the content. The strategies and tools will be the foundation for as the standard suggests, “ensuring safety, pacing, and environmental awareness.” In the content, there is using tools like maps and compasses, demonstrating pacing strategies like adjusting your speed on steep inclines or taking scheduled breaks, and showing environmental awareness like packing out trash or staying on marked trails to protect the ecosystem. So, let’s pause for a minute. We first aligned the standard to Bloom’s by looking at the verb and the words AFTER the verb. It’s application — using it in a new situation. Check! Then, we used the content to help us understand the rest of the standard. So now, let’s Rephrase It: We know the standard now, so...
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    10 mins
  • Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 1 - There's no place like backward design

    Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 1 - There's no place like backward design
    Jan 3 2025
    TRANSCRIPT: Hey everyone, welcome to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition Episode 1: There’s no place like backward design! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Today, we’re kicking off a new series on Proficiency Scale Design—and where better to start than by embracing the messy reality of Backward Design? It’s time to let go of old habits and embrace a new way of thinking about lesson planning. Trust me—it’s worth it. There’s simply “no place like backward design…no place like back design…” ________________________________________ Here’s the Issue: Many teachers still plan lessons by focusing on content first. They think teaching means covering units, chapters, and textbook sections in a specific order. The more they cover, the better, right? Wrong. This approach is called forward design, where the focus is on moving through material, hoping students learn what they need along the way. Where did this come from? Forward design was historically embraced by educators because it aligned with traditional educational practices. Teachers were used to creating lessons around familiar topics or textbooks, with assessments added afterward. Since early educational models prioritized delivering content, learning was seen primarily as acquiring knowledge through lectures and materials. This made forward design feel straightforward and flexible, allowing teachers to plan engaging activities first and fit assessments around them. Moreover, during the industrial age, schools operated like factories—teaching was the input, and learning was the expected output—reinforcing the step-by-step logic of forward design. With few detailed assessment frameworks available, teachers naturally focused on delivering lessons and evaluating learning afterward, making backward design less practical at the time. But here’s the challenge: If students don’t fully grasp the essential learning targets, what was the point of covering all that material? Checking off topics, assigning quizzes, and grading papers might show progress on the surface, but deeper learning happens when lessons are purposefully designed with clear goals in mind. Forward design emphasizes completion, while meaningful learning requires planning with mastery as the destination. ________________________________________ Let’s Break It Down: Let’s talk about what Backward Design really means. It’s a planning process where you start with the end in mind—the learning goals or standards—and then work backward to decide what activities, lessons, and assessments will help students reach those goals. With backward design, consider these reflective questions: • What skills and knowledge should students have by the end of the course? • How will you know students have learned these skills? • What learning experiences will support their growth? Note that the learning opportunities come last, not first. Content is still important, but it’s the path, not the destination. Many teachers fall into the unit coverage trap. They feel pressure to cover every topic and every chapter, often falling into the 'inch deep, mile wide' trap where they may rush through numerous units without ensuring deep understanding of essential skills. But here’s the reality: Coverage isn’t learning. Beginning with the units often means: • Rushing from unit to unit with the idea that students need to get through all units regardless of whether they have mastered a skill • Giving assessments which tend to focus on content or are a mishmash of skills all rolled into unit assessments rather than skill-specific assessment • Checking off curriculum boxes without ensuring students mastered anything meaningful • Backward design frees you from that pressure. When you plan with the standard as the destination, you can be selective about what content really matters. Educators can still follow the linear progression of units but should focus on the skills students need to develop, ensuring each unit meaningfully supports those skills rather than simply covering topics in order. You prioritize depth over breadth and ensure that what students learn sticks. This approach focuses on teaching skills, not just topics, ensuring that learning is intentional, purposeful, and aligned with meaningful outcomes. Backward design isn’t about throwing out your favorite lessons—it’s about making sure they fit the goal. Consider refining or replacing lessons that don’t help students reach the standard. Well-designed learning opportunities can still follow a familiar sequence, provided they build the skills students need. Revisiting and refining favorite lessons can ensure they serve a clear, intentional purpose. So, shifting from forward design to backward design can feel uncomfortable at first, especially if you’re used to planning around units. But remember: It’s not about teaching less—it’s about teaching better. ____________...
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    9 mins
  • 28 - Dr. Thomas Guskey Embraces the Messy

    28 - Dr. Thomas Guskey Embraces the Messy
    Dec 30 2024

    People, do I have a treat for you! Last summer I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Thomas Guskey, and I am finally, finally getting around to sharing it with you—and I thought, what a perfect full length episode to share before the Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale series drops this Friday! Dr. Guskey is an internationally renowned educator, researcher, and author whose career spans decades of groundbreaking contributions to education. From his early days as a middle school teacher to his influential work in grading reform, mastery learning, and educational evaluation, Dr. Guskey has shaped how educators and leaders think about teaching and learning. I also got to meet another one of my assessment heroes, and he did not disappoint. We explored his insights, his latest work, and the powerful ways we can reimagine education together.

    ***

    Contact Dr. Guskey through his website: Tguskey.com

    *** Have a suggestion for someone Shannon should interview, a question about an episode, or some feedback about the podcast, email Shannon here: embracethemessypodcast@gmail.com.

    Thankyou for listening! Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

    Find out more about Shannon Schinkel:

    https://linktr.ee/ShannonSchinkel
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    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition - Special Proficiency Scale Design Series Trailer

    Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition - Special Proficiency Scale Design Series Trailer
    Dec 27 2024

    This is your host, Shannon Schinkel, from Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition, part of the Embrace the Messy Podcast, with a cool announcement!

    I’m thrilled to introduce something I think will make a real difference for you and your students. Over the next six episodes, we’re diving headfirst into building better assessment criteria.

    Designing criteria for standards is one of my favorite things to teach, but I know not everyone has access to workshops or the luxury of time to dedicate to professional development in this area. Maybe workshops conflict with your professional goals, or the idea of asking for clarification in a large group feels intimidating. Maybe traveling to see an expert just isn’t financially accessible, or you’ve been creating criteria on your own and want to see new approaches.

    These six episodes won’t replace hands-on learning, but they will provide practical, accessible information to help you get started. Whether you’re brand new to this or have some experience, there’s something here for everyone. Each episode is short—around 10 minutes—and builds on the last as we work through a pretend standard together, creating a polished proficiency scale by the end.

    And let’s be clear: there’s no single way to design criteria. What I’m sharing is my approach—what I know works. Feel free to adapt it and make it your own. Why this series? Because I know how overwhelming assessment reform can feel. You hear about it all the time but might not know where to begin. This series gives you a place to start. At the end of each episode, you’ll be ready to apply the steps to one of your own standards, building confidence and clarity as we go deeper each week.

    This isn’t about perfection—it’s about progress. Each episode offers practical steps to help you create meaningful, actionable criteria that reflect real learning.

    So, whether you’re listening on your way to work, during a coffee break, or at the end of a long day, this series is here to support you. Let’s get started, embrace the messy, and make some magic.

    I’ll meet you right back here on January 3rd—don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss it!

    *** Have a suggestion for someone Shannon should interview, a question about an episode, or some feedback about the podcast, email Shannon here: embracethemessypodcast@gmail.com.

    Thankyou for listening! Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

    Find out more about Shannon Schinkel:

    https://linktr.ee/ShannonSchinkel
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    4 mins