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Dr. Katie Mattaini

@katiemattaini.bsky.social

Bio lecturer @ Tufts. Inclusive pedagogy, active learning, grading for growth, OER. Avid crafter. She/her/hers.

302 Posts652 Follower301 Folgt
Dr. Katie Mattaini@katiemattaini.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Handed back my first exam of the semester in my standards-based class this week. After 6 years of alt grading, I have to remind myself how great it is to be having “help me understand topic X deeper” convos rather than “why did I lose points” convos with many students this week. 🥰

Dr. Katie Mattaini@katiemattaini.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Does this happen to anyone else? As a professor, I get SO many requests for letters of recommendation, and a surprising number of them read like, "I really like your class/teaching style/etc., and that's why I'm asking you." It just seems like an odd "justification."

Drew Lewis@drew-lewis.com · 10mo ago

I generally don't share things from Substack no matter how great I think they are, but I appreciated this footnote on a blog post about alternative grading in large classes that addresses this. Too many folks just keep posting away without the slightest acknowledgement of what Substack stands for.

A note about the Substack platform from the authors. We had several conversations about whether we wanted to write a post that was published on Substack, given Substack’s current stance on publishing pro-Nazi and racist content. We decided to write this guest post because we think alternative grading can help move the needle in a more just and equitable direction, but we nevertheless want to collectively express our discomfort with Substack for choosing to promote and platform Nazi rhetoric. Notably, one contributor to this post chose not to list their name as an author out of a moral objection to Substack’s pro-Nazi stance.
Neil Abrams@readthedetox.com · 2y ago

As a political scientist who studies countries that managed to stop the slide into authoritarianism, I can assure you that ***refraining from provoking the authoritarian*** is not how it works. Without further ado, I will now go tear out another chunk of hair.

Ann M. Lipton@annmlipton.bsky.social · 2y ago

"activist leaders have told him and colleagues that they fear protests against Trump might eventually be used as a predicate for declaring martial law. Other House Democrats echoed this privately" Something something in advance www.cnn.com/2025/02/16/p...

Dr. Katie Mattaini@katiemattaini.bsky.social · 2y ago

So I was asked to be on a committee to define and address the "problem" with grades at Tufts. Dear Husband's response: "Damnnnn. They just brought a sharpshooter to a knife fight." Note: The committee was formed in response to data on how high Tufts' grades are on average.

Dr. Katie Mattaini@katiemattaini.bsky.social · 2y ago

Love the epigraph for Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education! "One thing about systems, especially systems as old as American higher education, is that people grow unconscious of them. The system gets internalized. It becomes a mind-set.