David Clark

Goldfinch feeding on a purple coneflower.

Blurry and distant, but: Goldfinches are back and feeding on my coneflowers! Truly a sign of late summer for me. Soon their highly demanding kids will be screeching for food too.

Blurry photo of a bumblebee near a corn tassel.

Here's a mysterious (and not very clear) one. My corn tassels are covered in pollinators. Corn is wind, not insect, pollinated. These little guys never make it down to the silk, where the pollen needs to go. Does corn still produce nectar? I don't know.

Bumblebee inside a yellow cucumber flower, attached to a vine hanging over the side of a wooden garden box.

Bumblebee on a cucumber flower.

Small green frog on a large strappy corn leaf, with some pollen from the corn tassel around it.

Another tree frog, this one on a corn leaf. They are surprisingly willing to live in non-trees.

Yes! I've seen a lot of butterflies, but haven't seen any caterpillars (or chrysalises). I will DEFINITELY post any that I see! My milkweeds are being chewed a bit, so I'm hopeful.

Close-up of bumblebee on the bright yellow-orange center of a pink coneflower.

Bumblebee on coneflower

Monarch butterfly sitting on a pink coneflower petal with many other flowers and leaves around it.

Monarch butterfly on coneflower

Small green tree frog on green leaves

Tiny tree frog on pepper plant.

It's that time of year for a CRITTERS IN MY GARDEN thread!

These little critters make me very happy when I see them. I hope they make your day a bit better too.

I'll keep adding as they keep appearing.

As we enter a new academic year, I have decided to permanently and significantly reduce my speaking fees for in-person and virtual events. And even these are highly negotiable. At this time of crisis in higher ed (and reduced budgets) I want to open doors for working together to make change. 1/3

I prefer not to be banned from all future contributions! 😆

Still going after all these years.

A binary code: 01001110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 00100000 01100111 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110101 01110000 00101100 00100000 01101110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01110111 01101110 00001010 01001110 01100101 01110110 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101110 01101110 01100001 00100000 01110010 01110101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01110010 01101111 01110101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101

I teach at a month-long math summer camp for middle schoolers. Among other things, I teach a coding theory class.

The camp's "yearbook" just came out with a page that was labeled "Dr. Clark should decode this". So I present you with this minor puzzle. Enjoy.

(You can copy from the alt-text)

This week: Part 2 of how I use standards-based *and* specifications grading together in the same class. This time I talk about things I don't grade, final grades, and reflections.

Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97

Also worth noting that the subject of this obituary outlived its author: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

With the sad news of Tom Lehrer's death yesterday, we should all take a moment to check in with our friend in Minsk.

Dangit, BSky won't let me post a single space as a reply!

?

Mixing and matching SBG and Specifications (part 1) How I use multiple grading approaches in an intro-to-proofs class

Today on the blog: How I use alternative grading in a class that involves both learning discrete skills *and* teaches professional communication. (part 1 - more next week!)

The Drama Triangle of Grading Understanding the stress of grading and a path towards empowerment

A guest post by Jordan Freitas from Loyola Marymount University: The Karpman Drama Triangle, a lens through which we can try to understand grading and alternatives.

Drawing on past experiences What does “teaching how we’re taught” mean for alternative grading?

My post today on Grading for Growth is a reflection on how I experienced active learning and alternative grading as a student, and how that helped give me the confidence to use them as an instructor.

gradingforgrowth.com/p/drawing-on...

Much as I prefer bottom-up, it would help to have some top-down guidance for consistency. I don't think most faculty want more initiatives to run, money or not!

Department conclusion was "we have experience dealing with calculators, WolframAlpha, etc., so we can muddle through."

John's right - our department has tried! But we're not getting any help from above. My impression is that admin is looking for faculty to come up with something on our own.

The 2025 Grading Conference starts tomorrow! Follow and use #TheGradingConference to see snippets from our incredible sessions and participate in the conversation!!

Also, check out today's 100th episode of The Grading Podcast where we talk about the origins of the Conference! www.thegradingpod.com

Afraid I don't have any good news. My own institution is just barely discussing AI at all.

this is like drake and kendrick lamar but they're both drake

Holy crap, I missed this entirely. Glad you all are ok.

Brought to you with help from the BlueSky alternative grading community. Thank you all!

Whoops The most common rookie (and not-so-rookie) mistakes with alternative grading

Today on Grading for Growth: Whoops! Rookie mistakes with alternative grading.

It's something I advise, for sure. :) I think we're focusing on different parts of the process.

I'm going to call this "the reassessment avalanche" (because that's what instructors experience) and add advice about creating good friction - reflection, practice, time-based limits, etc.