ACADEMIA Letters What I Learned from Failing to Ungrade Thomas Geary As writing instructors worldwide revolutionize their classes with synchronous Zoom sessions, videos and podcasts, and cost-free open educational resources, most of our pedagogy remains firmly rooted in a practice that has been labeled “never fair” and “undermin[ing] learning” (Elbow), “meaningless” and “superficial” (Davidson), and even racist and white supremacist (Inoue 3). Grading is an oft-criticized aspect of college instruction that perpetuates a deficit model as students receive letter grades with feedback highlighting errors. In response, some have shifted to ungrading. Known by various terms like going gradeless, abolishing grading, or even utilizing labor-based grading contracts, ungrading is an increasingly popular ped- agogical practice designed to center student learning and, according to Jesse Stommel, to “dismantle traditional and standardized approaches to assessment.” Many scholars detail successful implementations of strategies to ungrade in the composi- tion classroom. In this paper, I review literature arguing for the benefits of eliminating grades, such as removing barriers for our students and emphasizing writing as a process. Then I ex- plain what I learned from my own failure to properly implement the pedagogical approach in my first attempt. My experimental foray into this alternative form of assessment might be considered easing into a “grade-free zone,” one that isn’t a deep dive into the practice but instead a dipping of my feet into the waters, and I discovered from student responses that a grade-free classroom defies their expectations and complicates their learning process rather than simplifying it. I also found that ungrading is not easy; it requires intensive preparation and a shift in mindset (Stommel). The problem I had hoped to remedy is that my students at Tidewater Community College in southeast Virginia, in addition to being underserved and facing a multitude of obstacles like food and housing insecurity, often enter a traditional English classroom designed to ad- dress their perceived weaknesses. Many writing faculty unintentionally perpetuate this deficit Academia Letters, February 2021 Corresponding Author: Thomas Geary, tgeary@tcc.edu Citation: Geary, T. (2021). What I Learned from Failing to Ungrade. Academia Letters, Article 224. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL224. 1 ©2021 by Academia Inc. — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0