Chapter 13

This chapter discussed the different grade book formats for a differentiated classroom. Our gradebooks should be organized so that they encourage learning in our students, instead of discouraging it by including zeros. There are four grade book formats: Grouping assignments by standard, objective, or benchmark; Grouping assignments by weight or category; Listing assignments by date; and Basing your grade book on topics. Unfortunately, one format does not work best for all teachers. Instead, we need to do a trial and error to find which format works best for us, our classroom, and our students.

We were all different in our opinions in how we will possibly arrange our grade books once we become teachers. The topic-based grade book is good to see how certain students do in certain areas so that you can see how a student works and learn more about their progress, but the date-based grade book is good for organizational purposes. However, you could combine the two, and date base your topical-based grade book, since most teachers go through the year based on certain topics. This way, you can be organized, but still learn about your students, their progress, and how they learn.

Chapter 14

This chapter went it depth about what really goes into report cards. For many students it is what can make or break a semester. Grades are also supposed to be a measure of how well a student has mastered material. Is there any real way tell students in what areas they have progressed in mastery, what areas they are lacking, how much of the material they have learned as well as their own personal progress, all in one letter? One tactic to make the grading a little more meaningful is to attach a number to it. The letter will show the level of mastery, but the number will show the amount of personal progress the student has made. This way they have some notion of how they're doing, even if they mess up some of the projects.
This chapter seems big into moving away from the standard approach to reporting grades. For all of us going through school we were most likely given report cards with the standard A-F grades and maybe if we were lucky we got a computer generated comment along the lines of "works well with others". We have to really think about it and see how much the grades did for us. Did they help us at all in our learning? As teachers we need to think about what it means to fully differentiate the classroom. That would mean differentiating the grades as well. We need to think about how to go about maknig the grades as beneficial as possible to our students.

Chapter 11

This chapter covers six different gradings questions, and what teachers should do in each case.
The first big question is whether a 0 or a 60 should be recorded in the grade book. The book states that a 60 should be recorded and primarily uses the 60 point failing range to justify that 60. Moreover, a 60, (or a 50) is still failing. They are receiving failing grades for not handing in work More importantly, the effect the 0 has on students is rather profound. If they know they've received a few 0's for the course, they've lost all hope. They know that no matter how hard they try, they are still going to get a miserable grade. So why try? Getting a 60 or a 50 on the other hand, with the potential to make up work, offers hope to even the most hard-bitten and cynical student.
The next question is how to grade advanced students? Despite the apparent difficulty of the question the answer can be simplified quite succinctly. Change the grading criteria to match the students performance. The text is aware that this will be time consuming, but in cases of advanced or honors classes, it is absolutely essential.
Concerning weighted grades the text seems to jump the question a bit, a few of us noticed this. The chapter and author's conclusion is that grades aren't really helpful and can often be irrelevant anyway. Given this, weighted grades is a dead issue since grades themselves should be killed off. Its a nice logical argument, but it doesn't help people who are stuck with a system. It is rather difficult to weigh grades accordingly, lots of schools had trouble with it, so the philosophy around here seems to be to avoid it at all cost. Besides if one does everything one should be doing concerning teaching and grading, it is unlikely that one would need or want weighted grades anyway.
We all seem to have some difficulty understanding exactly what Automatically vs. concept attainment means. We all understand however that there are different perspectives concerning understanding and that these perspectives must be taken into account. To use an analogy from Beth's class, if a duck is trying to learn how to climb, we have to understand that its not what comes natural to it.
Grading late work. Here is a subject particularly near and dear to my own heart since I am guilty of delivering late (usually only slightly) work more times than I care to count. The bottom line is that it isn't appropriate to simply give the student and F and call it good when he or she turns in late work. That destroys the learning process and school is all about learning not grades. Concerning chronically late students, the text suggests there is a reason for the chronic lateness. It also suggests that the teacher should find out what it is, and take steps to alleviate or mitigate the issue.
Lastly we come to grading the special needs students which can be a little tricky. The text seems to suggest that two methods be used, one which details what the student is capable of, and the other how much progress the student has made in various avenues. This is going to involve a description rather than a number or letter. The description serves the student far better than the numbers because they know exactly what it indicates. Sure its time consuming, but in the end, undoubtedly worth it.

Chapter 12

This chapter discussed grading scales. The two it focused most on were the four point and the one hundred point scales. Larger scales are more subjective to a student's mastery of a subject. It warns, however, that parents and students will associate the four point scale with fours being A's and ones being F's. Rubrics help achieve objectives and accurate grades. They are a good way of taking note of how much a student is learning. It gives a more accurate reading of a students mastery in a subject and the feedback is more useful for teachers, students, and their parents.

While we were all in high school our schools used the hundred point scale for our assignments. Switching to a four point scale with every subject can be hard. In math, for instance, four point scales and rubrics work for projects, but not assignments that involve a lot of mathematical computations. It is a good idea, however, to have a scale over a hundred. This way each assignment is equal to a certain number of points so students can see which assignments are worth more than others. When one has to use the hundred point scale, it might be a good idea to stray away from the traditional scaling. By making an A 80-100 and an F 0-19, there is less of a gap between each grade. However, the four point scale and rubrics are normally the best bet with a lot of assignments.

Chapter 9

This chapter is about what a teacher should not do when grading and assessing students. It is important not to add nonacademic factors like behavior and attendance into a student's final grade, and not to penalize them for multiple attempts at an assignment; they should be given more opportunities to master the subject. Also, homework for practice is to be avoided becuase if a student doesn't understand the material in the first place, they will not do well on the homework. Students should also not be graded individually and not on a curve. Curve grading shows no mastery and false progress.

Many of us did the homework in middle school and high school, and yet never learned anything from it. We simply did it because it was required of us. The hardest part is when you are trying to do the homework and you don't understand the material. If this happens, then the student feels as though he or she is incompetent or stupid. While extra credit is not always a good thing, and should not replace a failing grade, we feel as though it should sometimes be allowed as long as the extra credit pertains to the unit and will be beneficial for the student.

Chapter 7

This chapter was about the nature of grades and how differentiated instruction directly impacts our grading policies. Problems with grading is becuase of a lack of understanding as to what grades actually mean and why they are so important. Grades not only vary depending upon the teacher, but also upon a student's background, and whether the student is considered gifted or has disabilities. Some questions that this chapter asked were: 1. Why are there grades in the first place? 2. What does a grade really mean? 3. What would school be like if there weren't any grades?

We all agreed that it is ok for some grades to be adjusted for students with extenuating circumstances, but not every assignment for every student. If we adjust grades for every student on every assignment, what is the point of assigning the grade in the first place? After reading this chapter, we have come to realize that letter grades do not reflect much unless the teacher has set out specific standards for each grade and each assignment so that the students are better able to understand their grade in that class. For some students, grades are important not only because they ultimately define our life decisions and possible future choices, but they are also the only part of school that they are able to control. Since they can't control the curriculum, assignments, or professors they end up with, the grade is all that is left for them to decide on their own.

Chapter 8

This chapter is largely about the issue about whether or not to incorporate attendence, effort, and participation into a grade. It s a difficult topic to reason a solution to. On one side grades are supposed to reflect mastery of the material and therefore diluting the grade with these other ideas would remove the accuracy of the grade ( unless its some sort of topic where participation is the material being graded). On the other side of things, school is supposed to prepare students for the real world, so is it right to have a student being able to pass with an A when they're missing the majority of the classes? If they did this in the real job world, they'd be fired.

This question of whether to include these ideas in grades causes a lot of mental struggle. For a lot of us growing up attendence and participation were included in grades so it seems hard not to do so as well. But we also know that there can be circumstances in which having attendence can hurt a students learning more than help and thats something we always want to avoid. A way to include effort was mentioned by having students right reflective pieces at the end of each unit aobut what they learned and what they thought of it.

Chapter 10

This chapter discussed redoing and turning in work again for full credit. It is important to give students another chance to master their work, but to make guidelines for this clear. One point given was not to allow every student to redo his or her work. If we know that the student had blown off a test or a project, they should probably not be allowed to retake it. It is important to guide those students we allow to redo assignments through the process of studying and schedule making. Time management is important, and because we want them to do well, we need to be there to help our students. By giving students restrictions on what they can and cannot redo, you can ensure that the work is done to a certain quality.


This chapter was great because it gave examples of when it's okay to let students redo their work. It gave restrictions on what should and should not be done. When we know that a student has blown off an assignment, it's perfectly acceptable not to give them a second chance. However, in situations where a student studies for a test for weeks, but still fails, a redo is needed. Simply retaking the same test, however, isn't a good idea. Taking a different test, or doing a different assignment that will bring the same outcome works.

Chapter 4

This chapter discussed three different types of assessments: 1. Portfolios, 2. Rubrics, and 3. Self-Assessments. With portfolios, teachers can examine a students' work over time, the students get opportunities to reflect on their own progress, and the portfolios can contain different time frames or stages in a student's life. Rubrics tell the students how the teacher is going to grade, based on quality of the work that the student passes in. By giving the rubric to the class ahead of time, the students get to decide what they want to recieve as a grade by using the rubric as a guide for every assignment they pass in. Student Self-Assessment is very important because it gives the student an opportunity to tell the teacher what they honestly think they should recieve as a grade based on how hard they worked on the assignment(s). All of these assessments are authentic, and they also are great ways to track the progress of the students.

Using only one of these assessments by itself may not be as effective than if all three were used together. This way, the teacher gets to view the students' work over time, but have a grading guideline, and the student has a chance to tell the teacher what he thinks he deserves as a grade based on his work.

Chapter 6

This chapter dealt with how to make good test questions so that the students know exactly how to answer the question and know what you are looking for. The chapter discussed how non-traditional questions can be just as accurate in a student's knowledge as traditional test questions. Also, if the test questions are presented in an interesting way, the students will be more likely to remember that question and that it is important.
We reflected on this chapter by remembering the tests that we had to take back in highschool, and which ones we did well on as opposed to the types of tests we did poorly. We all agreed that a variety of tests or a variety of different sections on a test is best.

Fair isn't Always Equal Chapter 3 Reflections

This chapter discussed differentiated assessment and each reviewer came away with a different point each of which was important to the chapter.
The goals for the unit should already be understand, in short we are to know the end before the beginning. The learning process to reach that end is most important and it must be differentiated to be truly successful.
Accurately measuring learning is also critical, and memorization seldom embeds that knowledge in long term memory. It is also important to understand that one test is in no way a true measure of a students capabilities.
The chapter elaborates upon 3 different types of assessment. Pre-assessment shows what the students know before the lesson starts. Formative shows how the student is doing in the ongoing lesson, and Summative reveals what the student has actually learned from the lesson.


Simply thinking about the assignment that we give and were given can often spark ideas. We all remember are favorite classes and least classes. Well, they probably were our favorites because the teacher probably did something mentioned in this chapter.
There might be some flaws in the method. It does seem as though a student might be able to work around the subject. Sometimes if things aren't straightforward enough people miss things. Also, it seems that this lesson format might run into problems when something needs to be covered quickly. And I know sometimes I just rather take a test than do a project. I mean I might know the material, but that doesn't mean I want to spend 6 hours on a project proving to you that I know it when a straightforward test might do.
Concerning busy work, nobody likes it. Filling out lines about people your never going to remember solves nothing. Practicing math skills, like a few problems each night to keep you on top of things, that's different. A little reading, especially of texts that are known to be particularly well written or conceptually important is great. But no worksheets.

Chapter 2

How would one go about showing that they have mastered a topic? Its very easy really, and to go about it a teacher needs only to consider a few things. By having students give only a couple examples of what they know and understand you allow them to show consistency but prevent problems of tedious work that tires ( when the students are tired their work begins to get sloppy and no longer accurate). One can also track progress throughout the year, the long term view ( such as in a portfolio) is better in that it makes up for days where kids are having a hard time.

In trying to relate to this chapters material we felt it was very interesting. To some it was thinking about mastery and how with history its more of a technique and idea then a specific thing to learn. To others it was concepts of how looking at what the students will be tested on and teaching from that. Its not only logical but has, by some, actually been tested and found to be a nice way to understand what material is important for teaching

Chapter 5

This chapter is about how to tier assignments so that each learning group of students is learning the new concept but are still being challenged. It is important when teaching a particular subject to leave room for thought and questions by the students. Teachers spend nearly seventy percent of their time speaking to the class. With the linguisitc part taken care of, the chapter deals with how to teach in ways that reflect all the other multiple intelligences. Tiering is how teachers adjust assessment levels based on a group's readiness, interest, and learning profiles. If we're going to differentiate in the class, we should consider doing a similar practice with the assessments to make sure all the students are able to fairly convey their understanding and mastery of the material.

We all agreed how this is helpful to the students, and how it is helpful to us as teachers in seeing what is understood. It brought some of us back to both good and bad experiences in high school, and offered ideas on what we has teachers can do in the classroom. It offers many strategies and ways to integrate MI into a curriculum, including an activity relating to inventions. We found the section on RAFT(S) very similar to GRASPS, which expressed the importance of a role and audience in a student's assessment.

Chapter 1

This chapter discussed the concepts and merits of Differentiated instruction. Some examples of this are extended deadlines for homework, group work, and extra credit. Differentiated Instruction does not make learning easier for students; instead it provides a challenge for them. Its not about the performance as making sure the students understand the material. If you're teaching and no ones getting it, maybe its time you found a new method. Teachers should be open to the concept that perhaps some student learn differently, and if they really keep their best interests in mind, then they will adapt to reach them as well. Differentiated Instruction provides students with an equal education, even if it means spending more time with one or two students to make sure that they understand the material as well as the rest of the class.


We connected to the reading because we could relate to it through our own school experiences. Most of our teachers had used differentiated instruction. They really worked hard to help us understand the material. This is something we know we will do. We can use Differentiated Instruction to make sure all our students understand what they are learning in class. You aren't enabling some students more than others. Each student is given an equal chance to learn. Whats the point of testing them if you know you didn't get the information across to them? We could also relate this to real life and how it is differentiated; people control many aspects of their lives and use that control to adjust their reality so they are capable of handling it. The first chapter overall has been inspiring, and we found we could relate to it more so than the other books.

Testing

Testing Blog, 1,2,3

Well it seems ok...