FIAE+Chapter+8+Block+1

[|Synthesis FIAE C8 B1]

This chapter help out a lot. Sometimes I get caught up in the grades and I need to realize that learning is important. It was a helpful reminder to stay away from practices that manipulate students or try to bribe them. Instead, feedback in non-letter grades ways is best. Now that I’m doing more grading and feedback in practicum, I have a better understanding of how to go about it. || I never thought about the negative effects of grades until recently, but now that I have I believe that they have two sides. One side they are good and show what the student has or hasn’t accomplished throughout the class. On the other side students get caught up in getting a good grade and it creates problems in memorizing and just doing the work for the grade. I believe that when grades force kids to memorize it creates the opposite effect which it wants to create. ||
 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Archambault Michael || Chapter eight of Fair Isn't Always Equal continues talking about grading. What is appropriate to grade a student on? What isn't? Should it be the same across the board? Things that may or may not be included are effort, attendance, behavior, and participation. Each teacher needs to figure this out for themselves. Participation might not be important in a math class, but is vital for assessment in a chorus class. A student who has a horrible home life that limits his ability to do homework can get a modified curriculum that allows them to show high scores because of other things they bring to the table other than not doing their homework. || To me, this chapter argues back and forth about summative vs formative assessment. What exactly are grades? I think they are very important, but what they are important for is the key. I think that grades should be specifically for the student and their guardians. What if instead of grades, you got ranked against everyone who had ever taken the course. Opponents of this would say that you shouldnt be compared to anyone else when you get graded. Well if thats the case, why give grades anyway, if they arent relative to what anyone else is doing? I think that I am going to fall back on my schools policy for grading, and use the excuse that it is not in my hands and I am just following policy. ||
 * Audy Melissa || The eighth chapter of Fair Isn’t Always Equal goes over grading. It begins by pointing out that plenty of learning occurs when students aren’t being graded, and it poses the question “Why do we grade?” The authors state that most teachers claim only to grade because they “need to.” It goes over the many aspects of teaching that keeps teachers busy, emphasizing the length of time it takes for teachers to correct things. It then provides reasons to justify why we do grade assignments—some are valid justifications, like in order to show progress, yet some are not fair, like using grades as a form of punishment. The chapter continues to explain ways that grades are often developed around unfair motives, giving examples of a few. It explains that grades should reflect mastery. The authors emphasize that feedback is essential on assignments more so than just a grade. The pros and cons of grading based on effort, participation, attendance, and behavior are presented and elaborated upon. || I agree with the idea that feedback is more important than the actual grading of an assignment. I had a professor who would give us full credit for assignments as long as we did exactly what was asked—however the margins would be full of comments and feedback, and this was simply on our weekly responses. The fact that she would comment so much showed us that she actually read our responses and motivated me to write the best reflections I possibly could. On the flipside, in high school, I had teachers who would simply give us full credit and not give us feedback. This made the assignments seem worthless to me, and that would reflect in the little effort I would put in. I can see why grading is important, but overall, I feel that it is the feedback that really counts. ||
 * Boulter Elizabeth || This chapter was about grading and what to include in that assessment. Effort, attendance, behavior, participation, were the things mention in the chapter. They discussed what grading was for, what it accomplished, and how it needs changes. The chapter suggested that students need to be aware of the criteria on which they’ll be graded. Also, a large part of this chapter advises teachers not to grade based upon participation or effort considering those are hard to measure. Unless it is a particular skill set, there should only be reflection, not grades. ||
 * Brown Ryanne || Chapter 8 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal goes into detail about the reasons for grading, and the incorporation of effort, attendance, and behavior into grades. Regardless of the point that is being graded, the chapter seems to suggest setting standards for that particular piece of the lesson, so that the students are always aware of how they can reach the classroom standards. The chapter sways on what to include and what to leave out of the grading process, but remains firm that standards should be set for anything being graded, and when things are not being graded, the students should be receiving feedback on those areas. || I think evaluating grading should happen in every classroom, and the grading should be shaped to the curriculum and the goals. Backwards planning addresses the issue of grading by using certain assessments to monitor student progress without paralyzing their efforts or completely praising their efforts. Honestly, participation grade depends on the class and subject. The book says that participation grade should be less than 10% of the final grade, and maybe that stands true for most classes; but there are classes that have a student participation mark for every single lesson. If a student is uninvolved in every single one of the lessons, aren’t they going to miss the material completely? If we encourage the students to communicate, participate and interact in class they are not only going to further grasp the material, but they will excel in social aspects of their lives. ||
 * DePue Margaux || Chapter 8 discusses the purpose of grading students and asks us whether or not we should grade other abilities besides mastery of a subject. Grades should provide documentation of mastery, give students feedback on their work and allow students to succeed and not be used to motivate, punish or sort students. Grades based on things such as attendance may not show true portrayal of mastery; if a student has mastered the material but has points taken away for frequent absences, the grade is highly inaccurate. Teachers should also realize that if a student is displaying behavior that could be seen as laziness, there is usually something behind this behavior, such as home problems or a late work schedule. Teacher should only grade participation in class if it is “gradable,” or if it is the standard being taught to the student, though usually it is just better to give feedback on it or limit its influence on a student’s grade. It is not always best to grade effort or behavior either, since these are not accurate reflections of a student’s mastery. || This chapter seemed a bit ambiguous when it described whether participation should or should not be graded. I would like to include participation in my students' final grades, though it will count for no more than five or ten percent of their grade. Participation in my class will be essential for students to understand the basic concepts taught, and if they do not take part in group discussions or activities, they will miss out on some important information. I would never grade my students based on their attendance, though I would look in to their profile and imply at the office as to where they could be when they should be in class. I would understand if students had family emergencies or other engagements that would cause them to miss my class. ||
 * Dunne Kaisha || Chapter 8 “Why Do We Grade, and What About Effort, Attendance, and Behavior?’ introduces teacher responses to why they grade, and if they should grade effort, attendance and participation. This chapter brings up the question of what we should or shouldn’t grade. Most teachers grade students because they believe it is a requirement, which it usually is, but the grade needs meaning (like in chapter 7). Grades can be used to document a student's progress, gauge how effective material is, and to provide feedback. There are some reasons why grades should not be given. Instead student's work should be assessed in this situation, as their attendance may be a result of events they have no control over. This chapter addresses attendance and participation as well. Grading participation is a iffy area, and teachers should only give grades for participation if the activity actually involves some sort of active participation. || This chapter is like an extension on the last. This expands into why we as teachers grade. I believe that participation should count because you need to give students credit for trying even if they haven't fully grasped the subject. This chapter brought up a lot of good topics on grading, and I think that in the end effort and participation are important aspects of the extent to which students are and can learn. I will have attendance factor in some because if their not there they cannot get the full picture of what we are discussing that day, but I do understand excused absences and emergencies do happen. ||
 * Hudson Kimberly || This chapter talks about grading effort, attendance, and behavior. Teachers were surveyed and came up with six reasons for why they grade: to document student and teacher progress, to provide feedback to the student and family, and the teacher, to inform instructional decisions, to motivate students, to punish students, and to sort students. The problem with grading participation is that determining the extent of a student’s participation isn’t easy. One student’s full bodied participation is another student’s disinterested glance. || I always hated it when teachers graded on participation. It was usually graded in a class where I did not feel safe to participate in. I think that, yes it is important, but teachers need to make sure that participation does not mean raising a hand and speaking in front of the class. I think teachers really need to understand that participation is different with each student. Also, instead of earning a grade for participation come up with some other kind of reward. ||
 * Korn Shauna || This chapter talked about how when teachers give students grades it should be because students have become knowledgeable in that subject or topic. It explained that students feel the pressure of grades so much sometimes from teachers that they are not able to give their best work. When this happens students become more focused on just memorizing the material than actually trying to apply it. Also the chapter talked about the students life outside of school and that though a student may have done poorly on something or seems to be acting differently, that doesn’t mean that something outside of school isn’t going on. Teachers need to take into account when grading that life happens especially for teenagers and that when looking at attendance or participation grades they should count in terms of seeing that the student is learning in whatever way that may be. || I truly believe that grades do sometimes motivate people to just focus on the letter or the number when it comes down to it, which I think is wrong. If teachers were to make that connection with students that I’m going to grade you on the assessments that I do to see if you have gone from the point that you stepped into this classroom the first day and that on the last day you have shown me that you have learned something. I know the valedictorian of my class was all about her grades and that she didn’t care about getting something out of the class as long as she could make an A in every class. She did a lot of memorization and a lot of work towards just a grade and not the learning experience. ||
 * LaRose Rebecca || This chapter is about what to include in assessment, and how to grade properly. Students need to know exactly what the teacher is looking for and how they will be graded on it. If a teacher follows this book and is grading on attendance, effort, participation and behavior, then students need to know how it will be graded. Although the book further states that effort and participation are important, it is sometimes good to grade so a student can judge how they portray themselves in class. || I think that grades can bounce back and forth between helpful and unhelpful. Sometimes grades don't mean anything to me because although I did poorly I put a lot of effort in, or maybe I didn't try but still got an A. I like that the chapter gave tips on how to decipher grading policies and such so that the student will be more informed. ||
 * Murphy Amber || This chapter shows that when teachers are grading students it usually means that students have mastery over the material of have been able to memorize the subject. However, this chapter addresses the idea about why we as teacher’s should grade and what about the students effort, participation, attendance, and participation should those be incorporated in the grade or graded also. When students are given a grade after lessons or units it forces the students to just try and memorize the material rather then really learning it. There are certain situations where grades get students caught up in the idea of getting a good grade where it would just be better to go one the student’s attendance, effort and participation. These show how much work the student is putting in which in turn determines how much the individual student gets out of the work, assignment, lesson, or unit. ||
 * Nieuwkerk Hannah || There are several good effects of grading homework, quizzes, and papers: documenting student/teacher progress, give feedback, and inform instructional decisions. But grades can use have a negative impact: sometimes inaccurate, dilute the usefulness, and teachers use grade to manipulate students. Lower grades also can be a negative motivator for some students. Grading participation, effort, and behavior is a big issue because how does a teacher know if a student is really trying? The student just may not want to participate, but, then again, maybe she/he is very shy and is actually trying really hard to overcome that fear. Teachers often have a difficult time deciding how to grade participation. It is also being debated whether behavioral skills should be separated from content skills on the report card. || I thought it was a good idea that teachers really need to look at students that are struggling: they are not being ‘lazy’, usually there is something else going on, and this is true. Most students don’t do homework for no reason; they just feel that teachers don’t want to hear their excuses, I can agree with this. I also feel that academics should be separated from work behaviors because they are so different and can really show so much about the student; work ethics, behavior, participation, and so much more. I like the part where it said that grades do have negative effects like: manipulation and diluting usefulness, and this is all true. Besides, what is the point of having a test, if it just comes back with a numerical grade on it and no corrections? Students do not benefit from this at all. ||
 * Scheffler Erich || This chapter talked about why students are graded, and what reasons teachers have for grading. The chapter then talks about how teachers grade a student’s participation. The book says a lot of teachers punish students who don’t talk in class a lot, when they give extra points to students who do. The chapter then shifted its focus to how to grade effort. This is very hard to do, says the book, and teachers need to find ways to combine effort, participation, and work into grades. || I liked this chapter too. I liked reading the part about participation, because in a lot of my classes, I don’t always talk, and a lot of times I am afraid that I will be penalized for that. But obviously, it is very difficult to incorporate all three of those factors in grading. I don’t know how I can incorporate all of those factors into my grading, so it was nice to read about other teachers’ philosophies, because the book says that colleagues can be a great help in this area. ||
 * Simoneau Andrea ||  ||   ||
 * Stevens Newcomb || This chapter dealt with grading and attendance. Attendance has been used to manipulate grading by taking off of points for missed classes. Methods like these often keep students in the classroom but this would mean that students are graded on something totally different than the curriculum. Participation is another form of attendance grading that is often used by teachers as a grade inflator: there are often cases where class participation just means showing up. If participation is to be graded, participation needs to occur. || I think that actual participation needs occur in the classroom if it is going to be graded. I had a History teacher that graded participation and did just that: he kept track of how much I was engaged in the class. I also had teachers that loosely graded participation, but they made that grade worth a low percentage. Grading like this is the best way to grade participation because it actually counts as participation. If something must be graded, make it count. ||