FIAE+Chapter+5+Block+2

Synthesis FIAE C5 B2

Chapter five of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// discussed using tiered assessments in the classroom. Tiering was defined as how teachers prepare materials and assignments for classrooms that consist of students with different readiness levels. The first way that we as teachers begin tiering is by expecting the students to master the expectations and standards. To increase the levels, many teachers try to relate subject matter to the real world, ask students to think about other viewpoints, and reframe the subject. The readings also discussed the levels of readiness and how it applies to a tiered classroom. The concept of cubing was also mentioned in this reading. Cubing allows for the teacher to create high and low complexity lessons using different subjects and the six facets of understanding. Change the verb is another option because it allows you change how challenging the prompt is by changing around the verbs. It makes it more interesting and motivating. One word summaries, where a student is given one word to describe an idea or concept, and are then required to debate whether or not the word fits the concept, was another excellent method for raising the difficulty. Other strategies mentioned were the summarization pyramid, the taxonomy of creativity which is based on fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. Tiering was something that I had never heard about before reading this chapter, and it is something I am still a little confused about. From what I know about it, it seems like it is a pretty interesting idea because it allows students of different levels of learning to be tested at their own ability without affecting others in the class. I really liked the idea of cubing and using the six facets of understanding on each side. This could be used in every subject and would be a great kind of activity to do before an exam for an assessment of their readiness. I also think that I would try to employ the one word summaries into my lessons because it would be a great tool to let students get creative with the unit.
 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Barnes Mckell || Chapter five in Fair Isn’t Always Equal talks about the concept of tiering. Tiering is also described as “ratcheting”. This means “we are primarily emphasizing the adjustments we make in assessments according to students’ readiness levels, not interests or learner profiles,” (56). Apart of the tiering method of teaching the book also suggests a contract between the student and teacher. This would be designed to allow students to work at their own pace so they can focus on the big ideas in the content. The book also states that students learn better if they know what is expected of them and what is in store for them in the future. || I really like the idea of tiering. I think it is a useful tool to not only adjusts assignments for kids who are a little bit slower, but it is also useful in adjusting assignments for students ahead of the learning curve. I also really like the idea of having an academic contract between the student and teacher. Sometimes it’s not feasible for some students to complete assignments on originally assigned dates so the contract allows students to complete work in a fashionable time that helps them learn the material on their own time. ||
 * Brennick Christopher || The fourth chapter of Fair isn’t always equals talks about tiering assessment. This gives us as teachers many ways of tiering assessments us and down so we make them harder for our learners who are ahead and more doable for slower learners. The basic definition given is that tiering is how teachers adjust task or assessments to the level of the learner readiness. The book gives us the advice of not lowering the standard for learners, but always stay focused on that standard and just help bring them up to standard. The book then gives us samples of ways to advance tiering for advanced learner. The book gives us examples of ways to tier from cubing and summarization pyramids to learning contracts. The book also as us to share the ways we tier with our colleagues because they will be able to help with a fresh perspective. || I liked the tiering process given because it is very responsive to the needs of the learners and lets student’s starts from where they are and not from a random point picked by the teacher for the whole class. I really did like the idea of student learning contracts because it makes the relationship a two-way street and places responsibility back on the student. I also think the idea of cubing would be a fun way to assess students in a group setting and it would make a game out of it which would engage students. ||
 * Columbia Laura || Chapter five of //Fair Isn't Always Equal,// Rick Wormeli discusses "Tiering Assessments." Wormeli explains tiering as scaling up or down the level of difficulty. But does not incorporate the student's readiness level or interests into the process. As well as the idea that it is not necessary to tier every lesson. Examples were given on how to tier lessons such as asking the students to manipulate information, working independently, or extending the concept to other areas of study. Other styles were offered, such as learning menus which allows students to pick certain combinations. This is similar to the idea of the Tic-Tac-Toe Board, which is also mentioned. Another style given was cubing. The idea behind that is to have a three dimensional cube, in which each group creates one. The groups get together, role it, and combine the different information that is on each side. Another example was given which is called RAFT. This allows the student to choose the topic from each column (role, audience, format, and topic). Overall, this chapter had many good examples of how to incorporate tiering into your lessons. In the conclusion of this chapter, Wormeli gives advice. He prepares his lesson s with tiering in them, even before he knows the level of the class. || It was really interesting to learn about the different techniques used. Some of them, such as Cubing, I have never heard of. Yet, I really like that idea because it incorporates moving, which many kinesthetic learners will appreciate. My favorite style so far would be the RAFT style. I really like the idea of giving students options. I am worried about tiering. I am not sure exactly how to do that. Though examples were given, I feel like the main goal is to get everyone on the same page. As a teacher, I do not feel like I have the understandings of how to do that. I do not want to make things to easy, or too hard, I want to have the balance of challenge that will encourage learning. ||
 * Coombs Kayla || Chapter five, entitled “Tiering Assignments” demonstrates the importance of using tiering in the classroom. It defines tiering as “ how teachers adjust assignments and assessments according to students’ readiness levels, interests, and learner profiles” (56). For first time assessment tierers the book suggests starting by expecting every student to demonstrate full proficiency with the standard, and expecting every student to achieve the minimum of the standard. It is important to start low and work one’s way up when tiering so as to challenge the students. One can increase complexity and challenge by adding attributes or decrease the complexity of an assignment or assessment. The attributes include: integrating more than one subject or skill, using or applying content/skills in situations not yet experienced, working with advanced resources, working independently, dealing with ambiguity and multiple meanings or steps, defending completed work, demonstrating higher order thinking, synthesizing two or more unrelated concepts or objects to create something new, negotiating the evaluative criteria, and critiquing something against a set of standards. Learning contracts are useful as a type of assignment to tier as they allow students to work at their own pace and on skills or in content areas that are most significant to their needs and interests. The teacher decides what objectives should be addressed while the student has the opportunity to negotiate on how long they have for completion and how to obtain and demonstrate mastery. Another good example of a structure that is easy to tier is a summarization pyramid, which is good because one could adjust the levels of the prompts for tiered groupings. A good idea when learning to tier is to practice tiering assessments and assignments and talk to colleagues and asking them questions. || I liked reading this chapter because I am not that familiar with tiering assignments, and a lot of that has to do with not having a lot of experience with them over my past years of schooling. I don’t feel like my teachers really worked on tiering assignments for my classes, and that is unfortunate because it seems like a really worthwhile thing to use. Modifying assignments to suit the students’ level of preparedness and willingness seems like a good idea because it seems like more successful learners will be leaving one’s classroom as a result. ||
 * Cummons Michael || Chapter 5 of FIAE is called Tiering Assessments. In any classroom there are many different kinds of learners. This chapter looks at how students can all reach the same level of understanding in different ways. Students are all different and must take different paths to understanding. This chapters looks at making certain concepts more or less complicated and complex, depending on the learner. Some students may learn in a more formatted way then other students. Some students need a more open and free way to learn a certain subject. This book gives in class examples of certain lessons. These examples give three different ways of doing things. One way is “Grade Level.” Another is “Advanced Level Task.” Another one is Early Readiness Level Tasks. || This chapter looks at helping students learn the same subject in different ways. This is very helpful as a teacher, because I know that I will have a classroom with kids who are all different, and learn things at different levels. As a teacher, you cannot just brush kids off who are not learning the material at all. You need to make adjustments in lesson planning, making sure the entire class remains engaged. Some students cannot learn things in a very complex manner, while other students need complexity to stay engaged and motivated in the classroom. ||
 * Damboise Kelley || Chapter five’s main focus is on tiering assignment and assessments, and how these methods can impact students understanding of a topic based upon their level of readiness. Tiering is defined as “how teachers adjust assignments and assessments according to students’ readiness levels, interest, and learner profiles”. Although a student’s interest and learning profiles are important, when dealing with tiering the focus is on structuring and adjusting assignments and assessments based upon the students readiness, these other two elements are put on the back burner for now. Examples of tiering include: increasing complexity and challenge, sample tierings of tasks, Tomlinson’s equalizer, learning contracts and menus, tic-tac-toe boards, cubing, summarization pyramid, Frank Williams’s taxonomy of creativity, RAFT(S), changing the verb, and one word summaries. Due to the fact that there are so many examples of tiering I’m only going to summarize a few of them. Learning contracts consist of meeting the students needs based upon the time it takes them to complete a task. Students work with teachers to design a program where they can work at their own place, and also work on material that is interesting to them. Students are still required to follow along in the curriculum needs, but they do so at their own pace and own learning style. Learning menus pertain to choices and decisions based upon a wide range of options. Students are given the opportunity to choice the task they want to complete for a list of activities. The last tiering assignment or assessment I’m going to talk about is the tic-tac-toe board. The tasks are arranged onto a board that looks like a tic-tac-toe board, and students are giving the option of choosing whether they want to do the tasks that are diagonal to each other, or horizontal, or vertical. Each task can be specifically related to the eight MI that way if a student is interpersonal he or she is more likely going to choose the task that pertains to his or her intelligence. || I think this is a great thing using tiering assignments and assessments because it really focuses on the learner completely. Growing up I was in classes where the pace of learning was far beyond that of which I could handle. I would have to work ten times harder to understand a simple concept, and then I would end up playing catch up so that I wasn’t falling behind in my classes. I wish I could have had a learning contract that allowed me the time I needed to fully understand a certain topic. I’m glad that teacher are starting to incorporate tiering assignment and assessments into his or her lesson because this allows for student who need to be challenge and opportunity to be pushed, and students who are not ready the extra time they need to be successful. I also like the idea of allowing students the chance to decide how they are going to show mastery of a certain subject by varying the subtopic from which they can choose from. For instance, going back to the tic-tac-toe game if three of the columns offered the choices of summarizing the information, comparing or making analogy to the information, or critiquing the information a student can choose which ever one he or she felt comfortable doing. ||
 * Kelley Kathleen ||  ||

In chapter five of FIAE Wormeli focuses on tiering assignments. Wormeli explains that tiering assignments means we alter assessments according to students’ readiness levels. It is also important to remember that there will not always be high, medium and low tiers. Wormeli offers numerous ways to increase the difficulty of an assignment including manipulating information, extending the concept to other areas, working with advanced resources, adding unexpected elements to the process or products reframing topics under a new theme, synthesizing two or more unrelated concepts or objects to create something new and working with the ethical side of the subject. He also suggests making learning contracts o learning menus with your students as ways to keep students invested in their work, as well as give the teacher the chance to gauge what the student may need extra help with, or what they are excelling in. He also suggests tic-tac-toe boards and cubing as ways to give the students choices while still having them learn what you want them to. Wormeli also discusses Frank Williams’s Taxonomy of Creativity, which consists of eight levels; fluency, flexibility, originality, elaboration, risk-taking, complexity, curiosity and imagination. He also briefly covered the RAFT concept, which stands for Role, Audience, Format and Topic (or time). I was extremely happy to see Wormeli offer ideas for making assignments more difficult. One of my greatest fears has been that I will not be able to offer an appropriate level of difficulty to my students who need that extra challenge. After reading this chapter however, I feel a little better. Wormeli offered a host of simple ideas that offer a huge impact on a students learning. This was a very informative chapter, but also the first one where I’ve seen ideas that I will probably never try to implement in my classroom. The ideas of Cubing and Learning Menus did not strike me as anything I would be interested in trying, nor could I really grasp how they are an effective tool. On the other hand I really enjoyed learning about RAFT(S) and Learning Contracts. I was never under a Learning Contract in school, but I had seen them used for other students and I am glad that I better understand how they are used. They now seem to me as much more in-depth than simply “Ok, I promise to do my work and in return for doing it I get an A”. Originally I had though those contracts were to just bribe apathetic students into simply completing their work, not matter how terrible or effortless it was. RAFT(S) also struck me as an amazing tool because I will be empowered to give my students multiple options, engage them by letting them use their favorite parts of the assignment, and on top of this I will be able to assess my students work because no matter how different the content of their writing may be depending on their choices, they will still be demonstrating for me their mastery of writing, and the broad idea of our unit. Just like the RAFT(S) in the chapter, it gave students an incredible amount of options to display their mastery of the Civil War. This chapter talks about tiering assignments and assessments as a way to increase productivity in student learning. The concept behind this is that the educator is providing students with the necessary tools to learn. The chapter states what when tiering the educator should always design a lesson at grade-level competency, and then raise or lower the standards as needed. We are warned that if we begin below grade-level to start off we are risking our productivity and possibly allowing ourselves to settle for less than our students’ true performance levels. Another tip the chapter provides is to stay focused on one concept or task at a time. Like backward design we can have a goal in mind and tier lessons in order to result in accomplishing our final goal. Further into the chapter we are given many specific examples of how to increase the difficulty of the assignment through tiering. Two powerful ones are manipulating information, and extending concepts into different areas. Next the chapter dives into the idea of learning contracts and how they are helpful in student development. These learning contracts are basically and agreement between the student and teacher that will enable the child to learn and score well as long as the requirements within the contract are upheld. Next the chapter talks about Frank Williams’s Taxonomy of Creativity. This taxonomy of creativity allows for educators to assess students very well because the structure of this taxonomy is very fluid and can allow for students to demonstrate their mastery of material in many different ways. One of the last tiering strategies touched upon is RAFT(S). I have never heard of these before but they seem to be constructed in a way that will allow students many choices on their assignment while still meeting the teacher’s demands for them. This RAFT(S) look especially powerful in the English concentration and I look forward to attempting to put them to use in my classroom.
 * Knowles Christina || Chapter five begins by introducing tiering. Tiering is when teachers look at how students work and adjust their assignments according to how each student works. Using the tier system means that the teacher will have to make sure he knows every skill needed to accomplish the tasks and know the levels his students are on. Next we are introduced to Tomlinson’s Equalizer. This helps change the levels the students are assessed on which allows us to use the Tiering system. Another tool to help use the Tiering system are learning contracts. Learning contracts allows the students to control certain aspects of the projects but also allows them to clearly understand what is critical in their assignments. The chapter also gives us more ideas that allow students to feel more involved in the classroom. On of these ideas is RAFTS. RAFTS allow the students to pick their own task. || I think this chapter was very interesting because I have never experienced the students controlling their assignments so much. However, it makes sense to me because it would make the students feel more motivated. I know that I would have had more control over my assignments because certain assignments are more difficult than others and take more time. I also think that it is important because it is more likely that the students will pay attention to the requirements in the assignment if they need to sign a contract. ||
 * Mourkas Margaret || Chapter 5 talks entirely about tiering assessment; tiering meaning ratcheting up or down a level of difficulty based on a students ability. There were many examples of tiering assessments written about in the chapter. Some which were tic-tac-toe boards, learning contracts, and cubing. Tic-tac-toe was explained as making a three by three box board and put different tasks in all the boxes. The students have to “win” tic-tac-toe by connecting three different boxes as you would in a regular game of tic-tac-toe. Learning contracts are just what they seem; a contract between the student and teacher that outlines what the student needs to learn and what they are going to do to master it. If the contract is broken, at any point during the unit, then the student must return to the level at which the majority of the class is. Cubing is a very visual way of understanding of what needs to be done and how to do it. The student creates a three dimensional cube with a poster or a regular piece of paper and responds to the topic of learning by describing, comparing, associating, analyzing, applying, and arguing for or against it. || Tiering for me I think would come very naturally. I understand that some students aren’t going to be able to perform at the same level and the majority of the students in the class. This may be for the entire school year or for just a certain unit. I think the learning contract is an awesome idea because it forms a bond with you and the student and if it’s broken there is no going back. Within the contract there could be a checklist for the student to report what has been completed and what hasn’t. Understanding tiering in the book was really difficult before there were examples provided. ||
 * O'Neil Christopher || Chapter five discussed the idea of tiering assessments. Tiering is define as the way in which teachers adjust their assignments and assessments based on the student’s readiness level, interests, and learner profiles. There are many different assessments that teachers use to incorporate tiering. These different assessments are; learning contracts, learning menus, tic-tac-toe boards, cubing, summarization pyramids, Frank Williams’s Taxonomy of Creativity, RAFT(S), and many more. With each one of these assessments, teachers can easily incorporate tiering and still use the same set up for the assessment. In regards to the tic-tac-toe boards, teachers can take one board and make different versions of it to include tiering. They would do this by adjusting the number or pattern of the assignments, or they could include different criteria throughout the board. Each of these assessments can easily include tiering into them. || I enjoyed this chapter and the information it provided. I feel that the author did a great job explaining what tiering was and how it can be used in the classroom. The examples that were given will be extremely helpful for when I become a teacher. I might even end up taking some of the assessment layouts and use them in my classroom. Each one of the assessments seems to be very flexible in the way of how you can include tiering into it. I feel that incorporating tiering into my lessons will be important to help my students master the information more. ||
 * Richardson Cassandra || Chapter five describes the concept of tiering, or ratcheting, assignments after preassessment for individual learners based largely on readiness and interest. The level can go either up or down as far as determining how challenging a task or assignment will be for certain students. The standard/benchmark level is helpful in this case because it gives a jump-off point for tiering assignments. The chapter gives several different ways of tiering, such as learning contracts, learning menus, tic-tac-toe boards, and cubing. Each of these have their own elements that make them attractive as models. Another model, RAFTS, allowed students to pick and choose, and essentially create, their own assignments. || Even though I’m still kind of fuzzy as far as understanding the concept of tiering, from what I’ve seen in this chapter it seems like a worthwhile practice. With tiering, it is possible to challenge students or offer extra help to students without disrupting the flow of learning for each group. The RAFTS model and the learning menu were very interesting to me, because of the elements of choice. Having the ability to make choices as far as assignments go is a crucial thing for students; it falls underneath autonomy, where decisions affecting their education can be made. ||
 * Trundy Monique ||  ||
 * Webb Christopher || Chapter five of FIAE is all about how to tier our instructions for different students so they are challenged appropriately and can master the material. The book defines it as “ratcheting” up or down the challenge level for students. Teachers should always start by first expecting all students to demonstrate the full proficiency. Aiming too high or too low to being with will lead to distorted results. Then teachers need to stay focused on the task and not delve into all of the subsets and skills that our content has. This chapter then introduces Tomlinson’s Equalizer to us; it is a series of nine continuums which a teacher can use to consider the nature of each assignment or assessment. It suggests using a learning contract between the teacher and student which is something I had never heard of but allows for more flexible learning and teaching. There are a few other suggestions of things which can be used to tier learning such as; a tic-tac-toe board, a cubing exercise, and a summarization period. Finally the chapter discussed Frank Williams Taxonomy of Creativity, which has eight levels, and they are; Fluency, Flexibility, originality, Elaboration, Risk-Taking, Complexity, Curiosity, Imagination. || I really enjoyed reading this chapter because all throughout my high school days my teachers never tiered the teaching for us. Everyone always did the same work the same way and it wasn’t very interesting or fun. That is why I want to take what I learn from this chapter and bring it into my classroom. There are many great ideas in it towards the beginning and ends of the chapter for ways to tier the material. I had also never knew about the Taxonomy of Creativity but it seemed like an intriguing concept and worth reading more about. ||
 * West Simon ||  ||