FIAE+Chapter+14+Block+1

Synthesis FIAE C14 B1


 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Archambault Michael || Chapter 14 of FIAE tackles report cards. When a classroom is differentiated, it becomes much more complicated to send home a report card. For this reason, schools re-examine their report card system almost annually. In an adjusted curriculum, we grade students against their own progress. There is the dual approach, which gives two grades: one for personal progress and achievement, the other against the standards. There can also be multiple categories within one subject such as proper lab procedure, scientific method, or graph skills. || I dont know how I am going to use report cards as communication with the parents. At my high school, there were generic comments that teachers typed in a number and they came up. They told me nothing except that "Michael is not working up to potential". Thanks a lot. My mom always liked those comments. If you are doing a good job with formative assessment, report cards should be easy and not a shock to anyone involved. ||
 * Audy Melissa || Chapter 14 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal explains that it is not efficient to send home traditional report cards when a class is being taught using differentiated instruction. A report card is meant to reflect upon the learning that has occurred over a given time period, and by disregarding the fact that a unit has been taught with differentiated instruction retracts a good portion of the substance within the report card. One suggestion for incorporating differentiated instruction into report cards is to grade students based on their personal progress. This can be extended by including the completion of standards alongside the report of progress. It is also suggested that rather than supply one grade for a given subject, teachers should consider breaking down the components of their subjects and grading each aspect individually. || I found this chapter rather interesting. Since report cards are such standardized methods of communication, I found myself questioning how I would be able to incorporate the various aspects mentioned in the chapter. Though I find little to disagree within this chapter, I feel that it would be difficult for new teachers to find ways to change the system many schools have in place where the report cards are all uniform. Sending home a separate sheet to supplement the report card is a great idea. I find that feedback is far more important than numerical grades, which I feel this chapter emphasized well. ||
 * Boulter Elizabeth || This chapter was about report card formats. There were lots of examples, some more productive than others. There were continuous reports, no overall grade reports, growth reports. The growth reports looked at previous report cards and looked at your present grades and the report compared the two and talked about what the students growth seemed to be. But how often do letter grades show growth? How do they really know? So next they looked at continuous reports and multiple category reports that focused more on standards instead of grades and gave specific feedback. || I really liked the continuous, ongoing, progress report card. I felt like this one gave really specific feedback that was practical! I feel like it is upbeat and focuses on the standards and expectations instead of how teachers think students grow based on a letter grade. Here, students have an explanation of each area and therefore know what progress needs to be made in specific areas....not just bringing up a letter grade. ||
 * Brown Ryanne || This chapter speaks to the ongoing process of formatting report cards. Report cards are constantly being reexamined by school districts to ensure that the reports are accurate in showing modifications to the curriculum and student expectations. This concept is a slightly complicated process that the chapter goes into details about including. Further into the chapter is an analysis of the creation of reports cards and how different elements of the classroom can be reflected within them. By showing grades for personal and academic achievement, the report cards are more informative and also substantial indicators of student effort. The chapter suggests that teachers should keep the main emphasis on the achievements of the students, but should also have some indication of their rational for their assessment. || I found this chapter to be really informative and helpful. It is interesting to look at report cards from a different angle other than just hearing the letter grade and a standard comment to the right of it to indicate the student’s standings. Throughout school, I can imagine my improvements would be easier to achieve if I had receive d more elaborate feedback on my report cards. The chapter gives some good tips on how to supply students and parents with enough information to help them understand and improve, without giving a super detailed report on the student. I think it is really improve to include specifics on the student and his or her personal and academic achievements all in one place. ||
 * DePue Margaux || Chapter 14 discusses several report card formats that will be useful for giving effective feedback to students. The first deals with adjusted curriculum, which deals with grading students against their own progression. In this approach, teachers should find a way to acknowledge how they have modified the curriculum for the student, whether it was to change the pace or add more breadth, possibly giving narrative comments to prevent skewing the interpretation of the report card. The second is giving two grades, one for personal progress and one for achievement. The third deals with separate grades for each category within the subject. When communicating student progress to parents, the author says to explain where the student lies in terms of expected progress and whether they are advanced or behind. || Though the format ideas in this chapter were helpful, I could not help but think how ridiculous the author sounded in certain places when justifying certain formats for certain students. When discussing the dual approach which looks at student achievement and personal progress, the author states, "What about the student who earns a D3? He's not at the same level as his classmates, but wow, what a fantastic year it was for him!" (176). This statement is as ridiculous as it is insulting. How can it be a fantastic year for the student if they are behind and have not mastered the content? If I saw this on my report card, I would feel terrible and ashamed. It screams, "Great job! You worked so hard! But you still didn't do well enough. Better luck next time!" If the student's effort was a 3, then wouldn't they get a better score in theory? ||
 * Dunne Kaisha || Responsive report card formats was the topic of chapter 14 in FIAE. The chapter started by talking about how teachers and parents view report cards. This is a very important topic because it is an important update for where the student is as for you as the teacher, the student, their parents, and the school. This is a big thing in a kids life typically, because it determines whether or not they can participate in certain school activities, and it may gain them rewards (if good) from people at home. I think its great that the chapter talked about the modified report card which is a report card set up in a way so that students in a gifted program and students in a special needs program have there needs met, because I had never thought about that till now. The format that I thought would be a good display for the administration, but difficult for students and their parents to fully understand is a format that is a standards mastery format in which students are given a report card that lists what standards they need to master and to what degree they have all been mastered. || This can be a very stressful time for students and then that makes it feel like a lot of pressure on the teahcer. This is usually the time of the year that students rush to get things in and even ask to make up stuff from week one. This is a big determining factor for high school kids, it determines whether or not they can play sports, or their parents will let them go to a concert or out with their friends more. I know a lot of my friends were in the dog house if they got under a certain grade. Report cards can be very stressful! ||
 * Hudson Kimberly || There are several different ways to report grades in a differentiated classroom. For those students who have a modified curriculum, a teacher should grade students against their own progression. Since having “adjusted curriculum” is generally not allowed on the report cards, the teacher needs a way to get around that when it is time to report grades. Many schools allow an asterisk or an X indicating that whomever is looking at the report card should look at a comment that was recorded about that grade in the student’s folder. The teacher can also use the dual approach. This means that there are two marks for the grade. One is the student’s personal progress, and the other indicates where the student stands against the standards set for everyone else. || I really do not like the fact that most people look down on the fact that some students may need adjustment made in the classroom. The reason the “adjusted curriculum” is not allowed directly onto the report card is because some people see that as a red flag in regards to the student. They think they might have a problem learning. I really like the dual approach. This means that the students can see where they stand in regards to everyone else, but also see how much the progressed over the year. ||
 * Korn Shauna || This chapter was about the way to do report cards right and why its important to do them in a certain way. The first part of it talks about how you can do a report card that has to do with where the student was at the beginning to the school year and where they are when the teacher does the report card. This allows the teacher and the student to see where they have improved and also allows them to see where they might need to improve. When also looking at grading teachers need to look at the positive aspects that student are bringing to the table. Something important for teachers to do is also just like they mark where the bad grades are they also need to mark the great stuff that that student is doing. This way parents see the great stuff that students are doing and the growth that they are making. It enforces that students are not only doing something that needs to be worked on but that they have made growth in a certain area and have made progress. || I think that this chapter was good because it shows teachers that they need to focus on the good stuff that students accomplish and the progress that they have made. I feel that if more teachers did this that students would not feel that they were failures when they got their report cards, and personally I think that teachers should be required to write at least one good thing about each student, because there can not be all bad about a student and it would make the student feel good and would be an encouragement to keep on doing what they are doing that is positive. Plus this might help at home with parents watching over their kids, because it would show that their kid is doing something amazing. ||
 * LaRose Rebecca || This chapter was all about the different ways to do a report card. There are right ways and there are wrong ways. As a teacher, you should always strive to make sure that there is evidence of where the student started and where they are heading. Also, asking for a parent to sign off on the report card is very important. This gives opportunity to receive feedback from the parent and often the student when it is required that some sort of communication be received. Besides the bad, report cards also have to reflect all of the positive. Make sure to record all of the amazing things students do so they can be recognized for that too. || Report cards and progress reports are something that is so important I am a little nervous that I might screw one up. It would be very sad. Often schools have a set report card/ progress report form, but I think that it is important to also keep a set of notes detailing how a student is doing and sending those home every now and then would be a good option and will get students recognized and might give students an extra push to better themselves. ||
 * Murphy Amber || Chapter fourteen discusses report card formats. Report cards usually show the students progress and what the student has already achieved. It is essential to make the report card show more then just a grade. When filling out report cards it is crucial for teachers to provide personal feedback to explain to both parent and student how they have achieved the grade in which they received. There is an option to adjust the curriculum and this grades the students on their overall accomplishment throughout the semester compared to how they first started out. Then there is the dual approach which consists of one grade on personal student progress and another grade on the standards which the student is suppose to meet. When teachers just show the student’s grade they are failing at showing how much the student has mastered in that subject area. There are two other formats for report cards and they consist of continuous progress report where the students are kept track of for over two years and the multiple categories in one subject. || I believe that this chapter is essential and it is very important for teachers to provide positive feedback on the report card. I thought that it was essential when they mentioned to tell the parents and students how they have arrived at the grade they received. I remember receiving report cards and wondering why I received the grade I received and I think that if teachers provided more feedback it would be much easier for students to improve. ||
 * Nieuwkerk Hannah || It is all very well to teach and grade differentially, but it is a little more difficult to put all the assessment on a report card. How can so much learning, growing, and individuality be thrown into a single letter grade? A simple answer: it can’t. The adjusted (modified) curriculum shows where the student was at the beginning and how far they came in that quarter, and along the way, the teacher can modify the curriculum to meet the needs of students. The dual approach gives a grade for a typical letter grade in the class and then a number is given for how much the student had personally grown in the class; showing two very different, but important aspects. The last two formats are the continuous progress report where the growth of students is kept track of for over two years, and the multiple categories within one subject, which identifies objectives, standards, and benchmarks and then students are given a grade for each category. Overall, teachers should really pay attention to the emphasis on standards and personal achievement, not just the format of the report card. || Although these ideas are all good ones, I feel that this is a little unrealistic. I have never had a report card that gives more than one grade per class. It’s simple and easy for teachers, and it would become even more difficult once high school came around and GPAs start to matter. The whole school would have to be converted over to this system and I think that many of the older teachers would oppose the idea. I believe that this book is heading in the right direction: a class that lasts a whole year should not be able to be summed up in a single letter grade- it’s almost like telling the student that they are just a letter or a numerical value, even after all the work and time they put into that class. ||
 * Scheffler Erich || This chapter was about report cards. What is the best way to have a report card set up? Schools are constantly searching for the answer. The book started off talking about modified curriculum. It talked about how it’s unfair to give a student who has completed a great amount of work in short time, yet still comes up short a D or an F because they did not meet standards. The second way is to track both personal progress and achievement against standards. The book recommended giving a letter grade for achievements, and a number grade for personal growth. || I thought this chapter was pretty interesting. I liked the idea of using a letter grade for achievements and a number grade for personal growth. I liked it because I think it shows exactly how much a student has learned, and how much they grasp the material. It also gives a good idea of how much they can still learn and how much they can still grow. ||
 * Simoneau Andrea ||  ||   ||
 * Stevens Newcomb || This chapter dealt with the most important thing one can give a student: the report card. Schools will actually look at the structure of the report card frequently in order to ensure that nobody is offended. Schools are actually trying so many different ways to show progress in a student’s work. One detail that was mentioned was the fact that it is encouraged not to have final averages that include the first quarters.  ||  I found that not recording the first couple of quarters was actually a benefit to struggling students. I find that this encourages the student to try even harder. The most interesting thing that can be taken from this is the social implications of this method: the teacher is not judging based upon previous work. I think this is a practice of actually not judging on the past of a person, but rather what they are doing now. I think that this is a key promotion in the change of not only the student, put also in the person. I would certainly approve of this because I believe people can change.  ||