FIAE Chapter 9

FIAE Ch 9
Grades must be accurate to mastery. This chapter talked about 10 different approaches you should use to avoid
1 Don’t include nonacademic factors in the final grade. These factors may include behavior, attendance, and effort.
2. Don’t penalize students when it takes multiple attempts to prove mastery but providing feedback is very important. If a student shows mastery in the end then they should receive the grade reflecting it.
3. Don’t grade practice because these are a method to reach mastery, not to prove mastery. This practice gives students time to reflect and revise their work and understanding of the subject matter.
4. Don’t withhold assistance when it is needed. Include differentiation to clarify information. This may not seem equal but it is what needs to be done for some students to gain mastery.
5. Only assess in ways that accurately indicate mastery.
6. Don’t give extra credit and bonus points. These do not usually show mastery of a subject.
7. Avoid group grades. They do not reflect each student’s understanding of the subject and may create an unhealthy atmosphere within the group due to peer pressure.
8. Don’t grade on a curve. You need to compare students to themselves not each other the way curve grading does.
9. Don’t record zeros for work not done because it significantly distorts the grade.
10. Don’t use compare students to each other but to their own past work.

It seems that the further we get into grading the more complicated it becomes. There was some question about grading for homework. If you are not going to grade homework what is the incentive for students to hand it in or take it seriously? On the other hand, students need to be able to try and get it wrong without being afraid that it will bring their grades down. One student commented on scaling and that students should continue on in their education because they have mastered the basics not because the grades were scaled. The principle about avoiding penalizing student’s attempts to try to master the subject was really useful. There were thoughts on number six. Sometimes bonus points can be useful and, more importantly, fun. Sometimes bonus questions can be used to assess higher levels of learning. We have all seen some (or most) of these practices in high school but we have also seen this in college, used in both positive and negative ways.

FIAE Chapter 8

Abstract
Many teachers view grading as something that they have to do instead of something they do to benefit the students. The chapter breaks up different ways and reasons that teachers grade work.
To document student and teacher progress
To provide feedback to the student, family and teacher
To inform instructional decisions
To motivate students
To punish students
To sort students
The first three reasons are ones that are understandable and don't produce much controversy, however the second three are ones that get much discussion over. Some other discussions are about whether or not participation and effort.

Reflection
Grading is something that really needs to happen. Maybe not always using actual grades to do it but by using some sort of assessment piece that will be kept to give you a record of how well a student is doing. We all agreed that grade affect our lives dramatically whether it be that we are always trying to get good grades or say when we do get a grade and it doesn't seem to fit what we thought we would get then it becomes more frustration than anything. Most of us agreed also on grading students for their participation inside the classroom and that is because it get the students to be involved with a discussion and perhaps gets them to learn more about the topic being discussed.

FIAE Chapter 10

Chapter 10 dealt entirely with the concept of making up late work. The chapter goes in to some detail concerning certain instances where late work might occur, and how to deal with them in the form of some sort of policy. Generally, the book says it is best to give students who were showing effort on a piece the opportunity to revise their work for a better grade. It was highly recommended that there be some sort of system that will ensure late work is not just blown off work. One suggestion was for the teacher to rewrite the assignment so students have to show effort in the work. Other recommendations included parents signing notes as well. At the very least this would encourage parent involvement and therefore diminish the chances of a student using the full credit make up system for "blow-off" purposes. It is also strongly recommended that a time limit be instated for late work, as well as not allowing any make up work for the last week of a grading period. This is mostly for teacher purposes, seeing as cramming make-up grades in to the gradebook at such a late time would be very stressful for the teachers.

Basically everyone agreed with the ideas introduced in the book. Students should certainly be allowed full credit makeups and revisions, but there are definite limitations that need to be addressed in order to maintain some sort of classroom sanity. Many people exclaimed in the definite line given for the do's and don'ts of makeup and revision work.

Chapter 10

This chapter gives us ways to get students to do things outside of the classroom that has them use the knowledge they learned. Things like internships, have projects that involve experts, have them look toward summer and enrichment programs and support their learning on their own. Making this connection to the outside world with students will help them appreciate and value school more than they did before. Students are simply looking to be intrigued and inspired with the work they do and if they never get that then there is no motivation for them to be in school.

Chapter 9

This chapter is about trying to make any rough edges smooth before you even get to them. Like when a student feels discouraged with school it usually means that something went wrong with the grades they are getting or got. It could also be that the student isn't secure or lacks the confidence needed to be appreciated. The students created a list of questions that teachers should ask before grades a posted and after they are. One student said that a new teacher should be sure to maintain control and or of his or her classroom environment. There is another important section that deals with what to do when things go wrong. In it Cushman says don't be afraid to apologize, reexamine your teaching approach, don't take a bad day too hard, your success shouldn't be based on whether or not your students like you and don't try to be a superhero.

Chapter 8

This was a very important chapter in this book. It is so important because we as teacher need to know what to expect in any situation and this may very well be a situation that many of us face. When you have an English learning student in your class they will feel uncomfortable to answer questions or share work for fear of messing up their English. But what we as teachers need to do is ensure that their grammar skills, accents and other differences they may have don't get made fun of. Getting them to take risks is an essential part of them learning the language so look past spelling errors and grammar mistakes, ask them if they are understanding the content that we are teaching to them and make sure that we give them alternate ways to present the knowledge on the subject.

Chatper 7

There is some material that will come difficult to some students, I actually experienced this when I was in the classroom. This chapter tries to help us as teacher create ways that will get the student to better understand and learn those harder materials. Ways such as breaking down the material, linking the material to something that they already know or can do, make connections to things they already do and use different approaches when teaching the material. Getting students to think about the subject will get them to better understand and get them to remember it better when it is time to take the test than when they are just trying to cram knowledge in their brain for the test.