FIAE+B2+Chapter+11


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Cam
Chapter 11; Six Burning Grading Issues Grading is defined in this chapter once again, as they say that giving a student a zero is better than a sixty. Giving your student a sixty will result in other students trying to get by without the hard work. Gifted students are students that should be graded by the grade level to which they fit to. Teachers often make the mistake of double weighing a grade when it comes down to the final one. A rule to keep in mind is that credit proportional to achievement. Teachers also need to keep in mind of the automaticity versus concept attainment. When assignments are turned in late the teacher must distinguish if it is occasional or chronic. If it is occasional, then give the student full credit. But if it is chronic, then the need to sit down with the student and think of alternatives or solutions. When a student with special needs is present in the class, it is most critical that the teacher has full communication with the special education teacher. This chapter impacts me as a future teacher because it makes me realize that some students will have that type of living conditions where it impacts their educational performance. This impacts my students because it makes them feel comfortable knowing that I understand and can be flexible with their due dates and workload.

Dani
Chapter eleven of FIAE is about six issues when it comes to grading that teachers struggle with. Obviously there are more than just six but the chapter chooses to only address six of them. The six things include recording a zero or a sixty, grading gifted students, weighting grades, automaticity versus concept attainment, grading students with special needs, and grading late work. The chapter describes all of them and gives a few helpful ideas on how to handle them. This chapter affects me because as a teacher I will also have to be thinking about them when grading my students. Having this chapter is helpful. It affects my classroom a lot as well because grades are the final summary of the work the student has done in my classroom. It is important that they are accurate.

Marcy
This chapter talks about six issues with grading that a lot of teachers have major concern with and they are: whether to record a zero or a sixty, how to grade gifted students, weighing grades, automaticity versus concept attainment, grading late work, and grading special needs students in inclusion classes. First off, recording a zero for late work gives an inaccurate picture of the student’s mastery of the content. The book suggests recording a sixty instead, it is still failing, but on a hundred point scale it brings down the average a lot less. When it comes to grading gifted students in a regular class, the teacher has to make a choice whether to grade the student according to the standards that his or her peers have or to make higher standards and hold the student to that. Either way the expectations and standards should be made clear to the student and to the parents that way everyone knows what the grades mean. This brings up the idea of weighing certain grades more heavily than others to make the fact that the student had to work harder for a grade count. The book suggests the rule, “credit proportional to achievement.” The idea of whether to count automaticity level of learning or concept attainment level depends on how long students have had to develop their understanding of the topic. A test should measure whichever the teacher believes is important to measure. If this is the first time students have been exposed to this concept then automaticity comprehension of learning is not a fair expectation for students. When it comes to grading late work, the book suggests mercy as a good rule of thumb for students who pass in late work occasionally. For the students who chronically turn in late work other adjustments should be made. Taking off a few points, will help them understand the importance of deadlines. Lastly, the chapter makes one big point about grading special needs student, communication. Communication between the special education teacher, who knows the student’s IEP and what is developmentally appropriate for the student, and the regular education teacher, who is an expert in the curriculum, is important to set standards by which the student will be assessed. Solutions to this obstacle will come through communication and reevaluating the progress of the student. This affects me as a teacher by understanding the most common areas outside of the mainstream students. What I took out of this chapter is to set standards and stick to them. From there if changes need to be made for special circumstances I know where I am starting from and I can catch myself if I stray too far. This affects my students by helping them always know what is expected of them. If also helps them realize that I will not punish them for late work if it is on occasion.

Nicholas
**Chapter 11:** This chapter touched upon a topic that I rarely hear being discussed within schools. How do you go about grading gifted students? For some students the regular classroom is too easy or slow and holds them back from really demonstrating their mastery of subjects and understanding. Some students really grasp one subject or content area and need to have a higher challenge presented. Then you have the students that excel naturally at everything that they do. It may be to the point where they need to skip three or four grade levels. I agree that some students have a natural gift when mastering educational knowledge. It is up to us as educators to make sure that they are being challenged within the classroom and that they are at a point where they have mastered everything needed in order to become successful at the advanced levels of education. As a teacher I hope to challenge all of my students and force them to become successful at all they are involved with. If students are not being challenged than they are more apt to lose interest in learning as a whole.

Jason
I thought that this chapter was very interesting because it deals with grading and what to do about late work and work that never gets passed in. I learned that it is a better idea to mark an assignment that never comes in as a 60 instead of a 0 because that will show a better representation of the grade – adding a zero will actually dilute the overall grade of a student. I also agree that it is a better idea to take a couple points off for each day an assignment is late instead of a whole letter grade; if you take off that many points, the student will never hand things in. I can relate to the chapter because my teachers in high school would mark missing assignments as zeros. If you did not do it, then it would severely damage your grade. When it comes to my own classroom, I am more than willing to place a 60 in there instead of a zero; I would also remove a few points instead of dropping a late assignment a whole letter grade. I also believe that if an assignment is late every couple months then that is ok, but if someone turns in a late assignment every week then I would need to sit down and talk to this student. Grading is tough and the most important part is to make sure that it is fair.
 * FIAE Chapter 11: Six Burning Grading Issues **

Lizzie
This chapter, as also discussed in previous chapters, was about grading. It plays with the idea of the actual number grade and what it means to the students. It is hard to place an emotional value on a number grade, but students in every classroom are doing it. This chapter suggests that it might be more beneficial to your students if they are given a lower grade, such as a zero rather than a 60. The reasoning behind this is that your students may be tempted to just “get by” without doing the work, and rely on getting a 60 as passing. It is important that teachers develop a plan of how to properly assess their students in order to prevent those kids from just “getting by”. This problem leading into how to weigh grades is relentless and learning how to find a solution sooner rather than later can benefit the students as well as yourself. Another problem is teaching to those gifted students as well as those who need extra help. Here is when teaching to the appropriate grade level of each student comes into play. However with such a diverse classroom, the continuing problem is how to reach every student’s needs on so many levels.

Teachers also need to look at the behavior of each student not just with social and individualized actions but with work, timeliness, and overall reliability and understanding. If a student makes a habit of certain behaviors or attitudes, they need to be addressed on a one on one level. If it happens only occasionally and is the direct result from another force in their life, alternate ways of dealing must be considered. It is so important that the teacher begin and continue a close relationship with each student establishing communication to identify and catch these behaviors, learning styles/level, as well as habits early on. Late work as well as missing work is something I don’t think I would be able to tolerate. If it is late because of a valid medical or family issue that is being or has been discussed with me, that is one case. But for student to just “forget” or not do their work, I can not say that I have sympathy or would be willing to cut a little slack. This is why being able to know each student is the best way to ensure that you will reach them not just on a personal/emotional level but on a strong academic level as well. The point of this chapter, I believe, is consistency. Being able to set standards and guidelines for the classroom and for the students are what will help them learn how to behave, help them to learn, and prevent bad habits from continuing or even beginning.

** Andrew D**
This chapter is about grading and six issues teachers face when it comes to grading students work. One of the biggest issues is whether or not to give a student a 0 or 60. Giving a student a 0 will bring the students final grade down considerably and will most likely inaccurately reflect their understanding and mastery. Giving the student a 60 will bring the students grade down some but will more accurately reflect the amount of understanding and mastery. A couple of other issues are how to grade gifted students and also special education students in regular classrooms. In both instances grading students the same as everybody else seems like the most fair and reasonable way. Other issues brought up are weighting grades, grading late work, and automaticity versus concept attainment. This chapter impacted me because I believe if we are going to continue using grades, then the final grade should reflect what the student understands from what they have been taught. If a grade doesn’t reflect that, then there isn’t any point in grading. This chapter will impact my classroom because I will try and stay away from giving students zeros and will make sure and grade late work fairly. I want my students final grades to reflect what they understand and have mastered, nothing else.

Ben
Chapter 11 talks about six issues that really burn the grading aspect of school. The first issue was the one that bugged me the most. It was whether to record a 0 or a 60 in the grade book. Obviously there is no argument for my part, I believe that if a student does nothing then the grade should represent the same amount of work. If we start changing the grades for 0's why not for an 80 to a 90. We become the decider of mastery level when we start changing grades. I hope every teacher, present and future, sees that this is a horrible idea, and that it needs to stop. If I did this as a teacher for every major test or project, students who do not get the material could possibly pass with a 80 to 85 average. From this chapter I will know not to change a 0 just to make the point scale look better.

Lindsey
A big focus of this chapter was upon giving students 60s rather than zeros. Despite this suggestion, I believe that the grade should remain a zero until the work is turned in, at which time the grade will be changed. Although placing a zero in the grade book will heavily weigh upon the student’s average, this encourages students to turn in work and shows that students will receive higher grades for completed work. If one student does all of the work while another does none, the student who has done no work should not receive the same grade as the other student. Another issue raised is that of credit proportional to achievement, thus content as well as the time that has been spent on the topic are both factors considered in grading student work. An issue raised in this chapter which affected me was that of communication between the special education teacher and the mainstream teacher. There should be constant collaboration between the two teachers to ensure that the student’s IEP and the curriculum are intertwined and a regular part of the student’s learning.

Jenna
Chapter eleven of __Fair Isn't Always Equal__ deals with the ever-lasting issue of grading and how teachers should handle late work and work that never gets passed in. I learned that it is always better to give a grade on a late assignment than to just give the student a zero. This way, the student is receiving a better representation of what they really know of the material. I also loved the idea of taking off a few points off of a late assignment, instead of marking it down a whole letter grade. I remember when I injured my leg during junior year and I was on pain medications that made me drowsy. I would pass in my homework late and I had this one teacher who would mark me down a whole letter grade because of it, even though she knew that I understood the materials and subject content. It was so frustrating and it made me never want to pass in anything else in her class. However, when I am a teacher, I will not accept a late homework assignment every week. A couple of late assignments a month is acceptable, because I know that students have issues every now and then. But there is no excuse for not having their homework assignment every day. Grading is a very touchy issue and it is important for me to remember that I have to be fair in my grading because I do not want to misrepresent a student's mastery of the content.

Andrew F.
This chapter touches upon things I have experienced out in the field and that I have had discussions about with my mentor teacher, the one that struck me the most would be recording a zero or a sixty for work that is incomplete or missing, and the best solution would be dealing with this problem is just using your best judgment. If a student is finishing their late homework within your class and passing it in at the end of the block and missing all the content discussed within that lesson, full credit should not be awarded. If the students were absent or out for a field trip or family emergency they will have to make up the time and get a better grasp on the material and then they can redo or make up their work. But a great solution is using the Power Teacher software which gives you such options as classifying individuals work as exempt, late, or missing which students can see and then make up the work accordingly.

Ted
Chapter 11 deals with six grading issues that come up very often. The first one listed, the “Zero or Sixty” argument is one that I feel strongly about. I don’t think having a permanent zero in the gradebook is ever acceptable. On one hand, if the grade is intended to reflect understanding, it is irresponsible to assume that a student has a 60% understanding of the content. On the other hand, it’s irresponsible to assume that they know absolutely nothing about the content being graded. I also really liked the chapter’s suggestion for grading late work where you record two grades – one that reflects mastery and one that includes the late penalties. I also agreed with the suggestion that a full letter grade off is more punitive than instructive.