FIAE+B1+Chapter+8


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[|Rachel B. Abstract and Synthesis]
Through reading the class reflection on chapter eight of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// I have come to some conclusions on the groups thoughts as a whole. One of the first conclusions I’ve come to is the fact that many, if not most of us, agree that [|grades] should be kept separate from everything else: attendance, participation, ability to work well with other, being prepared, effort and so on and so forth. “Everything else,” is so unique for each student and it may be very difficult to assign scores based on things such as [|participation]. Despite the fact that a teacher may choose not to include participation in his/her grading, he/she has the ability to bring importance and meaning to his/her classroom and “other factors.” The “other factors,” will be needed in some way or another for students to be successful and rounded, just not a part of the final grade, or if so marginally. Another conclusion I’ve come to through reading all of the reflections is that it seems as though we agree that grades are necessarily, no matter how much it stinks to say so, because we need them to document student and teacher progress. We don’t want to use them to motivate students, to punish them or to sort students. We can all agree that we want students to be engaged and learning in our classes, without the grades being the reason. We also agree that all the “other factors” are important and we will find way to possibly incorporate them cleverly, carefully, and balanced into classrooms, or into our grading, if we choose to.
 * Abstract**: This chapter discussed grades and what should and possibly should not be included in them. There are so many factors that account for a student and what they bring to the classroom and the final grade they receive: their effort, level of participation, attendance, kindness to others in the class, ability to work effectively in a group, and so on and so forth are all a part of it. The real question, and the discussion of this chapter, was whether or not grades should include those factors. Through this chapter it is reflected that combining grades, documented through in class and at home work along with projects, test and quizzes, with other factors such as attendance is not a good idea. Grades are used to document student and teachers progress and with all the other factors involved, other than a marginal amount, the true strengths and ability of the students are not reflected in the final grade.
 * Synthesis:**

Rachel B.
This chapter was really interesting and thought provoking! There are so many aspects of a student and how they act, what they do and what they don’t do, what they pass in or don’t pass in, how many days they are absent and how prepared they are when they do come to class. I’ve thought about all these factors as both a student and a future teacher but not particularly in regards to grading. Teachers have so much going on and through reading this chapter I discovered that teachers can have up to twenty hours of grading to take home with them, which is a rather large load considering everything else teachers do. I think that in many ways it is important to keep the grading process separate but on the other hand I don’t think that school is all about grades and maybe grades should reflect a multitude of factors, including how often they participate and attend class. I want to do more research into this, and I also think through experience teaching I will have a better and more knowledgeable option on the matter.

Rachel F.
“We can teach and students can learn, even brilliantly, without any sort of grade being in the picture” (pg 101). This quote jumped out at me because it was the first line in the chapter. Teachers sometimes forget what their true job is and lose sight of what really matters. The first part of this chapter discusses why we truly grade students. I personally wish that grades can be thrown out the door but that’s probably not going to happen. Instead, if teachers use grades properly then they can be quite useful. When I say properly I mean that they accurately measure the student’s mastery of the standards. Participation is another aspect that most teachers include in the grade. If a student is amazing in class and exceeds the standards for learning but is absent almost every other day, that student should not get a D or F. The grade would be inaccurate because it is crucial for grades to represent the student’s mastery of the subject. Should we include effort and behavior into grades? I believe that it is important to give the students feedback on their effort and behavior but should absolutely not reflect in their grade. We have to remember what the true meaning of a grade is so that we are as accurate as possible.

Geoff
In chapter eight of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//, Wormeli builds off of his main theme in the previous chapter—that grades are about achievement, and all the other stuff—like grading discipline, points off for late work, and class participation, should constitute only a tiny fraction of a student’s grade if it must me included at all. All of these things should be reported, of course, but the design of most grading systems should keep us from including these grades. Furthermore, Wormeli asserts that there are already plenty of ways to teach skills like responsibility, initiative, and participation without merely incentivizing them with grades, if our aim in grading them is to teach them. I would say that this chapter has impacted me already, as I have included some of these factors in my rubrics for my stage two product. While I need to go back and revise it anyway, I need to revise it even more now, as I need to find ways to keep some of these things out of the final grade.

Courtney
This chapter really opened my eyes to the difficulties I may face as a teacher when it comes to grading. It is going to be so hard to decide what is going to contribute to that one grade letter such as participation, effort, and behavior. They are important factors in a students education, but they don't actually reflect how the student is doing in the course as a grade should do. Grades can be used both positively and negatively for a student. Low grades will not motivate a student to do better, but discourage them and make them want to give up. Good grades sometimes, but not always, make a student strive for more of that grade for a while. No matter how a student is doing it is important to get to know them a little better, know what is effecting them so that you can tailor their experiences in the classroom. This is where behavior, participation, and effort come into play. They should be only considered in a students mastery when they are contributing to it through their effort, behavior, or participation when these aspects are a positive thing. They should not hinder a students grade, and as a teacher if I want to incorporate participation into my grading then the students should be clear on it and it should have it's own designated grading scale separate from the grade that reflects their mastery in the course. But either way I am going to have to think how I will allow behavior, participation, a effort to effect the way that I grade my students.

Sara
There are good uses of grades and bad uses of grades! Grades should be used to provide teacher feedback to parents and children and to gauge the teacher’s own teaching (if all the students are failing the teacher needs to change something and FAST). It is great to grade on participation, but one needs to keep in mind that students participate at different levels due to comfort levels and even MIs. Many teachers are tempted to tweak grades if they feel sorry for a student’s situation, it is better to give them the grade they deserve instead of a pity grade. I will try to grade fairly and allow students ample and varied opportunities to participate. I really agree that students’ grades should be based on what they achieve and not individual ‘private’ circumstances, and I also feel it is hard to tell students what is acceptable work and what is not acceptable. I plan on showing them an example of an ‘A’ project and a sample of an ‘F’ project so they have a sort of guideline.

Jen P.
I learned that I should not use grades to motivate, punish, or sort my students (page 102). This makes perfect sense. First of all, my classroom should have such an atmosphere that students want to learn the information, not just be there to earn a grade. Second of all, grades are not a tool for punishment because that will not help. There are so many steps that a teacher can take if a student does something “wrong” before punishing them! If teachers would just take the effort to understand why a student does something we think is “wrong,” our own understanding would grow exponentially. Also, grades should be used to help students do their best and learn out content area. Earning a bad grade because the student did something wrong will certainly not motivate them, especially since grades should not be used for motivation anyway. Finally, separating students with grades does no one any good. The “gifted” students, or those who get good grades, may not be learning and may be criticized for their “good job”. Students who receive lower grades may feel stupid and/or give up. Sorting students by their grade is the opposite of helping their greatest potential by using their zone of proximal development!

Megan
I think it’s really hard to grade students on their attendance, participation, and behavior. But at the same time I also think it’s important to grade students on that too. It just needs to be done right. Grading is all subject to opinion and unfortunately grades can make or break the rest of a semester for a student. If a student’s grades aren’t so hot then they are more likely to give up; getting an A suddenly seems unattainable. We need to give students credit for the work they do do! Kids want you to recognize their hard work. So I think including a grade for their effort is important. They may not be there 100% with the material yet but they can see that you notice their efforts through their participation grade. Also, I think it’s important to grade students on participation but at the same time keep in mind that different students will participate in different ways. While some are comfortable talking in class and contributing to a discussion, others are more comfortable writing in a journal. Telling students up front the ways in which they can earn participation grades will make it clear for everyone what you’re looking for when you talk about participation.

Stephanie L.
Deadlines suck. If a student feels rushed, he or she may not reach his or her full potential. Because of this, it is important to focus on other aspects such as effort, participation, and behavior. If students comes to class prepared and psyched about learning, but had a hard time completing the homework, it can sometimes be hard to penalize them. Participation seems like it would be hard to grade, because a teacher can’t possibly take notes on everything that every student says in every class. At the same time, I feel it is unfair to penalize students who aren’t comfortable enough to speak in front of class. I was always that student. I hated being unwillingly called on. “If my hand isn’t up, I don’t have anything to say” was my basic motto in high school. So though I do feel like participation is important, there should be more than one way for students to participate in class. Whether it’s by doing their homework, doing small group activities, or just paying attention, participation shouldn’t be purely based on what a student says in class.

Effort, attendance and behavior should be crucial factors in the grading process, but obviously not the only factors. Strictly achievement-based grading ignores the learning process, which is crucial to actual learning. Learning isn’t perfect, and grades should reflect that; if a student has made an obvious effort to learn, then they should not be “failed” entirely because they did not achieve to the “A” level. This will have a great impact on my classroom, because I intend to give credit for effort and attendance and behavior. Especially with things like creativity – many students won’t take the leap that is required to be truly creative if they are afraid of failing. I want my students to be creative and original and engaged. Including their effort and attendance and behavior in their grade might give them some extra motivation.

Jordan
I do not, in any way, shape, or form, believe that absences should be considered when giving final grades. A students attendance record has absolutely nothing to do with their actual mastery of the material. It's whether or not they put in the effort to make up the work and master the material that matters. If the work is made up from the absence, then the student will master the material. If not, they won't master the material. Therefor, factoring absences into grades doesn't make sense to me. The work the student has done throughout the year or semester should be the only thing that goes into consideration for grading. As a future teacher, I will not include total absences in my grading.

John
A crucial part of many of my lessons is the effort that the student has put into the work. Not only does it make grading easier, but I feel that it helps me grade the student on their level of personal achievement. Things that I would consider indicators of student effort include some of the things Wormeli believes should be downplayed, like turning in late work and class participation. It is important, however, to distinguish effort from other things like absences. While there are plenty of instances outside of the classroom that could affect a student being in or out of class, it is quite another thing to have the student not participating in the classroom when they are present. I tend to agree that grades should be counted as achievement, but numbers aren't everything. Student effort says a lot not only about what the student wants to do with the information, but also what they are actually learning.

