Chapter 14: Responsive Report Card Formats

An essential concept of this chapter is providing feedback on a report card. Merely receiving a grade without an explanation does not foster development, but instead shuts the student off from the teacher and from the student’s own learning. Instead, this should become a way of communicating between teacher and student. In areas where the teacher realizes the student struggled, note should be taken as well as potential ideas of improvement. Likewise, if a student was successful in an area, they should hear what they have done successfully and be encouraged to continue this practice. Of course, reflection and grading will occur constantly throughout the course of the class, yet this further shows that feedback is essential.

Chapter 13: Gradebook Formats for the Differentiated Classroom

I thought this chapter was interesting as it shows the way standards and benchmarks truly fit into the classroom on a daily basis. When entering grades into the grade book, an effective method of organizing the book is to place standards and benchmarks in the top. This shows that these goals are being met and the student is closer to mastery of the subject. In order to remain organized, it would be wise to maintain the traditional method of keeping track of date as well as standards. If this is included with the standards, it will be evident where students have made progress in each area and what methods have led the student to such success. This will help the teacher to note student progress on a daily basis, and work beyond issues if they appear within student work.

Chapter 12: Grading Scales

This chapter deals with effective grading scales. While it may be tempting to use a 100 point grading scale, there is much room for interpretation of exactly what this means for each student. Instead, using a 4 point scale creates clear expectations without room for questioning the grade. Teachers must keep in mind the individual needs of each student, whether they are various intelligences, beliefs, home life, behavior, or interest, all factors must be considered in evaluating student work. Generally speaking, rubrics and clear expectations show students the steps to take to achieve mastery within a subject. In addition, teachers eliminate their own subjectivity by grading upon their own rubric.

Chapter 11; Six Burning Grading Issues

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.

Chapter 7: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions

Lindsey - Synthesis

A major focus of this chapter is upon setting a standard that all teachers will follow in grading student work, and understanding what that standard means. While placing a lesson grade on student work is important, it means nothing if there is no information describing how the student reached that point. Not only is this an insult to the vast amount of work students have completed to achieve these grades, but future teachers will also have no concept of where students encountered problems or experienced educational growth if all we pass along is the final grade. There are a number of factors involved in grading student work, some of these factors are the student’s grade level, previous experience within the field of study, and how evident it is that the student has taken time to complete the work. In order to avoid student receiving a broad spectrum of grades from each teacher they encounter, teachers must establish set grading expectations. An interesting way to approach student grading as a work in progress, "Sue Howell suggests 'A,B, and You're not done' as something to consider. It allows students to see themselves as a work in progress, and it keeps them moving toward mastery rather than settling for anything less than full understanding" (page 98). This is a great way of encouraging students to continue progressing without becoming discouraged. Rather than simply returning papers with a grade on them, students will understand that they have the opportunity to keep working until they reach success. While Incomplete appears to be a good method, this is a less open-ended method of viewing grades, and this does not encourage students to continue working toward success.

Lindsey - Abstract
The general consensus of the class is that teachers must establish a set grading system which is stable throughout the school and will not falter between various classes. Before grading students, we as teachers must know exactly what each grade means in terms of mastery of the subject. We are of course working toward student mastery, thus remaining objective is essential, yet difficult at times. The class agreed that the best method of objectively grading students is to create a strong rubric and stick to this rubric while grading student work. In addition, students must understand that grading is not simply about receiving a letter grade, but instead about earning the grade through hard work and true mastery of the material.

Diversity Conference

I found the diversity conference to be extremely helpful to me as a future teacher. It is interesting to hear the way poverty plays a role in student learning, and the way that it impacts students regardless of student mentality. Many students are unable to go home and study or even focus due to various factors, thus it is our responsibility as teachers to help students move beyond these challenges. I think one of the most interesting things discussed during the conference was the student’s perception of their lives at home. An interesting way of doing this was to ask students to take pictures of items which represented their homes. One which remains on my mind was a student’s decision to capture a picture of the family’s couch, showing that this was the focal point of the family. This shows that students are not resentful of the lives that they live, but may simply wish to move on with their lives. Many stated that they wished to go to college, yet they intended to return home after college. Much of this was due to a student’s hope to help their families in the future. Thus, our biggest goal is not to push students to move away from their home life, but instead to broaden their own world.

Chapter 10: Conditions for Redoing Work for Full Credit

This chapter discusses students’ ability to redo work. While we do not want students to use meaningless extra credit assignments to make up for significant work done in the class, it is reasonable that students should be permitted to conference with the teacher and continue to improve the work they have done. While this takes longer for the teacher, the primary idea is to encourage students to do better, thus making up work should always be an option. After conferencing with the teacher, the student will have a better idea of what is expected and be much more likely to succeed on the assignment.