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.

Chapter 9: Ten Approaches to Avoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading

Some advice given in this chapter is to avoid grading on a curve as well as giving students zeros. Zeros do not indicate anything aside from a day’s struggle for a student. Instead, students should be given the opportunity to make up work and build mastery. In addition, homework should not be graded as this is merely a formative assessment. Students do homework to work towards mastery, thus it is not complete work but only a step along the way. Students should be given the opportunity to work through homework then use assignments in an attempt to judge mastery.

Chapter 8: Why Do We Grade, and What About Effort, Attendance, and Behavior?

The next chapter focuses upon the actual grading of work and the time it takes to complete the process. Grading should be done in order to assess not only the student, but also the teacher in an effort to ensure that the teacher is working toward the student’s growth. In assessing, teachers must always take into account the struggles a student may be facing at home. It is advised that teachers avoid grading the behavior of students, but instead work to assess actual student work, and work directly through behavioral problems if they occur with a student.

Chapter 7: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions

This chapter focuses on grading and upon breaking away from the traditional A,B,C, etc. We should instead focus upon constant formative assessment in order to ensure mastery of all subjects covered. If we do not focus on formative rather than summative students may lose interest or become discouraged with the constant flow of information. Students will struggle to accommodate each teacher’s grading habits, and grading will become a guessing game between teachers.

Chapter 12: MI and Cognitive Skills

This chapter emphasizes encouraging students to embrace and develop their strong intelligences, while at the same time working to heighten their intelligences which may have once seemed weaker. In understanding the strengths and weaker areas of my students, I will be able to help them in their studying habits, whether encouraging already strong areas or helping students to overcome worries of weaker areas. It is possible to enhance each student’s primary intelligence through positive methods of teaching regardless of what the intelligence may be. Rather than encouraging memorization, teachers should work toward mastery in all areas. While memory is essential, memorization should not be the primary focus.

Chapter 11: MI and Special Education

This chapter was very interesting to me as I am very interested in special education as well as how to incorporate special education students into my mainstreamed classroom. Rather than looking at students with special needs as different, the teacher should instead focus upon incorporating them into the classroom and focusing upon their strongest intelligences. A big portion of beginning this process is to focus on positive aspects of student learning rather than negative, then working from this point. Along these lines, students who generally have strengths in certain areas generally have a difficult time in other areas. If these weak areas are focused upon, they can be developed into areas of great strength and students will be able to use them in the future.

Chapter 8: MI and Classroom Management

This chapter discusses methods of grasping and holding the attention of students who have various strong traits in multiple intelligences. In addition, the teacher can use knowledge of student intelligence throughout the course of the class as well as in creating groups and understand student behavior. Using this chapter, I can consider methods of classroom management. This was a nice reminder that not all students respond to the same courses of classroom management, but that the traditional response of speaking to the class in an effort to regain attention will work the most effectively with verbal learners, yet other methods should be used to obtain the interest of other students. Another great aspect of this chapter was the idea of transition cues so automatically recognize when they should change activities, without the classroom becoming chaotic. For example, to capture the attention of a musical learner, playing music to signal a transition is an excellent method of showing students that it is time to change what they are doing. While this is primarily focused upon musical learners, all will understand the expectation when the music begins.

Chatper 8: Grading and Reporting Achievement

This chapter focused on grading in a differentiated classroom and ways of ensuring fair assessment. A major focus of this chapter is upon breaking away from a single grade to represent a student’s achievement. While this may seem easier for the teacher, this does not determine student growth. Instead, assessment must occur at all times throughout the course of the semester, with grading occurring after students have worked through a lesson. While it is necessary to provide a final grade, I would like to include an attachment explaining student progress as well as a folder showing work along the way.

Chapter 6 Abstract and Synthesis

Abstract

Chapter 6 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal discussed the creation of effective tests. The chapter reminds teachers that tests should not be a guessing game for students, but instead a credible method of assessing student mastery. Rather than using vague multiple choice questions which could be interpreted in multiple different ways, the teacher should encourage deeper understanding of the material, and ask for a mix of traditional and non-traditional methods such as short answers and analyzing real-life applications. Since the primary focus of testing is to reveal student knowledge, teachers should work to simplify the test through multiple approaches such as the option to circle either “true” or “false” to avoid decoding confusing hand writing. The second option is to have students write a second copy of their responses, then immediately provide answers to the class so students do not need to wait for test results. In an effort to receive the most accurate grade from the student without causing the students to become stressed, tests should be smaller and more frequent. The more often students are given the opportunity to reveal their knowledge, the more accurate the results will be. Rather than working to memorize for a large test, they will instead focus upon a specific topic and obtain better content mastery.


Synthesis

The general consensus of the class was that we must work to create effective tests which enable students to show their mastery of the subject rather than confusing them with poorly written questions. An interesting aspect of the reflections of this chapter is that many people agreed that it is time to move away from confusing multiple choice questions, and they have frequently experienced teachers who present questions in this manner. Instead, it is important to recognize that students need clear, focused questions which test their understanding rather than their ability to decode the teacher’s thinking.

Chapter 9: Curriculum and Instruction Through the Lens of UbD and DI

Chapter 9 discusses the actual application of the backward design model. In order to proficiently explore the model, the chapter worked its way through the stages. It was really helpful to see the stages in completion and the way they fit together to create a unit through backwards design. In addition to providing the unit plan, the chapter goes on to discuss differentiating the unit. I found this to be extremely helpful as up until this point we have only looked at hypothetical differentiation. While it is evident that planning needs to occur in advance, I didn’t really stop to consider the ways I would apply differentiated instruction in the actual classroom, but assumed instead that this would merely happen naturally. However, this chapter suggests that the teacher must come up with countless methods of differentiating the classroom with the acceptance that many of the plans will never be put into action. Another interesting aspect of this chapter was that it provided the teacher’s final unit rather than the unit while in progress. This is significant as students will be exposed to the “real” unit rather than the unit as it is created. I enjoyed the chapter’s inclusion of countless methods of differentiating the classroom, whether working with students who have a difficulty comprehending text, or students whose native language is not English. In addition, there was a follow up of this information which explored the long term success of the student, as well as methods of helping those students if they continued to struggle. The chapter provided a list of expectations presumably present in a differentiated classroom, stating that teachers will in time learn to gauge the most important of the items and recognize whether it is problematic if a circumstance is not prevalent.

Chapter 14: MI and Existential Intelligence

The final chapter of this book deals with Gardner’s defense of his assertion that the existential should be considered the ninth intelligence. Rather than viewing this as a religious matter, he merely reflects that we must be capable of coming to terms with our external existence. This potential intelligence deals within the realm of philosophy and the way in which we exist within our universe. A look at the criteria through which a concept becomes intelligence shows that existential fits the criteria of cultural value, developmental history, symbolism, savants who have displayed the intelligence, psychometric studies, evolutionary plausibility and brain research. While there are questions of controversy surrounding existential intelligence, these can be quieted by assurance that the topic does not cover religion, but instead world meaning. In addition, it has proven itself applicable to all topics, thus we as teachers will probably be looking at existential intelligence in the future!

Chapter 13: Other Applications of MI Theory

This chapter discussed three new methods of incorporating multiple intelligences into the classroom. The three topics were computer technology, cultural diversity, and career counseling. While the computer section seemed mildly outdated as we have become a very technologically advanced society, it was still important to see the roles the computer could play in the classroom. Multiple examples are provided, showing that each of the intelligences can be incorporated in a number of ways by using computers. Another interesting aspect of using computer technology is that students can from here research multiple intelligences and recognize their own. I really enjoyed the point this chapter made when it reminded the reader that we are trying to pass on matters of societal importance, not information which will vacate the student’s brain as soon as they encounter it. Therefore, cultural diversity is important to consider when looking at the application of multiple intelligences as we must assess its ongoing value within society. The example of the Puluwat people shows that they must be spatially and naturally inclined as these traits are required for survival. This points to an important aspect of the theory of multiple intelligences as it is easy to accept the intelligences as something merely to be applied in school, yet it truly does need to apply back to real life and thus survival. The final application method discussed in this chapter was career counseling. By encouraging students to contemplate the ways in which they might apply their knowledge, we are helping them to build upon their skills and work towards a successful future. Given this confidence, they will be able to work toward a career driven by their strong intelligence while still capable of balancing each of the others.

Chapter 7: MI and the Classroom Environment

Chapter 7 focused upon the environments which foster the best learning results. Rather than merely listing the criteria of the most effective learning environments, the book instead divides the chapter by the eight intelligences, and then provides examples of both effective and ineffective learning methods. For example, to show the positives and negatives of musical intelligence, the book questions “how does the teacher use her voice? Does it vary in intensity, inflection, and emphasis, or does it have a dull monotone quality that puts students to sleep?” (MI 68). This continues throughout the course of the chapter, showing that it is easy to make simple classroom mistakes, yet a compilation of simple mistakes takes away from the overall classroom experience of the student. This is an important concept to remember as a new teacher as no matter how interested a student may be upon entering my class, if I am incapable of incorporating each of the intelligences into my classroom, the students will lose their drive to learn the material. However, if I am able to master this concept, I may be capable of engaging students who have never before showed an interest in the topic. Therefore, I must work to ensure that I am constantly evaluating myself and incorporating all learning styles at all times.

Chapter 6: MI and Teaching Strategies

This chapter offers a wide array of teaching strategies which suit the multiple intelligences. Although many of them are widely used, the book offers solutions which help to recapture the interest of the students. While writing on the board and raising hands are methods used in many classrooms, it is nice to consider the many ways that we can restructure these ideas. For instance, instead of having students raise their hands, a great method is to have them instead raise fingers to rate their understanding. If a student does not understand a concept, they may raise one finger, yet if they feel they have mastered the concept, they would hold up five fingers. Not only does this allow the teacher to gain an idea of where the student stands, but it also shows the student that the teacher cares where a student stands in regards to a topic. The chapter encourages branching out beyond their own comfort zone and considering methods of incorporating all intelligences into every content area. We are given the statistic that “up to 95 percent of adults lack a fundamental knowledge of scientific vocabulary and demonstrate a poor understanding of the impact of science in the world” (Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom 55). Aside from all other reasons, knowing that adults have become nearly incompetent in regards to science frightens me and creates a desire to help students by incorporating science into my own content area. Along those lines, this chapter helps teachers of every content area by providing countless methods of creative incorporation.

Chapter 5: MI and Curriculum Development

This chapter was incredibly useful as it discussed methods of incorporating each of the multiple intelligences into all content areas. I enjoyed that this chapter addressed how we may use one method of instruction and translate it to all intelligences if we are willing to plan it well beforehand. In order to sufficiently demonstrate this, the book provides a very helpful chart with various examples of the ways in which intelligences play a role in content areas. A major focus of this chapter was upon giving school work real life meaning. Just as John Dewey believed that the classroom was a microcosm of society, we must be able to relate all work we do within the classroom to real life application. If students believe that the concepts they are learning are meaningful, they are likely to become engaged and question how they may later apply their learning to their future.

Chapter 7: Teaching for Understanding

It is important for a concept to be reinforced in multiple ways, such as asking students to read, holding a class discussion, and then asking them to explain concepts to one another. The primary focus of this chapter was upon breaking away from the desire to merely “cover” content, and instead to work towards a deeper understanding through new and exciting lessons and analysis. The chapter discusses three methods of effectively assessing student knowledge, the first of which is asking students essential questions. Instead of asking students to memorize information, we should challenge students to contemplate the source of the information in order to see the significance. In asking students to question concepts which have always been accepted, we are suggesting that they play an essential role in their own learning process, and we allow them to become more involved. The more we ask our students to contemplate a deeper meaning, the greater their understanding will be, thus in time they will progressively be able to answer more complex questions. A great aspect of this is that teachers find that they do not need to individually evaluate student learning as frequently as their learning is evaluated through the essential questions. The second concept covered in this topic was applying the six facets of understanding. I found this to be very helpful as we have just incorporated the facets into stage one, thus this tied it all back together. The facets provide students with a deeper understanding of the concepts they are discussing, yet they must not be applied merely for the sake of incorporating each of them. Instead, they should be used only in a way which influences student growth. In addition, another idea which we must keep in mind is that we must not merely give students drill activities as they will lose interest and will lose sight of the big picture they are looking toward.

Chapter 6: Responsive Teaching with UbD

The focal point of this chapter is based around the idea that all students must be given an equal basis for learning. This means that we must expect the same things from all students, regardless of their current skill level. While drills clearly serve a purpose for students having a difficult time learning a concept, they must always be able to recognize the end result while they are practicing. Just as the coaching analogy pointed out, athletes will practice relentlessly if they understand that the drills will enable them to succeed in the long run, but what is the incentive if they do not understand the sought after long term effect? The student should always understand the objective of the lesson so that they may work towards mastery. Just as previous chapters have suggested allowing students access to the test at the beginning of a unit, the student should be given mentor texts and a clear explanation of what they should take away from the lesson. Along these lines, a teacher must not only ensure that a lesson is meaningful, he or she must also recognize that the lesson means nothing if the student does not gain personal meaning. I really enjoy this chapter because it does not deny that providing a differentiated classroom is difficult, but instead provides countless examples of how to make it manageable and effective. The charts throughout the chapter displayed countless ways through which teachers may integrate differentiated instruction, and showed that although the transition may be slow, it is happening effectively.

Chapter 10: MI and Assessment

Chapter ten asks the classroom teacher to move away from traditional, standardized tests and instead work towards teaching students in the creative manner from which we encourage their learning. The first step in assessing students in this manner is to observe them at the height of their learning, and to recognize how this helps their learning. In addition, teachers should work to capture student progress in a variety of ways in order to understand how far the student has gone throughout the semester. An interesting aspect of this chapter was that it provided many examples of how various schools have incorporated the multiple intelligences into the classroom, showing that no matter the age, it is very possible to maintain curriculum while still incorporating the intelligences. MI theory maintains that curriculum is essential, yet the students must be permitted to learn in a way which is suitable to them rather than forcing students to test their knowledge in an outdated manner. The “Huck Finn” example was great as this truly depicted how easily the eight intelligences could be incorporated into any subject. Along those lines, students are allowed the liberty of choosing the method of grading. The teacher does not need to worry that the student will not learn as students are being asked to become involved in their education in a manner unusual to most classroom settings. The student is pushed to think deeply and create intriguing products which show their learning.

Chatper 6: Creating Good Test Questions

The first component of creating a successful test is to not try and trick students. Even in college, I have experienced professors who provide multiple correct answers and expect students to weed through them and find the “correct” one. As a teacher, I do not intend to confuse my students by providing them such opinion based questions as the one seen in the beginning of this chapter. Instead, they should be permitted to explore each of these options in a essay or another method which allows them expression rather than a mere guessing game. In using constructed choice rather than forced choice questions, the instructor pushes the student to think for his or herself as opposed to providing answers and allowing the student to guess. This method pushes the student further and allows intellectual growth rather than an answer the student was barely involved with. I enjoyed how this chapter really broke down effective methods of formulating tests. For example, when creating a matching test, the teacher is instructed to put definitions on the left with vocabulary on the right. This allows the student to interpret the definition before then applying it to the information the students are studying. Another tip that I enjoyed was that the chapter suggested multiple ways to comfort the student. Rather than causing them to stress about their test, one method of showing students the results of their hard work is to have them create two copies of their answers so that they are aware of just how well they have done. While many aspects of this chapter were self explanatory, it was nice to receive basic guidelines regarding how best to guide students through the test process and how to create tests which best test student mastery.

Chapter 5: Tiering Assessments

Chapter five discusses the importance of tiering assessments as well as the process it involves. The teacher is instructed to focus upon the students’ readiness level, and work from there. For this process, interest and learning styles are disregarded as a student’s ability to learn a topic is the primary concern here. The teacher should start where the students need to be and work with them in an effort to enable future growth. While it may seem logical to begin students at a level below par, it is far more difficult to build the confidence of students if the learning is done in such a way. Instead, the teacher should work to break apart the varying levels of the information, and then list even the most miniscule of problems to assist students in working through the process. In doing this, students are put into the mindset that they can succeed, and they will be able to take this skill away and use it in the future. If students have problems with this form of tiering, there are many aspects which can be altered to meet their needs. At the same time, it is possible to increase the level of difficulty by adding more to the assigned task. The most effective method of tiering occurs when teachers constantly increase difficulty and decrease the level of tiering, until the student is capable of completing the task without alteration.

Chapter 4:Three Important Types of Assessment

Chapter four discussed the three major forms of assessment, portfolios, rubrics, and self-assessment. In discussing portfolios, the teacher works to assess the long term assessment of student growth. Students choose work they are proud of and are able to set goals based on current work. Teachers choose work and they are able to see progress as well as areas where the student needs assistance. In addition, the parents are able to see the progress of the students. When considering a rubric, teachers should make their own practice rubric based upon simple, everyday activities. Therefore, we are able to recognize all of the small details which do not need to be addressed. Instead, the focus should remain upon the task requirements, proficiency within the task, importance of certain steps, and whether the criteria are clear. One thing that must be avoided in designing a rubric is allowing students to believe that they do not need to shoot for exemplary. Looking back at my own educational experiences, I recall times when I felt that acceptable was high enough to shoot for, and exemplary was actually unnecessary. Therefore as a teacher, my focus remains upon pushing students to work toward creating their best work in an effort to gain real life experience, rather than merely working for the sake of doing work. The final assessment addressed was self-assessment. Rather than simply giving them a quiz to self assess, the book suggests using various forms of media so that students may record themselves and then see how far they progressed. I feel that this is far more effective as students may become bored with merely quizzing themselves on their knowledge. In addition, students should be prompted to keep journals or logs of progress and continue to assess themselves at all times throughout the year.

Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom

This chapter discusses the way that assessment plays a role in a differentiated classroom. In an effort to see students’ progress in the classroom, the teacher must assess from the beginning of the course until the end, and not merely assess when the student has reached a level where they have limited ability to improve. An interesting approach to insuring student growth is to provide them with a copy of the test at the beginning of the semester so that they may pay close attention to the key points of the semester. While it is necessary that students pay attention at all times, this will give them incentive to undertake a deep understanding of the material. It is a good point that since no end result in the future is hidden, no end result while in school should be hidden. Instead, students should have a clear understanding of the objective they are aiming for. An effective teacher will break apart whether a question is essential to a student’s learning, highly desirable thus interesting, or merely desirable. The focus will then remain upon the essential questions before later centering around highly desirable and, in the future, desirable questions. The process of determining essential questions takes time and collaboration, thus the teacher should not wait to begin the process but allow time to question faculty members and predict the end result. Even after choosing essential questions, it is necessary for the teacher to observe student progress and determine whether the questions need to be reevaluated. Pre-assessments should be done before the unit is designed so that the teacher may design the unit around student experience and need. I enjoyed that the chapter walked the teacher through deciding the relevance of pre-assessments, asking the teacher to first complete the assignments and determine the usefulness of the assessment. The teacher is to insure that they do in fact use the results of the assessment effectively, incorporating the student need into the curriculum.

Chapter 2: Mastery

There are many definitions of what it means to master a topic, thus it is interesting to evaluate the varying professional views on the matter. As discussed in class, the six facets of understanding are explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy and self-knowledge. However, it is necessary to expand upon this very general definition by contemplating what this means to the individual student. Mastery of content goes beyond merely being able to repeat an explanation, as well as simply being able to choose the correct choice when given options. Instead, mastery involves understanding every element of the concept individually, and then being able to explain the concept to others. If a student can do this, it is evident that they have a mastery of the subject. It was nice to have an explanation of ways to evaluate mastery of a topic, those being Nolan and Taylor’s explanation: multiple assignments to prove mastery, and tracking the progression of work done over time. Therefore, we must know our own objectives (possibly through backwards design) in asking students to complete a task. Another interesting aspect was the concept of how to test whether students truly understand a concept. While oral explanations are theoretically accurate, students may attempt to gloss over trouble areas when verbally explaining their explanation. Instead, they should be asked to write out a process and how they arrived at their answer. Just as the student is working to find meaning in their learning, it is the teacher’s responsibility to understand school and state standards, and there are many ways for the teacher to do so. As discussed in various other books, it is essential to incorporate the assistance of other professionals, thus the new teacher should consider the lesson plans and assessments of other faculty members of the same content area. Likewise, those who have been teaching for years must still reexamine the importance of the content they are teaching, and the ways they are assessing students. While this may be difficult for some students, the primary focus must be on mastery rather than effort.

Chapter 1: The Differeniated Instruction Mind-set

The first chapter of the book discussed the impact differentiated learning may have on students. Rather than assuming that a lifetime of receiving differentiated instruction would leave a child incapable of becoming an independent learner, it is actually the opposite. Were a child to receive this instruction for years and then have it taken away, they would have a much deeper understanding of their own learning habits, and thus be able to assist themselves even when they struggle. The glasses analogy is given, showing that removing the prop that children need to be successful in an effort to give students an equal learning experience does not benefit either child, but instead detriments the student who can not see across the room. The same may be applied to children who have a hard time understanding a concept. The teacher should not neglect their needs in an effort to make the classroom fair, but instead should spend extra time with the student and work around his or her learning style. Furthermore, if a student is not assisted in their learning style, they are far more likely to simply give up as it is evident that the teacher does not have the student’s best interest in mind, but merely wishes to teach concepts rather than students. The differentiated learning style can be seen not only in schools, but in the real world, thus it is essential for teachers to provide students the opportunity to be successful, whether it is equal or not.