UbDDI+B1+Chapter+8

Abstract and Synthesis
by Caitlin Alexander

This chapter of //UBD/DI// talks about [|grading] and its place in the classroom. It provides simple guidelines for fledgling teachers in the form of six principles to grading, which these new teachers (and even more seasoned veterans) can use to better grade their students. These principles include such helpful tips as not comparing the work of one student to another and not focusing on the present and instead turning one's attention to the long term achievements of particular students.

Quite possibly the most dangerous thing that a teacher can do when it comes down to grading is comparing one student with another. Students should never be compared, as it not only creates competition between the learners in the classroom, but it also clouds a teacher's judgment of the personal progress of a student. It is, in fact, the personal progress of the student which is the most important when it comes to grading, not how neatly a student can write and not if they are always able to spell every word in their papers correctly. A teacher should look at what growth the student has shown through their work: do they understand the concepts we are trying to teach? It is also very important to [|communicate] with not only the student about their work, but with the [|parents] as well. Oftentimes parents are highly interested in how well (or not so well) their child is doing in school, and any feedback that a teacher can provide to a parent about improvement or about growth and progress is very helpful.

Courtney Burns
The main purpose of this chapter is to stress the idea that grading should reflex personal achievement and progress of a student as an individual. When grading assignments the quality of one students work should not be a factor in grading the work of another, in other words, I should never compare students. The team of experts that wrote this book stressed the importance of not factoring work habits (having the name on the top of assignments, neat handwriting, passing the assignment in on time) when grading. These factors should only be included when developing reports for the students; grading is supposed to be a representation of personal growth. As I was reading the chapter I was reminded of the weight grading system in which certain assessments and achievements are worth more than others. For example summative assessments (test, essay etc.) would be worth a higher percentage than formative assessments and formative assessments would be worth more than work habits. This would work well when reporting to student and parents the overall success of the student as a learner of academics, manners and appropriate social behaviors.

Ben Villeneuve
Chapter eight of //UbD/DI// is about how grading works in a differentiated classroom. The authors put forth a set of six principles which should be followed when considering how to grade. These principles include being clear about what students are going to be graded on, determining what students will be graded on by looking at what they should be learning, establishing an environment in which all students can achieve highly, not considering //grading// to be synonymous with //assessment,// avoiding weighing equally all work throughout the semester, and focusing on achievement. I agree with all of these principles, and will incorporate them into my classroom. I especially agree with the idea of determining grades rather than calculating them; any given class should be a growing experience for a student, and if they think that not excelling right from the start of the term will make it so they can’t get a good grade overall, they are much more likely to give up completely.

Olivia Wandelear
Grading is a difficult procedure for teachers because they feel the need to use a grade book and report cards, but also encourage students and give them feedback on the work they’ve done. Teachers need to encourage and praise their learners for their success, not discourage them based on a letter grade that does not reflect their learning. From this chapter, I learned that the primary goal of grading is to provide high-quality feedback to students and communicate with them and their parents about the learning process (129). Likewise, grading should never include comparing students with each other, thus determining how well a student performed. This promotes unhealthy competition in the classroom. What I found he most valuable was the idea of using the mode or median “grade” of a student instead of the mean, because averages do not truly reflect the growth of the learner. I will definitely use this technique in my classroom, because it more accurately shows the performances of the learner.

Shila Cook
In Chapter 8, //Grading and Reporting Achievement//, the main focus is on grading. Throughout the chapter there are six key principles that we as teachers should consider when deciding how to grade things. Principle 5 was “avoid grading based on (mean) averages”. I don’t think I agree with that exactly. I believe that averaging has it’s place in grading. Teachers shouldn’t average tests with quizzes or with homework, and visa versa, but averaging tests with all the other tests gives kids the benefit of the doubt sometimes. I plan on using averaging for my grading tactic in the future.

Josh
The eighth chapter of //UbD// discusses grading in a differentiated classroom. The book argues that students should not be graded in such a manner that one child is competing against another. Instead in order to make sure the student is getting accurately graded; they should be evaluated on progress towards their goals. Using an average grade seems to be the standard process in classrooms but this book recommends not doing that. In my future class I will have a point system for grading in that each student is only aware of their own points. Assignments will be worth a certain number of points and students will have options as to which assignments they will do. I agree that an average grade is not a great way to give grades. It leaves out the human aspect of bad days. If a student has a bad day on the day of the biggest test in a semester they may perform poorly. That is not necessarily a reflection of their learning, more so it is an effect of having a bad day on test day.

Kasey Darnell
This chapter discussed how a teacher can integrate grading into the UbD/DI classroom. Often times, it can seem difficult to assign typical, standards-based grades while simultaneously implementing responsive and differentiated teaching. The authors note that the most important goal of grading is to provide feedback to the students and their parents, in a way that supports and encourages student success. One important principle is to make sure that grades are based on specified learning goals and performance standards that were established in stage 1 of the backward design. Another important principle is that not everything the students do needs to be graded. Some activities and assignments can be used as non-graded assessments, to check for understanding and gain insight into students' learning profiles. This chapter also discussed how a single grade is not always an accurate portrayal of how well the student is performing. Other factors, such as progress towards goals and work habits should be taken into consideration. Also, it is more valuable for a teacher to use a reporting system, rather than just a report card. This can include checklists, rubrics, narratives, portfolios, and conferences. This is something I will try to use as an educator. I know that as a student, I like receiving feedback that went beyond just a letter grade.

Andy Shorey
This chapter focuses on how as teachers we are going to grade students. This chapter gives us six principles to follow when we are assessing students. One of the important things that I found was that rather then seeking a bell curve shaped grade line we want a J shaped grading line. It also says to stay away from averages which is something that I believe teachers throughout my schooling career have used to grade students. Finding a project or something that is average work and seeing what is better or worse. I think this chapter is really telling us to find a balance between grading students so that struggling learners get high marks and can't see that they aren't doing poorly (too easily) and grading students to harshly so that the better students will do well while students who aren't quite up to par will realize they have nothing to strive for. This chapter talks about how their should be more than one measure of success for students. I like the idea of having grades and telling them exactly why they were given by maybe meeting with them or giving them a report but I find it interesting that they say to stay away from "average".

Erika Tingley
This chapter of Understanding by Design focuses on the various factors that go into grading and what a teacher needs to be focusing on when grading a student. It seems apparent that grading is a necessary evil for most teacher and that it is very difficult to put a letter or number on a students learning throughout a time period. One point that was made which really stood out to me was that of not incorporating everything into the grading process. Students should not feel that everything they do in class is going to be judged, and they need to be comfortable exploring within the learning process to determine how things work. I hope that as a teacher I will do a lot of assessing of students before grading the work they do.

Heath
Grading in a differentiated classroom seems like a daunting task; however it’s just bringing those same principles to the report card. Teachers should have made the goals clear, have valid evidence for their decisions, focus on achievement and avoid comparing students to each other. Pre-assessment and formative assessment results should not be included in the final grades. This will be important in my classroom as I intend to use regular quizzes for students to understand their connection to the material and provide me with a snapshot of where student’s knowledge starts and how it develops.

Dan Horne
This chapter goes in depth on the process of grading in your classroom and how it is used and how it should be used. There is a common problem that teachers feel they always need a grade book or a class mean to really judge the class. In this chapter it stresses the importance of using grading as a means to give great feedback to the students so they may improve their learning. It also talks about not comparing students to on another because all students are different and learn and present things differently so they shouldn’t be compared. The chapter talks about using a median grade rather then a mean or average of the student’s grades. I think this is a weird concept because the middle is a very random number but an average, I believe, shows more improvement.

Dylan Stefani
Chapter eight talks about how teachers should never compare students to one another. It says that each student ha a different level of understanding and that comparing students is not a balanced way of grading. They suggest to grade the students based on personal achievement. Weighted grades help the student as well as the teacher understand what tasks or assessments are more important. Although as a teacher you think everything is important, a student can understand that the heavier weight of a grade means they have to work harder. Grading now seems a little difficult after finding a few facts out. The main idea that this chapter also suggests is that grades are for the students to get feedback. The teachers number one priority is to show the students if they have mastered or even understood the information.

Tim Grivois
As an aspiring teacher who is still a student, the concept of grading is very relevant to me and still irks me from time to time. Putting value on a person’s work is difficult, and I am always more inclined to grade effort rather than product. By creating a grading system that is long-term goal based, grading can measure success. I am still unsure whether or not this is the proper course of action. I do agree wholeheartedly with the 2nd principle this chapter introduces; all grading should be valid and easily justified. Students should understand exactly the reasoning behind why they received the grade that they did, and any questions should be brought forth immediately to clarify. The establishment of easily justified criteria is important as well; grading should be very unique to the class it is being used it, with a certain degree of malleability. I should create my grading scales on a class-by-class basis; keeping similar structure is fine as long as I am willing to make changes based on the needs of my students. Grading should be a positive thing overall; it either affirms continued achievement and success by a student or helps to guide them towards new functional techniques towards goals. I should strive to foster a system that encourages students to succeed not for an arbitrary number, but for the academic and intellectual benefits that mastery of a subject offers, as well as the lifeskills and knowledge gained from the adaptation required to succeed.

Kay Sue Collins
This chapter had to do with grading and how it relates to UBD and DI. The key principles are that: 1. Grades should be based on the goals and standards you have established. 2. Evidence should be valid and not be confused with learning disabilities or ELL issues. 3. Grades should not be based on how a student performed compared to the other students in the class. 4. Grades should be based on summative assessment as that reflects what learning has happened. 5. Avoiding grading based on an average which can be deceptive. 6. Grading should be based only on what the student learned, not on extra things like work habits and behavior. These should be reported separately from the grade. I think the ideas are good for these concepts but putting it into practice is going to be difficult. The inertia of the education establishment makes it hard to make changes. Not only that, colleges and universities need to adjust what they will accept as evidence of achievement before real changes are made. As long as students have to meet certain criteria to get into college, high schools will provide the kind of reporting that colleges want. If they start requiring more valid and accurate assessment, then the High Schools will teach for it.

Tyler Brookings
This chapter touches upon how each students learns differently, and are inevitably different people. No teacher should ever compare students, for one, this can create hostility between classmates and make for a dysfunctional learning environment. The chapter recommends that teachers should grade students upon their personal achievements instead of how they act in class. Although grades may not be the favorite way of judging how students are accomplishing and understanding the material; they do work. Grades are a way to show students the importance of material. The higher the weight of the grade the more important the material.

Kyle Rines
This chapter focuses on how grading is important in a differentiated classroom. The chapter gives us six guidelines to use when grading and one of the ones that I found very useful was focusing on achievement. Personally, I believe that achieving something is far more important than the grade or what is earned for doing the objective. As long as the student understands the subject and can relate to it and remember at another time, then I believe I have done my job as an educator. Of course grades are important, but if relating subject material in different ways in a differentiated classroom can make the students understand the material completely, I have succeeded.