FIAE+B2+Chapter+7

**//Fair Isn't Always Equal// Chapter 7 Abstract and Synthesis by Kaitlyn Haase**

According to the author, Rick Wormeli, “How we interpret and implement grading practices has a dramatic impact on how we differentiate instruction, and vice-versa: differentiated instruction directly impacts our grading policies” (pg. 90). If we want change in our classrooms, by differentiating instruction and getting away from traditional pedagogy, then our grading policies must change as well. Currently, there are many controversial issues around grading, such as different grading scales and whether or not those figures distinguish students’ mastery of material. There are so many different scales: 100-point scales, A-F, 1-4, O(Outstanding G(Good) S(Satisfactory) N(Needs Improvement)... but what do these mean? Where did these scales come from? Who determined that a 60 and below is failing, or a "C" is average? According to the author, a C is actually no longer considered “average” in society today. A "C" now has the connotation of being unsatisfactory.

In our blogs, many of us wrote about the importance of [|feedback] and [|formative assessments]. We feel that giving students grades from the scales previously stated (without feedback), does not demonstrate an adequate representation of the students’ mastery of material. Many of us also wrote about the importance of consistency in grading. Grading can be very subjective, especially in content areas such as English and the social sciences, but it is important to set aside biases to grade as consistent as possible.

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Kassaundra
Chapter 7: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions As a society we are very focused on grades but the reality is most grades are subjective and don’t always prove mastery in a subject. As a teacher, I need to keep in perspective that grades are not the end all be all and that there may be a better way to grade my students then the one I am using. Also, teachers tend to change grades based on socioeconomic status and this means that some students would be held to a lower standard. Ultimately, this short changes students because we stop holding them to high expectations and settle. It is important as a teacher that I discuss with fellow teachers what I mean when I give certain grades and what they mean when they give certain grades so that there can be more consistency. Besides this, it is important that teachers present the expectations to the students and explain what constitutes an “A” so students don’t have to guess how to please their teachers. Lastly, do not focus on grading mistakes and failures such as with the “everyone starts with an 100%” approach. You need to allow students to grow, not to discourage them from reaching mastery.

Bri Douglass
In this chapter it discusses ways to define grading in your classroom. I especially liked the part about how the “average” grade has changed over the years. It used be that a C was average but today C represents something unsatisfactory and a B is much more average. In the chapter it talks about the need to define whatever grading system you have and gives options for those who want to be consistent in their grading with other teachers. At the end it also speaks about students need a lot of feedback and grades do not give them this. When grades are given the learning is already over so therefore teachers need to use a lot of formative assessment in order to “hold up a constructive mirror so that students can see how they are developing” (100). We have read and talked a lot about formative assessment in class and through the three books. But as I look back onto my own high school experience I remember very little formative assessment, standard quizzes but not a lot of projects. I know that in order to be the teacher I want to be I need to use formative assessment not only for feedback for my students but also to assess my own teaching.

Jenn Baum
Chapter 7: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions This chapter discussed the sometimes avoided and controversial topic of grades and in what ways a student’s work should be graded. When grading, a teacher should strive to be unbiased in their assessment and should be consistent in how they assign a number or letter grade, though sometimes it is necessary to differentiate for certain students. It is important to remember that everyone learns at a different pace and that grading should not reflect this learning difference. In order to be effective in assessment, educators should clearly explain and state what students are expected to know in order to get full credit. By giving too many grades to students, the quality of work decreases as well as the level of interest. One topic that this chapter addressed that I have seen as a pattern in many of my classes is that some teachers reserve A’s for students who go above and beyond to exceed expectations. For me, this has not been a problem because I am one of those students who is able to figure out what the teacher expects in order to get that high grade, but it is unfair to expect students to have to guess at what the teacher is looking for. In my class, I will make sure that I clearly state exactly what I expect from my students when they are being graded so that there are no surprises and so that all students have the ability to fully master the material.

Charli Sayward
Chapter 7: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions This chapter discusses what constitutes an A from a B and a C and how we go about deciding which grade is rewarded for which criteria. The tough thing about rewarding grades is that they always need to be adjusted for individual students. It is important to avoid adjusting students’ grades for the wrong reasons though. Some teachers adjust grades based on socioeconomic status and lesson the expectations for the students which does not helping the student at all. This impacts me because I do not want to make this same mistake; however it is hard to differ between adjusting the expectations and lowering them. Hopefully I will find a balance and differentiate for the student without making everything easier. To add to the difficulty of grading is how competitive grades have become. C’s are supposed to mean “average” but I’ve never received a C, and I would never want to. I’ve grown up to think C’s are not good enough. Society’s idea of grades has become so ridiculous that the grading system needs to completely change. One shift that has been noticeable is how some colleges are no longer looking at class rank because it does not have relevance to a student’s performance in college. There is going to be a lot of reform in our future, and I strongly welcome it.

Ryan Pelletier
This chapter talks about the importance of having consistency in your grading. It discusses the different levels of A, B, and C’s, and it encourages formative assessments. As teachers, we do not want to just give a letter grade and not provide feedback. By receiving a letter, the students finalize the idea that they were learning and move on trying to improve their next letter grade. By providing formative assessment your students will be able to gain some incite on how they can improve or how they were successful. The chapter also talks about the meaning of the letter grades, and how C’s used to be considered average, but in today’s classrooms B’s are now the letter to be considered as averaged. I will always try to provide as much formative assessment as possible in my classrooms. I want my students to know their strengths and weaknesses, and how they can use them or improve them.

Justin Stewart
Chapter seven focused on grading and how I plan to do it. A grade is not a good indicator of how much a student knows, it is simply a letter or number on the test. By giving out grades on having no formative assessments, students will never receive the feedback that makes them a stronger learner, nor will the teacher know how well he/she is doing. The shift in grade expectation was really interesting to me because it represents a change in ideals. Students are expected to achieve higher so “C’s” are no longer average but poor. “B’s” are the averages now and this is plain to see in students today. I can remember talking with students who felt that receiving a “C” was just as bad as failing. Students need the feedback that comes with more formative assessments. I plan on giving out tests which are summative, but also a lot of formative assignments that will show what the students need to work on and what I need to make more clear in the section.

Kelly Steinhagen
This chapter focuses on how it is better to look at grades in a subjective manner rather than focuses on A's, B's, C's. Students should not be striving for a particular grade, but for master of understanding of a unit. In order to accomplish this, I will personally need to add a lot of formative assessments that are ungraded as a way for the students to see what they are hitting and what they are missing. Also, its best not to start off in a way that everyone has a fantastic grade and it goes down as your grades do not reach "100". This way, students do not have to try and keep up but can keep learning and let their knowledge grow. I will plan to keep these in mind as I create my lessons and decide how I am going to appropriately grade students.

Megan Wallace
I realized how much school revolves around grades. They are so important to us because we think that they show when a student has achieved mastery of a subject. When a student enters a class the first thing on their mind is what grade do I need to pass the class, not what and how am I going to learn the material. The chapter talked about making sure that students are all pushed to be their best and they are all held to a high standard. As a teacher I plan to talk to my colleagues and try to have similar definitions as to what goes into what grade. I will also try clear with my students what the expectations are. If they know those from the beginning, they have a better chance of succeeding.

Alyssa Wadsworth
This chapter was about how to define grading for the students, so it is clear what they should strive for because an A might mean something different for each teacher the students have, so they won’t know what I want from what their math teacher wants for them to get an A. Another factor that might throw students off is how grading changes because a C used to be average and now it means, basically, that the student has turned in unsatisfactory work. This means that I have to take into account all the things I want my students to do and learn in my class so I can lay out for them in clear terms what they need to give me to receive an A in my class. This will help my students to feel safe when doing work for my class because they will have a clear idea about how they will do on an assignment before they turn it in.

Taylor Kemp
This chapter talks about grading and how it varies form teacher to teacher. Grading is all about perception. What the teacher thinks the assignment should get. IT talks about how grading can be based on the student and their background some times. Also that a grade makes sense to reflect sometimes on the student. If differentiation happens for the lesson, then why not for the grade? This will impact my classroom because I will have to consider if I will differentiate for my grading or have a strict policy overall.

Linda McLaughlin
//Chapter Seven: The Relative Nature of Grades and Their Definitions// This chapter discussed how grades were used in a classroom and what they represented. It pointed out the misconception that grades represent a student's master of a subject. This isn't the case. The book talked about how grading should be based on clear expectations and standards, yet the teacher must differentiate and accommodate for students when necessary. Grades are just a letter unless they are attached to some form of feedback, and feedback is so crucial for students, so that they can see where they can improve and grow as learners. This impacted me because grades were always so important in high school. We were never really tested on the mastery of the material. I just simply learned to memorize and do well on exams. I couldn't tell you now half the things I learned in high school. This will impact my classroom because now I realize what a grade really means, and how to use it effectively in the classroom. I will be sure to give my students a lot of formative assessments with plenty of feedback.

Darcie Simmons
This chapter focuses on grades, grading, and defining grading. The book points out to “avoid becoming complacent regarding the role of grading in teaching and learning” (94). Grading has become the “elephant in the room” that everyone has to do, but no one likes to talk about. I found two things to be very interesting from this chapter. The first one was that adjustments must be made to each student when it comes to grading their work. Many different factors take part in each assignment with each student. The quote “Students thrive because teachers bend a little here and there to teach in ways in which students can best learn and so remain hopeful about their prospects” (92), really called out to me. While I was a student in high school I had a teacher who did just that for me when it came to my math class. She recognized that if I were to orally do a math test, or have her handwriting on the test as opposed to a word processed test, I scored much higher. Her ability to recognize my style of learning, and then to “bend” to help me receive the best grade possible meant the world to me. The second thing that I found to be very interesting is that research finds that when a task is graded the quality of the work declines. It’s almost like because students know they’re going to be judged they worry too much about that, and lose focus on their premium work that they’re capable of. The thing that I really took from this chapter was that students need feedback, and that grades are not feedback. Grades are the final call...if we want students to learn, we need to always be discussing the content, and must always be giving feedback, without the grade.

Kaitlyn Haase
In chapter 7 I learned about the arbitrariness of grading systems that have been used for many years. The numbers, symbols, and letters had been chosen capriciously a long time ago and have been engrained into our education system ever since. I was impacted mostly by the essay example in which I set my biases aside and tried to grade an essay “blind.” Immediately I started to realize all of the factors that could play into grading that essay. It is so important to recognize that differentiated instruction will lead to differentiated grading. In my classroom I look forward to diversity, and I hope to set aside biases and grade everyone's assignments with their differences in mind.

Matt Towle
This chapter discussed how grades are very subjective. When several teachers are given the same essay, the grades they give it run the entire gamut of A-F. This, however, can be prevented if the same standards are used across the board. It is also important to note how much emphasis we place on grades in our society. Grades are simply inferences from the teacher based on a student's work, not a personal evaluation of the student. This will help me in my classroom because it is important to take all of this into account when grading. If there are clear standards laid out before grading begins then grades will be less subjective. I will also need to remember that grades should be used to determine whether or not the student has reached the main understandings of the unit, not necessarily how they use grammar in an essay (unless of course, it is for an English class on grammar).

Lyzz Stevenson
Chapter 7: This chapter discussed assessments and how important it is to have consistent grading. When students are given a letter grade, it symbolizes how well they learned the material. If no feedback is given then this system of assessing is useless to the student. Students strive to have good grades and it is important that teachers support them and their work by giving feedback, whether it is through formative assessment or written feedback on a final product. I think that this is very important as students learn from their own mistakes. I will try to provide feedback early and often so my students will know how they are doing and any improvements that could be made.

Erin
Chapter 7: The Relative nature of Grades and Their Definitions discusses grading systems that teachers should use in the classroom. I learned that letter grades are not the best way to interpret students’ understandings. Formative assessments are key milestones to giving positive and sometimes corrective feedback. What really impacted me the most was the shift in grade expectations. My freshman and sophomore year of high school, the grades on my report card could range from A-F. When I changed high schools my junior and senior year, I was graded as A, B, C, or NR (incomplete, no credit). I did not think that this was a grade why for students to understand where they stand on knowing the material. Have a vague grading system is only going to confuse students even more and make them feel unsure of themselves. In my classroom I will not only provide a wide spectrum of grades, but I will give plenty of feedback on formative assessments before testing the students on the material.

Olivia
In chapter 7, the subject of grades was discussed. Grades should be consistent between students. Formative assessments will give me a good understanding of what my students need from me as a teacher. When I become a teacher I will be aware that not all of my students learn the same way or at the same rate, which is why I will tell all of them what I expect from them, and I will give them the opportunity to tell me what they understand and what they still need to work on with the use of assessment.