FIAE+B1+Chapter+10

Abstract and Synthesis by Josh:
This chapter focuses on redo work in classrooms. It argues that teachers should allow students to work towards mastery in all they do. Which in turn means the student should be given a chance to redo any assignments that he/she missed or did poorly on. Keeping with the idea of grading for learning, if a student wants to redo an assignment they must complete some more practice/studying on the concepts they were weak on first. This keeps them from simply trying to get the right answer over and over; rather it emphasizes concepts that are important in the content area. Overall we all agree that redo work should be [|allowed] for the students in our future classrooms. However most people think there should be a date system that all redo work has to be turned in by. Maybe an academic [|calendar] given out at the beginning of a course would be all it would take for the students to know when the due date is. The great debate is if work that is never completed should be[| given a zero]or not. By giving such a grade it throws the entire average off more than if the student received a 60. An important part of the chapter that a couple people disagreed with was getting the parents involved when work was being redone; the example in the book was having the parents sign the bad assignment before the redo would be accepted. It is important to remember that school is not the top priority to some families and by requiring a signature from a parent, you are limiting some students who are trying hard to work their way through school.

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Erika Tingley
It is important that a teacher gives a student the opportunity to redo work that has not reached expectations, however, there are some guidelines that should be followed. A student may abuse the redo policy if it is handled correctly. The redo option should be done at the discretion of the teacher and it should be clear how the work is to be made up. The tip given by this chapter that was most useful to me was the idea of giving the student dates that things needed to be made up on. If the assignment has a lot of parts that need to be redone, the student needs to be given specific times that the parts need to be completed in so that the teacher can ensure the student is staying on task and completing the work. I will use this advice with my students to keep them accountable and also to make sure that I know where they are at with the assignment.

Tim Grivois
Because of the way I feel about grading, I am all for students being able to redo any assignment for full credit and have that reflect on their report cards. However, students will only be afforded this chance if they show me their willingness to master the material. Students will not be allowed to make up assignments if they are not putting effort in all along. Students will have to meet certain criteria for assignment re-dos as well; students must explain the mistakes they have made, and justify their corrections. In certain cases this means changing the format of an assignment, and forcing students to think about content in a completely different way. Also, these completions must occur in a timely manner wherein students are not doing it out of desperation or panic; students who wish to complete these assignments should be doing it out of legitimate academic concerns. I believe students should be given the opportunity to earn a grade, as long as they are willing to master the material, and that means working with me and other students to reach that level.

Josh
Chapter 10 talks about key points to keep in mind when allowing students to redo an assignment. The worry is that students will begin to take advantage of the system and hand in partial work knowing that they will be given a chance to redo it later. That is why I will be implementing Dr. Grace’s system where the student can redo an assignment but they must first receive a tutoring session about the material and fix the questions they got wrong. After that they can redo an assignment. Students will not take advantage of a system like this because they will be required to put in effort. It doesn’t matter to me how many time a student completes an assignment, it will only help them understand the material and create a work ethic that will carry them a long way in the real world.

Olivia Wandelear
I really liked the last sentence of this chapter, which stated, “our students are not adults” (136). This is very true, and therefore, students should be allowed to make mistakes without horrifying consequences that affect their entire academic career. I am definitely an advocate for redos. I really liked he idea of creating a calendar of completion in order to track how students will move to their goals each day. The calendar works backwards, starting with the final goal, and moving through the days, addressing the preparation needed to complete it. Likewise, I find it necessary to guide students through this process. Throwing the redo at them without any coaching or progress meetings will never help them manage time or successfully complete the assignment and do any better than the first time around. The only thing I would challenge in this chapter is the idea of involving parents in the process, and asking them to look at and sign the original assessment. I really would like to believe that every child has parents involved in their child’s learning process and school life. However, many students have absent and/or abusive parents that could care less about the work, or use the poor grades as another reason to punish and abuse their children. I can’t help but compare this to Harry’s Hogsmeade permission slip that Uncle Vernon refused to sign, which left Harry totally out of luck when it came to field trips. Quite unfair. J

Kasey Darnell
When allowing students to redo assignments for full credit, a teacher should have certain conditions in place so the privilege is not abused. Redone work should be at the teacher's discretion, so that students cant assume that they can slack off and always be able to redo the work. The redone work can be in a different format, as long as it still addresses the same goals/objectives of the original assignment. An important thing to remember is that students often need guidance in this process,and a calender of completion may be helpful. By outlining what will be done when, students will have a solid plan of how they will complete the task and learn the material. Teachers cannot simply say "redo this" and expect the student to go home and master the content. I really liked the idea of having students do a post-test analysis instead of a redo test.Students examine what they did wrong,and how they would do it differently next time. This exercise gives the student a chance to learn the concepts, without having to repeat the same exact assignment. This is something I will be likely to incorporate into my classroom.

Courtney Burns
This chapter delves deeper into the notion that grades are suppose to represent how well a student has mastered a topic. The author believes that if this is the case then it should be perfectly acceptable for students to redo work which they may have received an unsatisfactory grade on. There are, however, certain factors that a teachers should consider when deciding whether or not a student should be allowed to redo an assignment. First, is this a frequent habit of the student? If so, it is likely that this student simply is not putting enough effort and/or time in to their assignments and the grade they receive is likely an accurate depiction of the student’s knowledge and understanding. Secondly a teacher must look into the personal life of the student, are there issues, at home perhaps, that are preventing the student from spending adequate time on the assignment. In addition to these considerations, it is also advisable for teachers, when accepting redone work, to not average the new score with the old for this is yet another situation in which grades will become distorted. Finally, if for some reason the student does worse on their redo assignments, it would be beneficial to the student and teacher to reconsider certain aspect such as the effectiveness of the teaching style, or whether or not the first grade received was, in actuality, an accurate depiction. If the later is thought to be the case then the teacher should conference with the student to assess what the problem appears to be.

Andy Shorey
Chapter ten of this book discusses the how teachers should handle students that would like to raise their grade by redoing assignments or retaking a test. I like the idea that students are able to get full credit for work that they did. The book talks about how it is important to have a policy in place where basically you reserve the right to allow or not allow students to redo work based upon whether you thought they put effort in or studied. Everyone has their days where they might not be able to put their best foot forward and I think it is good to allow students to be able to redo things and get full credit. The book also talks about not just averaging grades I really like that if a student shows that he has mastered the material after the fact he or she shouldn't be punished for doing poorly the first time.

Dylan Stefani
There will always be reasons why a teacher should and should not let students redo an assignment. These reasons can be things that the teacher infers about a students excuse why the project wasn’t done or that the student has a legitimate excuse. The only advice I obtain from the text is that if you do decide to let students redo an assignment, make sure that you have received a signed paper from the parents saying that it is up for your discretion. Having a paper that the parent signs insures that both parent and student understand it’s your discretion or that they at least have signed a paper you can revert back to if problems arise. Teachers should be able to change the format of a test, ask students when they will be able to take the test over again, and be able to grade the test based on their improvements from the previous test. Some times teachers should not let students retake something. Times at the end of a grading period are good times to not accept anything redone because it saves the teacher from doing endless hours of grading over again. This chapter has given great advise that seems important to know. I will as a teacher use documentation from parents to fall back upon when needed.

Heath
When we allow a motivated student to redo work we are reinforcing the idea of practice makes perfect. During my mentoring, in EDU 101/SED 101, I witnessed an effective strategy for resubmitting work. The student would revisit a problem from a test or quiz, work toward finding the correct process, make up a similar example and explain the process in detail. In the case of my student the first two steps were completed with me and then worked independently to complete the process. I believe this resulted in a deeper understanding of the originally missed concept due to the depth of the work involved.

Caitlin Alexander
This chapter deals with allowing students to redo homework for full credit, and some options to consider when doing so. The suggestions that I liked more than others were the ones that included the parents, such as getting them to sign your redo policy or getting them to sign the original homework and have them ask for their child’s chance to redo the assignment. I feel that parents should be involved in their child’s education, and that by getting parents to be more active in that education, there will be better levels of communication on all sides. I am also favorable towards the suggestion that we treat students with late work how we would expect to be treated. If a student comes in and explains that they feel overworked, overstressed, or explains that they’ve been having a very bad week, a redo option should be made available to them no matter what. Simply by coming up to the teacher and admitting a mistake, a problem, or a situation that held them back is a big step for some students, and they should be rewarded for being mature enough to admit that. I also agree with the idea that redone homework should not be accepted during the last week of the quarter, semester, trimester, or year, whichever one the school runs on. This can create a sudden wave of work asking to be redone last-minute, and can put a severe strain on the sanity of the teacher.

Shila Cook
Chapter 10 talks about the stipulations and protocols that make redoing work less demanding on students and more helpful to students. A really good point that the chapter makes happens when the question is asked: How would we want to be treated as an adult? I know that if I have a lot to get done, and end up not doing my best work on a paper or an essay I would like the chance to redo it. If I want the chance then why wouldn't my students want the chance? Just because they're younger than I am does not mean that they are all that different. The other part of the chapter that I liked was when it said that as teachers we can reserve the right to change the format for all redone work. If we allow students to redo work then they should respect our decisions as teachers if we want to see something more, or ask them to stay for extra help on it. After all we really only want to see the succeed.

Ben Villeneuve
Chapter ten of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// contains several excellent ideas on how to handle retaking work. The current that runs through most of these suggestions is that teachers should not be like robots. One of the strengths of education as a career is that it’s pretty hard to outsource, and, when it’s done right, can’t be done by a robot. This should be embraced; teachers should know when to be strict and when to be lenient. We have to be able to read the emotions our students are feeling, and know if it’s appropriate to let them redo an assignment or not. This is certainly harder than just having a blanket policy that covers everything, but hey, life is hard. In addition, several excellent strategies exist for ensuring that students don’t take advantage of your redo policy, like having them justify the redo, having them turn in their first attempt along with their redo, and changing the format of the redo. All of these fall under ensuring that students remain accountable for themselves and their work.

Kay Sue Collins
===This chapter discusses the pros and cons of allowing redos of tests or projects. At first look it seems to make sense if you run a differentiated classroom and allow for students to learn at different rates. Allowing them to redo for full credit seems only fair. If they have mastered the material it doesn’t really matter when. What I hadn’t thought about was the student that didn’t bother to study the first time because he knew that the redo was available. Qualifying the requirement so that habitual offenders can have the privilege revoked will take away that crutch. I also liked the idea that redos shouldn’t happen the week before the end of the grading period in order to maintain my sanity! Redos should also be prefaced by a documented study plan or it is just a waste of everyone’s time.

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Tyler Brookings
Chapter 10 of //Fair isn't always equal// discusses how to make redo work less stressful on the students and the teacher. The chapter gives really great ideas on how to make the redo work, well, less work. Instead we as teachers should make the redo work an opportunity to help teach the students a little more as well as help them just do better. Students, from personal experience, certainly respond to teachers who allow them to redo their work and get full credit for that assignment. There are most certainly exceptions but for most assignments there is no reason a student should not be able to get full credit for something they have already done and simply wish to do better. I will most definitely allow my students to redo work when I am out in the field. Again, from personal experience, whenever i was given the chance to redo my work I would always seek help from the teacher and simply strive for a better grade.

Kyle Rines
This chapter covers a lot on students being able to redo their work. I am a firm believer that students should be able to redo their work, but only if they put in the right amount of effort to do so and actually, really care about redoing it and receiving a better grade. I've seen classmates purposely pass in work that was incomplete knowing that the teacher will let them redo it, but then all they do is forget about it and fall behind in class and in the grade books. My stipulation will be that if students want to redo their work they must let me know and they must stay after school or come early to work on it in my classroom while I am there. I can give them help if they need it and I will be able to actually see the progress that is made with the students.

Dan Horne
Chapter ten talks about something other then grading, it talks about the concept of redo work. It talks about how if students want to redo their work they have already handed in then they should be allowed to do so. A good way of doing this is having them take the original and do the same assignment slightly different, have a different assignment on the same materials, or just have them redo the exact assignment. This is a great process because if a student isn't happy with their grade and want to better it why not let them take the initiative to make their work and understanding of the topic better. I know that when I get back and assignment and have the opportunity to redo them I take that as a chance to learn new things and make my understanding better then it was before.