FIAE+B2+Chapter+14


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Morgan Ware
This chapter is about report card formats. Every year schools change the format. Teachers are always looking for a greater range of narrative comments to express to the parents and student exactly how they did over the quarter. Teachers also have been experiencing frustration with electronic report cards because they may not express exactly what the teacher needs to tell. The point we need to get across is that the curriculum the students experienced is not the same as curriculum experienced by other students in the same grade level and subject (page 174). Certain comments are not allowed on report cards so that students do not feel singled out or suffer from unfair treatment. However narrative comments can help parents understand where their child is at in behavior issues and in academics. Some schools would rather record a symbol or mark instead of a grade to indicate a student’s personal progress. We should grade a student on subtopics not just on the main idea. This gives a more accurate idea of the student’s mastery. I think this will help me most in the classroom because I know what to grade for the best record of my students’ mastery.

Alyssa Amari
In chapter twelve of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal,// Wormelli discuss the issue of different grading scales in schools. The most familiar grading scales used in schools are the 4.0 scale and the 100 point scale. Each of these scales are efficient in their own ways. The 100 point scale is more down to the percentage precise and useful for class ranking, but the 4.0 scale is a much more accurate portrayal of a students subject mastery. This is generally because the 4.0 scale is done with rubrics and specific standards geared toward an assignment, test, or project. These scales focus on the students proficiency in the subject matter rather than the accuracy or errors made. The 4.0 scale is more objective rather than the 100 point scale which is subjective because it focuses on the mastery and competence of a student in a subject. I have never really liked the idea of the 4.0 scale because I have been educated and assessed mostly through the 100 point scale. Some of my teachers had used rubrics for projects and what not, but it was not something they did consistently for every grade. Recently the 4.0 scale was implemented into the grading system of our middle school and I thought that it was completely crazy and did not give students a true portrayal of their grade. This was mostly because in order for a student to get a 4.0 they had to go above and beyond, but a 3.0 showed that they understood everything. After being in college and reading this chapter I think the 4.0 scale is something I will use consistently in my classroom. I think that this will most definitely benefit my students more than the 100 point scale because I will design it so that it shows their mastery.

Emily McGee
Wormeli discusses report card formats and their potential power as feedback, documentation of student progress, and usefulness to all parties involved. He describes several formats to consider, including: 1.) Adjusted (Modified) Curriculum, where students are grades on personal growth rather than achievement of standards; 2.) Grading personal growth and achievement of standards; 3.) Multiple categories in a subject, where students are graded based on essential questions and benchmarks; and 4.) Continuous progress report, where students growth is marked over several years keeping the emphasis on student achievement. Personally, I think the second method would work best for me and I believe (perhaps naively) that it would be the most practical and beneficial in schools. I think students’ grades should show personal achievement and growth (otherwise aren’t you focusing on deficit?) but should always align with standards. There is a certain amount of information that should be expected and can be expected of students in high school and for the majority of students that information and skill set should not be out of reach. I believe that by grading purely on personal growth it may be easy to loose sight of standards.

Samy Tracy
When it comes to report cards, there are many important pieces that go along with it. Teachers need to inform parents how their child is doing compared to other students and also how they have grown across the year. The best way to do this is to leave comments on their report cards and progress reports. Many districts will not let them leave long comments on the actual card itself, but they can leave a note to meet with the teacher and see comments or look online to where it is posted privately on Powerschool. The most important thing, I think, is to make sure that parents know what is going on with their child besides just seeing a report card with a letter on it. There is no feedback whatsoever on assignments. Even if you modify assignments for students that should be recognized on the report card so that parents and future teachers can see that a particular student did well when their assignments were adjusted in this manner. I do think it is important to assess students’ personal progress and achievement really helps when it comes to parental understanding and students. There is a lot of frustration when students do not know what it is they are doing wrong because a teacher does not want to give that extra effort to help them learn better.

Lauren Breton
This chapter of the text focused on how we present the grades given to our students. Many school districts are continually changing their report card formats in order to find the best way to present their students’ grades. Also, the questions of how to document success with an adjusted curriculum and personal progress made over the course of the grading period need to be addressed. For example, if a student is receiving an “A” on the material that they are completing, but this material is not equivalent to the material of the rest of the class, what grade should we give them? The text recommends that we give the student the grade that they have earned (an “A”) and just come up with a symbol that would allow parents and other teachers to see a private note that states that the curriculum has been modified for that student. I think that this is a great idea, because students should receive grades that reflect their great successes in the classroom, but it also needs to be noted that the curriculum has been modified for the student, so that the student’s future teachers will know that they might not be at that advanced level.

Another idea that I found to be greatly beneficial is the idea of assigning a letter grade (as usual), and adding a number (1-3) that would reflect how much the student has progressed throughout the course of the grading period. I really like this idea because parents would be able to see that even if their student was doing poorly at meeting the standards (the letter grade), they could still be improving by leaps and bounds as far as personal progress (the number). Although most people tend to focus on how a student is doing compared to others, it is important to think of how the student is doing in terms of personal growth as well. This system allows us to look at both of those categories.

Rachel Joiner
This chapter was all about report card formats, and how they could be changed in order to show various understandings and modifications. I learned a lot from this chapter about report cards. I never knew that you could change the formatting on the report card. One way the book mentioned to modify the curriculum was to grade students against their own progression. Each grading period would be based off how much the student has learned and grown since the last grading period. I thought this was an interesting way to grading. I think it could really benefit students, because it is measuring them only on their progress. This would show how well and how much the student has learned and progressed. The book brought up a good point about modifying report cards. It said that writing, “adjusted curriculum” on a report card could be damaging to the student because others may read too far into the comment. I am glad the book mentioned this; because it is not something, I would have thought of myself. I would not have thought that by writing this on a report card students could be facing discrimination from one little comment. I liked the books hints to put an asterisk next to a student’s grade and leave a longer comment that explains how the curriculum was modified, and how much the student had grown. This will take away that stigma from seeing “modified curriculum” on a report card. This would allow teachers to modify curriculum for students, and still give them accurate grades. By doing this and grading students based on their progress from the previous grading period I feel that it will motivate them to do better. The curriculum will be more focused on them, and they will know they must prove their learning to earn a good grade. They cannot just memorize content and pass the test to get a good grade; they must demonstrate they learned something. This would be motivating the students to learn more, and allow teachers to provide grades that are more accurate.

Lauren Scheidegger
Chapter 14 was all about different report card formats. I never realized that there were so many options when creating a report card format. A report card can include progress, typical letter grades, or both. It can show a students’ mastery level in a certain area or standard or how a student is doing in each category of a certain subject.

I very much liked the idea of showing both progress and the typical letter grade achievement. The chapter showed an example such as B3 being printed on a report card. The “B” would be the typical letter grade, while the “3”is how much the student has progressed. A “1” might mean little progress, a “2” moderate progress, and a “3” great progress. This could show parents and students how far they’ve come and feel proud of themselves perhaps even despite not getting an “A” grade.

A teacher should always know what standards they are focusing on and how they want their students to be able to show mastery. A teacher should be noticing how much the students are improving not what sort of a “grade” they are getting. Too many teachers put students into categories based on the certain grades they are receiving. A teacher instead should see where students are improving and where they need to be improving and help them progress as much as possible.

Megan Millette
In this chapter, Wormeli mentions report cards and methods used with these. It is important to keep in mind that when dealing with report cards parents are involved and need to be considered. Report cards should include feedback, document progress, and inform instructional decisions. I never really thought of the idea of placing an asterisk next to a grade to indicate that a narrative should be reviewed concerning that specific grade. I really liked this idea and found that it would be a great idea to use. I believe a set of marks to help one remember certain aspects is an interesting thought. It is like the key to the report card. I believe this is something I could possibly use for myself. I feel like in the younger grades we were assessed in many different ways. We were given grades as well as being assessed; however, as we all grew older this came to an end. I believe it would be nice to see some of this continue into high school as well as the younger grades because I find it advantageous to have and utilize. This would not only help teachers see students progress but also help students and their parents see it as well. This idea of dual grading or the thought of giving grades and assessing students is good to have in the school system. Another topic I remember seeing in the younger years but not in high school would be multiple categories. I believe this could be another positive tool to use and should be used in the older grades as well as the younger ones. I believe all the methods brought forward in this chapter would be beneficial to report cards and they should not be overlooked because only the younger grades use them.

T.J. Hebert
Report card formats have been a difficult issue for many teachers and schools. Teachers find it difficult to illustrate the differentiation that took place in their classroom over the grading period. Schools and school districts constantly evaluate their report cards to ensure that they provide the best picture of student learning and differentiation. One thing schools are doing is allowing more room for narrative comments from the teacher. There are different approaches to grading and one is the adjusted curriculum. This is where the student’s are graded against their own progression in each grading period. This method demonstrates classroom differentiation by showing how adjusting the curriculum helped a particular student. There is the dual approach which grades personal progress as well as achievement against standards.

I personally like grading them personally and against the standards. It allows them to see personal progress as well as where they are in accordance to the standards. It also shows the teacher what areas they need to work on for improvement. The problem with this is making sure the student’s do not get discouraged if they recognize that they are not up to standards for whatever reason. If they are making good personal growth but are still not up to standards, it can discourage a student when they should actually be encouraged by their personal growth. A focus should remain on their personal growth and perhaps the comparison to the standards should be left for only the teachers viewing.

Kevin Lind
Wormeli brings up one point in this chapter that I never really considered before. He says that it is important for schools to indicate on report cards which level of the course is being taken. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a situation in which it hasn’t just been part of the course title. I agree that it is important and I think it is a little screwed up to think that some schools actually don’t have it listed. It can potentially be a serious problem if higher level classes are meant to be weighted more heavily.

The idea of recording the personal growth could be helpful and effective in some cases. I think that this would mainly apply to applied and special education classes, but it could definitely help the administration understand that the student is learning from past mistakes and is getting better with responsibility. It could also be useful for future teachers of the student. They could see that the student is willing to learn, even if they aren’t getting it right away.

The idea of grading students in multiple categories within a single subject actually seems like a very good idea. Some students are very good at writing, but are not very good when it comes to taking tests, so by placing them in different categories, it is clear that students are still doing well with understanding the material. It can also be an effective way to show students what they need to work on. A student might not do well on one type of assignment, but they may not realize it until the teacher actually shows them.

Mike Kahler
This chapter is all about the issue of report cards, and report card formats. These are constantly changing. Report cards generally do not capture the true learning that has happened in the classroom. Personal growth of a student may not be represented in the report card, and this is something that I believe is incredibly important. Some schools have taken the rout of including a separate mark representing the personal growth of the individual student.An A3 may be used to represent the grade for the class, an "A," and the 3 will represent the personal growth of the student. The 3 for example could represent tremendous personal growth. I find that this is a very god idea. Since students spend so much time trying to grow personally, and that is what teachers should really be striving toward in the classroom, a grade marking their personal growth is a fantastic idea. Even if a student is not up to par in the grand scheme of things it should be know that they are taking charge and improving their grades on their own. This is very important as it shows that they are taking initiative and working to learn. This will reflect positively on the parents, and even look good when guidance or colleges review their transcript. This will give them a better chance when getting into colleges, or being reviewed by any kind of employer.