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Abstract and Synthesis by: Megan Millette
In Chapter 9 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Wormelli describes ten mistakes that we should avoid making when applying differentiated instruction. The ten tips are avoid incorporating non-academic factors, avoid penalizing students’ attempts at mastery, avoid grading practice, avoid withholding assistance, avoid assessing students with invalid assessments, avoid allowing extra credit and bonus points, avoid group grades, avoid grading on a curve, avoid recording zeroes for missed work, avoid being norm-referenced. These are important pointers to help teachers with figuring out the best [|grading system] for their class. The chapter says that we do not know the perfect day for every student to assess them on. So through our grading system and by using the ideas brought forward in this chapter we can help assess our students on both bad and good days. This will help in giving us the best understanding of student mastery. Throughout the reading of this chapter many of us seemed to find the same things interesting. Certain aspects brought forward seemed to catch the attention of many such as the idea of homework being practice, so it should only be graded on completion and the effort put into it. As teachers, we should also make sure to give each student feedback on the homework to help them see the areas they did not quite understand and to better remember it for later. However, some seemed to think when dealing with homework it could be tricky to not grade it. This could either go very poorly or be very beneficial to the students, which is why it would be better to grade it in some way like by effort. Some of us seemed to agree that it is important to have students re-do work to get a better mastery of the subject. Yet this should only be partial credit when being re-done instead of full credit. Some believed that both effort and participation were important to helping lead students to mastery and should be added in the grading system. Though they believed they should be added to grading they thought that this grade should be a small percentage of the whole final grade. Many of us agreed that extra credit could be very beneficial to the mastery of a subject. However, it can only be beneficial if it fully relates to the subject matter we are trying to have them master. Many also seemed to think students should be helped when they don’t understand and do something wrong; rather than be penalized for doing it wrong. We as teachers should help our students better understand what they are doing wrong by giving them other tools to help them understand and master the subject such as, [|graphic organizers], questionnaires, etc. Another issue that seemed kind of controversial was the issue of grading students in groups. Some seemed to think it would be a good method sharing stories of past teachers who did this and it was a success for them. However, others seemed to think it is hard to tell one student’s mastery based on group grading; therefore, they seemed to think it was better to grade an individual on the work they brought to the group. Either way seemed to have evidence to back up the point and both would probably work. Overall this chapter had many issues addressed that we seemed to find important to discuss when thinking about [|grading] students on mastery of the subject area.

Lauren Breton
In this chapter multiple ways to ensure that we, as educators, are truly implementing differentiated instruction were discussed. One of the most controversial was “Avoid penalizing students’ multiple attempts at mastery” (p. 113). This approach means that students would be able to make up work and assessments for full credit over the course of the grading period. Although this would be great for students who are putting in the effort and are just having difficulty with the concepts, it seems like this leniency could easily be abused by some students. Another approach that was presented was to not grade students’ homework. This makes sense, because if students have not understood the concept then they should not be doing the extra work at home in order to avoid confabulation. Also, if they have truly mastered the concept, they should be doing well on their homework. I hope to implement the idea of not grading homework but by giving feedback on homework assignments. This would help the students to better understand what they have done wrong and would give them positive feedback for what they have done correctly.

One thing that surprised me greatly about this chapter was how adamant the text was against offering extra credit or bonus points on tests. The explanation provided, however, made sense. Students shouldn’t be able to up their grades based upon knowledge of their teacher’s personal preferences or knowledge that is not connected to their test. Also, if teachers do incorporate bonus questions that have to do with the subject that students are being tested on, it should be written into the test, not considered as an afterthought. I do believe that students should be able to complete a couple of extra-credit assignments throughout the course of a grading period. These assignments could be used as a replacement for another homework grade that the student did not complete satisfactorily, especially if the extra credit directly relates to the poorly done homework assignment.

Rachel Joiner
This chapter was all about how to grade assessments, and things to avoid. The chapter says that we do not know the perfect day for every student to assess them on. I thought this was a great statement, and very true. Sometimes students will have bad days, and it is not right to penalize them because the unfortunately were having a bad day on the same day of the test. As a teacher, this is something that I want to be aware of, and make sure I am not being unfair to my students. In order to prevent this the book suggests to take the feedback from the first assessment, reteach or help the student and allow them to try again. I thought this was a fair way to give students assessments. I thought it was interesting when the book mentioned to not grade homework. As a student I became so accustomed to have large amounts of homework, I feel like I would also push this upon my students. After reading this however I gained a better understanding of what homework is used for, and now I feel like I can give my students homework without overloading them. I thought it was great when they described homework as practice. Teachers should not grade it, because students are still learning. As a teacher, I would apply this into my classroom, and give my students a completion grade of homework and give it the suggested 10% portion of the final grade. I found this chapter to be extremely helpful on grading assessments and understanding how to do it.

Lauren Scheidegger
Chapter nine of __Fair Isn’t Always Equal__ by Rick Wormeli listed off a few things to avoid when using differentiated assessments and grading. The first is avoiding grading nonacademic things such as effort and behavior as stated in the previous chapter. Wormeli also says that students should be given many different tries to attempt mastery. He also says that teachers should avoid grading things that are practice, like homework. I completely agree with this. Perhaps grading based on completion or effort might be a good alternative. For example give four points for having tried. A lot of the things on the list seemed a little obvious but when it went into detail it is easy to see how a teacher might make that mistake. One that surprised me, however, was to avoid extra credit and bonus points, but when the alternative of allowing “redo’s” was presented it seemed less shocking. Having students remake their assignment instead of doing something else that does not have the exact same purpose is much more beneficial to the student. It ensures that students reach the goals that the teacher has set out for that. Another thing that was brought up that I had always thought wondered about through my schooling years was whether teachers should grade in groups or not. This book says to avoid it and I find that to be a fair statement. However while grading in groups may be unfair there is a lot to be gained by working in groups in pairs. Overall I found this chapter to be very insightful and caused me to do a lot of reflection and think over a lot of things I thought might be options for the classroom.

Megan Millette
Throughout this chapter, Wormeli discusses the aspects of differentiated instruction and grading as a reminder that kids learn at different paces, so as teachers this would be good to keep in mind. During school, I remember teachers did not seem to think about the fact that students are individuals that all learn information at different paces. As a teacher, I need to remember to keep this in mind, so I can accurately grade my students on what they comprehend in the time it takes each one of them to learn the information. I believe a student is truly understanding and getting the most out of the class when I see improvement in them over the time. This is a long process and it should not be determined by one time period for everyone when they are all individual learners. This is why I believe that it would be more beneficial to not grade basic assignments and instead use them as practice; however, it would be best not to tell students this because they will be less apt to get their homework done if it is not being graded. I believe that students shouldn’t be penalized for not understanding, but if we do not grade something it punishes those students who work very hard at finishing homework for class. As a teacher, I need to keep both thoughts in mind and try to think of the best way to address this topic. Since all students are different, teachers need to be careful when assessing their students. When giving students a chance to raise their grade by giving them extra credit or bonus assignments it is important to give every student this option as well as make sure it relates to helping them with their mastery in the subject. Teachers should instead give students a chance to fix already corrected work to help bring it to the next grade level instead of offering questionable extra credit. This is challenging and will help them look further into the mastery of the class. In this chapter he talks about not giving grades based on groups this is important because though the students are in cooperative learning groups they are individuals and should be graded as such. The cooperative learning aspect is good to help them get feedback and a better understanding, yet it is good to grade them on their individual work brought forward to the group and end result. Overall, this chapter brings forward great ideas about grading also what to do and not to do when grading students.

Kevin Lind
This chapter covers things that shouldn’t be done while differentiating instruction. The idea of not grading homework seems like could either work really well or really badly. I know that while I was in high school, the teachers who would check work and give 100’s to all the students who attempted it seemed to get some of the best results. This practice seems to work best in math classes, where teachers can actually see all the work the students did. However, this practice is less effective in social studies classes, where students seem to think that by not grading the actual answers, they are just wasting their time. This is part of the problem I have with just not grading work. I can see myself giving a few assignments that would be automatic 100’s if students do them, but I don’t know how often that will happen. From my experience in social studies classes, it is better to try to assess students linguistically than it is to give them simple homework assignments. This philosophy is partly derived from the fifth idea mentioned in this chapter. It would be kind of insulting if I assessed my students by forcing them to use their naturalist intelligences to grow gardens depicting the Bill of Rights. However, if students are able to successfully explain in writing what the Bill of Rights is and what it means, then the assessment seems to make a bit more sense. I realize that I will have to try to come up with ways to work with students who are more highly developed in the other intelligences, but I think this should give me a good idea of who has mastered the content.

Alyssa Amari
In Chapter nine of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal,// Wormeli discusses ten approaches to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. The first tip is to avoid grading non-academic factors; things like behavior, attendance, and effort are not good exhibits of a students mastery in a subject. Tip two is to avoid penalizing students multiple attempts at mastery; all students master content at different rates, if a student has been giving a sincere effort during the unit they should be allowed equal opportunities to make up the work. Tip three is to avoid grading practice; practice activities such as homework are not good measurements of grades, they may show a students progress, but homework should not be given until students have mastered the specific content. Tip four is to avoid withholding assistance with the learning when it is needed; using a graphic organizer to help students make sense of text they are reading. Tip fie is to avoid assessing students in ways that do not indicate mastery. Tip six is to allow extra credit and bonus points; give students initiative to work harder. Tip number seven is to avoid group grades; group projects do not demonstrate individual mastery, mastery has to be assessed individually because all students learn and perform differently. Tip number eight is to avoid grading on a curve. Tip number nine is to avoid recording zeros for work not done. Finally, tip number ten is to avoid using norm referenced terms to describe criterion-referenced attributes; grades are standards based and geared towards showing student mastery, they should not be based on how the person is doing in relation to other students. This chapter was helpful in helping me design my first lesson because I had been having trouble with deciding whether to give homework every day. This told me something I agree with, home work should be given when students have mastered a subject, not when they are beginning to learn it. I think that all students will benefit from this because they will be graded equally and their grades will be focused on their mastery.

Mike Kahler
Chapter 9 describes methods to fairly differentiate for students. One of the topics covered here is the issue of homework, and how it should be graded, if it should be graded at all. This seems to be the conclusion that has been reached by the book. By not grading homework you take away the unfairness that comes from grading students while they are still learning material. By checking homework, and grading it based on completion instead of correctness you take away the problem that arises for students who are behind learning the material. Since students learn at different paces assessing students through homework means you are taking away points from students who just don’t get it yet. The best way to treat homework is as a formative assessment instead of a summative one. By looking over homework and clearing up students misconceptions you are giving them the credit they deserve for doing the work, but at the same time you are preparing them for a real assessment later. Also when it comes to summative assessments you should view them as something that can be made up. If a student is a little behind when the summative assessment comes around a second chance should be given. If they are willing to master the material you should be willing to credit them for it. Mastery of material is what we should be grading anyway right? This is something that I agree with because homework is not always fair if students do not fly understand a concept already and are then asked to utilize that concept without the guidance of a teacher who fully understands it. They should not be penalized for being behind other students in the learning process, they should be helped.

Samy Tracy
Chapter nine is all about ways to avoid bad assessing and grading. The first is to stay away from grading behavior, participation, and effort (as mentioned in the previous chapter). The second is to actually let students make multiple attempts at mastering a subject. Do not say that they cannot even try to understand a subject anymore, we are just moving on to the next thing because then they might become even more lost and it causes a trickle down method. Next, homework should not be graded. It should only be used to help students practice and should be given feedback on. It is a tool to help them learn the content; it does not show that they have full mastery of it. Also, teachers need to assist their students any way that they can. Giving a graphic organizer to struggling students to help them catch up is not giving them a step above other students; it is putting them on the same level and making it so they can master the content better. I do not understand the fact that some teachers think helping some and not others is harmful in all circumstances. There are times that some students are right on target with learning and some are struggling, so they need your help and some extra assistance. I also agree that extra credit for students who are done working on other things is unfair because the students that take their time with their work will not have the instant to actually do the extra credit and are missed out on an opportunity.

Emily McGee
Wormeli describes ten approaches to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. He explains the importance of avoiding grading non-academic factors (such as behavior, attendance, and effort because they do not demonstrate a student’s mastery in a subject). He advises that teachers avoid penalizing students multiple attempts at mastery; stating that if students have put in the effort and are willing to do the extra work they should have the freedom to do so. Wormeli says to avoid group grades because they are not indicative of individual content mastery. He also explicates the importance of grading on a “J-curve” rather than a bell curve to avoid norm-based grading practices. If the point of teaching is for students to learn and learn well, then shouldn't they be assessed on how well they learned it? Does a missing assignment really show that a student doesn't understand the concept? Maybe, maybe not. What if instead of penalizing a missing homework assignment, the student answers a couple questions on a sheet of paper showing that he knows the material anyways. Maybe there are things going on at home that are keeping him from doing homework but not keeping him from wanting to do well and learn. Students should be encouraged to learn and grades should be a direct summation of their learning.

Morgan Ware
Chapter 9 is about ways teachers differentiate assessment and grading. The first way is to avoid putting behavior, attendance, and effort into the final grade. I think that as a teacher putting effort as a small percentage into the final grade shows the process the student went through in mastering the material. The second way is to avoid penalizing a student for trying multiple times to master the material. I agree that students should be given multiple times to redo an assignment with in reason. The third way is to avoid grading homework. I completely agree with this statement because homework is practice and should be checked to make sure it is at least done. The fourth way is not avoid withholding assistance when learning. Teachers should give students aids like graphic organizers to organize their thoughts during and after class. Some students greatly benefit from this type of assistance. The fifth way is to avoid assessment that doesn’t accurately show mastery. Teachers should give students a task that has nothing to do with what they are strongest at. The sixth way is to avoid giving extra credit and bonus points to students do not use it to their advantage. The seventh is to avoid group grades because one student might be pulling the weight for the whole group. The eighth way is to avoid grading on a curve. The ninth way is to avoid recording zeros for work that is incomplete. I do no agree with this because if a student does not pass in an assignment then they have not tried to master the material and therefore do not deserve a grade. The tenth is to avoid grading students on things that do not show mastery.

T.J Hebert
This chapter gives 10 approaches to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. The first one is the one I agreed with from chapter eight, avoid including behavior and attendance into the final grade, it also says to avoid effort but I somewhat disagree with that. The next is to avoid penalizing multiple attempts at mastery which makes sense. To me, this approach contradicts the first one that says to avoid grading effort; this approach says to allow them multiple attempts at improving a grade on a test or assignment. The teacher is not necessarily grading the effort, however; the amount of effort the student puts in depends on whether or not the teacher will allow multiple attempts at mastery, so in a way effort is still affecting the grade. The next approach is also one that can include effort as part of a grade, it says not to grade practice (homework, which I agree with), however; if homework is given, I feel that if the student put forth strong effort but did not do the assignment correctly or had wrong information they should still receive credit for trying and be given multiple chances. I am not saying that I plan on giving homework frequently but I do plan on choosing effective homework assignments that challenge students and the ones that show tremendous effort will most likely receive higher marks then the ones that show little or no effort. Approach four is to avoid withholding assistance which I do not understand why a teacher would not provide assistance if needed. The next is to avoid assessing students that do not accurately indicate their mastery, such as tests. Avoid extra credit and bonus points, these things can show false levels of mastery. Avoid group grades; grade the individual students in a group. Avoid grading on a curve, avoid zeros for work not done, and avoid norm-related terms to describe criterion-reference attributes.

Patrick Hurley
This chapter focuses on the grading of assessments and what to avoid when doing it. The chapter gave 10 different things to avoid when grading assessments. This chapter gave several solutions to problems that will most likely occur when we are grading papers. The book discusses not grading the homework, this way we can focus on assessing the student’s ability. Students shouldn’t be penalized for effort, homework is supposed to introduce the subjects of the class, not give them deep understanding, they are viable to make mistakes. I believe that every student should be able to show what they have learned and what they are trying to figure out. By grading every little assignment they may get discouraged and not try as hard or explore the information because they keep getting penalized for it. If a student is always concerned about what they are getting for a grade they won’t focus on developing a mastery of the subject, they will only focus on that A. Avoiding grading all homework could also misfire. If there is no grade for homework, students won’t see the point of doing it. Perhaps if there was a blanket completion grade for all homework the students will be willing to do the homework knowing they get the grade but won’t be worried about having it all 100% correct, because errors happen.

Simone Thiry
The ten approaches to avoid mostly made sense to me in this chapter. I believe that it is important not to withhold assistance or penalize students for needing multiple attempts to master the material. However, I was more opposed to the ideas of avoiding extra-credit and avoiding group grades. Though I agree that extra-credit should not be used to bring a student’s grade up in replacement of a second attempt at the assignment, I think that some measures of extra credit can be helpful. For example, one of my high school math teachers would give an extra-credit point to any student who caught one of his mistakes when he was writing on the board. If several students saw it at once, he would give an extra-credit point to the whole class. These points didn’t count for much in our grades, but the idea of extra-credit was enough to keep some students focused on the board, and also made us all double check his arithmetic, which was good practice. The other approach that I did not completely agree with was avoiding group grades. Another one of my teachers routinely gave group tests. A portion of the grade was on cooperative learning that occurred during the group test, and a portion was on the actual test material. While we took the test, she would have a section on the overhead devoted to each group where she wrote down positive specific feedback on our group learning techniques (e.g. asking why). She would grade one test from each group, but the way she evaluated the groupwork ensured that we would all probably have the same answers, and wouldn’t just be copying off each others’ papers. I could see myself using some of these techniques despite the book’s advice to avoid them.

Matt Roy
In Chapter 9 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Wormelli gives us ten mistakes that we should avoid making when implementing differentiated instruction. The ten tips are as follows: Avoid incorporating non-academic factors, avoid penalizing students’ attempts at mastery, avoid grading practice, avoid withholding assistance, avoid assessing students with invalid assessments, avoid allowing extra credit and bonus points, avoid group grades, avoid grading on a curve, avoid recording zeroes for missed work, avoid being norm-referenced. Wormelli takes the whole of Chapter 9 and explains how these ten mistakes can hinder your classroom differentiation. Some of the more intriguing things to avoid (in my mind) were: avoid penalizing students’ multiple attempts at mastery, avoid grading practice and avoid extra credit.  I have had some teachers who allowed for re-dos on assignments with the given feedback and have found that the approach seems to work really well. However, I don’t agree with Wormelli that the full credit should still be available. I think that only a percentage of the points missed should be allowed back as opposed to the full points as the assignment is designed to check for //authentic// and on the spot understanding while the coaching provides direction (I know that, in the real world, virtually everything is collaborative but I’m not sure if I’m ready to apply that yet). Next, I am a firm believer that homework should not be graded. I feel that homework is a study aid similar to studying notes and should be used as needed. I simply don’t see how homework is any different from busy work if a student has developed and understanding of the material and does not need the practice offered by homework. Finally, I don’t believe in not offering bonus or extra credit, I fail to see how it is any different from a student’s attempt at mastery. Maybe the two aspects can be combined and they can earn back a percentage of the points lost but maybe a student does not test well or write well and that didn’t allow them to accurately depict their understanding and another medium can