UbDDI+B1+Chapter+8



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Abstract and Synthesis
K.Stubbs

Abstract: This chapter mainly talked about grades and how students should be graded based on what they know about the content than about whether or not they have their name on their paper or that they handed their work in on time. It discusses how teachers can [|grade students in a differentiated classroom] by giving some students time to finish their work past the due date and still receive the same amount of credit based on their content. Teachers should also give evaluations of students for the grades that they received and teachers should mention these evaluations by including an asterisk or some type of symbol telling parents and/or teachers to view the comments that were left and which explain why the student received the grade that they did. This feedback should be of high quality and specifically explain as well as narrate why the student got the grade that they did. Students should also never be graded on their assessments because a teacher cannot grade a student on content that the student has not yet learned about. [|Assessments] are used to measure how much a student already knows about the topic and is specifically for the teachers purposes to know where the student stand. Assessments are not the place for teachers to grade students on how much previous knowledge they have gained outside of the classroom. It is also important for teachers to not lower a student’s grade if they handed in an assignment late. That student may have done and accomplished the same content as another student who received a high scoring grade, but then got a lower grade because they did not hand in their well written work on time. It is important for teachers to grade students specifically on mastery of the content.

Synthesis: As a class, we mentioned our own concerns with competition on the school with grades as well as how we as teachers wish to grade our own students. Many of us talked about how we found it unreasonable that the chapter mentioned how many students do not like to have competition in the classroom and that it is somehow unhealthy for students. We felt that many students and even using us as examples, we like competition from our friends and whenever we saw that they received an A, then by God we had to get that A too. And when we saw them get a B on a paper or test, what did we do? We rejoiced on the fact that for once we were ahead of them in our own little student competition. Moving away from grades being competition, others of us in the class felt that students should care less about the grade that they receive and more about the content and material that they learned. Some students are so focused on their grade and what they get that they do not pay enough attention on the content they are supposed to be learning. Isn't school supposed to be using the knowledge we gained from doing a paper or a project and then being able to remember what we learned for future reference? Isn't that called learning? If students are so focused on the letter or number that they get that they do not remember anything that they have learned. Can we then say that we are doing our jobs as educators? Probably not. Lastly, I would like to mention how instead of being taught to use the knowledge that we are gaining in school, we are taught to rely on technology so much that when I had to give up my computer today to get it cleaned (which they didn't do correctly might I add and I am still fighting with it) I was scared that they might mess something up and then I would lose all of my files and work. So, instead of using what I am learning in school and feeling safe and reliable that this knowledge alone will get me through school, I know that what is actually going to get me through school is a $500 dollar laptop that has all of the right programs and a big enough memory.

[|Educational Star Wars.]

Tyler
Chapter eight covers how to grade in a classroom that follows understanding by design and differentiated instruction learning models. There is a two step process that can be used to grade students: 1. use an alphabet based symbol or numerical based system that serve as a summary of learning, and 2. do an evaluation of the student and present it to the student and/or the parent(s). When grading and evaluating students, there are six principles to follow. Grades should be based on clear and specific learning goals, evidence for grading should be valid, grading should be based on established criteria, not everything needs to be included in the grades, avoid grading based on averages, and focus on achievement. These principles support the logic behind backwards design, but there is still a concern that some have about grading students.

One of the biggest concerns teachers have about grades is that they believe that a grading system will unmotivated some of their students. Specifically, students learning disabilities, language barriers, emotional issues, and other pressures that students face. However, the grade system favors academically advanced students because they see the grade as a symbol of how much they know and how much they need to learn in order to get a better grade. In order to get an accurate grade of everyone in the class, there are three factors that should be reported; grades reflect the achievement of goals, grades reflect the progress towards goals, and grades reflect the student's work habits.

Abby
Chapter 8 talked about grading and assessments as well as how to report achievements and progress. The chapter talked a lot about the fact that grades make it hard to account for a student trying. They insist that we never average scores because this causes the students improvements to be negatively affected by their previous misunderstanding of the information. MI focuses on growth not grades however most school systems have very specific formats for what is expected for report cards. The chapter talked about the difference between assessments and grades. Assessments are not grades but rather a means of collecting information whereas grades are the final judgment of the student’s grasp of the topic. Tomlinson and McTheghe stress the importance of setting clear expectations for students as well as treating all students with respect. They deserve the proper feedback to improve. Also, students should never be compared to one another but based on their own growth and understanding of a topic.

I really wish that school was not so dependent on grades because I feel that the content is often overshadowed by the grades themselves. I plan to talk to parents and students about the student’s actual progress along with their report cards. I agree that feedback is important and that expectations should be made clear so that students can improve and do well. I want to give my students the opportunity to not get penalized for their initial misunderstanding of a topic, but rather be rewarded for their ultimate growth.

Ally
Grading is one of the main fundamentals of teaching, proper grading is very important especially for the students. The book states some of the basic principles teachers should use when they are grading students work. The start for grading is giving established goals for the students to have. These goals should given with the description of the final product or the rubric. The teacher should make it clear what they expect out of the students so there is not any confusion with the final product. If a teacher’s rubric is confusing then it is not the students fault they got confused. When it comes to grading there should be evidence given that the student followed the directions, this should be consistent by the teacher. If a student gets a point off for not including an aspect of the project others who did the same should be penalized. I agree with the fourth principle that not everything should be in the grading system. Major projects, essays, and tests should be in the grade book. I think participation should be in the grade book but it should be more about the class discussion then the attendance. If a student comes to class and they don’t say anything then they should not get a high grade for participation. Homework should be an accumulation, if the homework is done give them a point and calculate the amount of points at the end of the grading system. This will help me as a teacher because I will be grading my student’s material everyday and I need to do it properly or else my students are effected. My students need to be able to succeed if it is because of my grading I need to make a change. This will effect my classroom because there will be grading, I need to be able to figure out a fair policy for grading that helps everyone in the class instead of handing out tests and papers.

Jake
UBD and DI is a lot like communism. It sounds absolutely wonderful when you state the theoretical product, however, when you implement it, everything falls to pieces, and you realize that it’s not the cupcake world you originally anticipated. I would certainly have to see a successful example of the suggested grading system at work in the class room before I ever considered using it in mine.

The book points out that, current grading systems, create competition and that that is a bad thing, because then the students aren’t learning for learning, they are learning to so they can win. I feel like it is necessary to point out that we live in a capitalistic society and competition is sort of our thing. The real world isn’t made up of cupcakes and fairytales, though I agree it would be wonderful if it was, but it isn’t. Also, I would never have learned anything in school had I not been competing with the people around me. I had no ambition to learn, the learning I wanted was concerned more with the brunette in the front row than what was on the chalk board. However, I saw my friend slammin A’s on tests and, I don’t like to lose, so I made sure I kept up with him. It was not harmful; it actually made us closer and pushed us as students. The problem is when people aren’t given equal opportunity to play the game. That is where I believe differentiated instruction comes in. It’s not in the grading system, that I genuinely think is okay. A student does not hand in a paper on time he gets a 0. Why? Because life is full of deadline, and I don’t understand how that’s a bad thing. High school kids are interested in sports, friends, music, and the opposite sex, and though teachers may try and implement student’s interests in the classroom, it might work like 50% of the time.

Katie
Chapter 8 of the UbD DI book was mainly about how teachers should be grading their students and how students do pay attention to their grades and care about how well they are doing in school. Students should be graded based on how well they have done in school and not by if they have turned in their work on time. The author wrote about how assessments should not be used to be graded but they should be used as tools to tell where the student is at on the learning curve and should be analyzed as feedback.

I disagree with some of this chapter and more specifically on the idea that students should not get zeros for work that they have not turned in. I understand that by giving them zeros for missing work I am grading them more on what they have accomplished than what they have learned. When I was in high school, I was given until a certain time period in the class to hand in any missing work or any zeros and I believe that this method really works to teach students responsibility as well as grades them on the work they put into their homework and not on if the content is finished. In one class I was given until the end of the semester to complete any zero work and sometimes I would not even realize I had zeros in the class because I would forget about a homework assignment. Although this idea could potentially make teachers really busy near the end of the semester, I think it is both beneficial to the student as well as to the teacher in the long run.

Caleb
Differentiated instruction, a technique that we have been learning about for the past few weeks now, is a wonderful concept to use for teaching but how do we go about grading our students inside a differentiated classroom. To answer this question in the simplest way possible, I’ll say “grade them differently!” but that answer seems to be a bit superficial. Here’s how I look at grading students and that’s by looking at how the [|Jedi]do in the Star Wars universe. For instance, let us take a look at Anakin and his upbringing. Once, he was Obi-won as a master that’s when that grand Jedi begins to teach Anakin. Now, a Jedi’s training is a lot more hands on then most classroom settings but this metaphor will still work. Obi-won teaches Anakin in order to past five different trails which are the trial of the spirit, skill, courage, flesh, and insight. Each one of these trials has a very specific aspect to each of them that a Jedi must learn to past. It’s the Jedi’s master job to help their students learn to pass each of these trials. Now, each of these trials do not require a number rating, they do however require a Jedi to remember all that they have learned from their masters. For instance, Anakin is a bit of a horrible person thus when he tries to understand how to have compassion and a lack of angry for people he tends to fall short. But, luckily thanks to these trials, we see that Anakin does know that he can overcome these issues and be ready to become a knight. Thus, I encourage all of us teachers to realize that a numerical grade is easier for sure and it’s a great way to get kids motivated but at the same time we want them to learn and understand. So let us find ways to grade on that, which can be through our formative assessments and the like. But, most of all I believe teachers need to stop trying to grade students, and starting learning how to make Jedi Knights.

Jasmine
There were six principles in this chapter discussing what is necessary and what is not in order to have effective grading. Principle one talks about how grades should be based on clearly specified learning goals and performance standards. It is unfair to ask the students to complete something without directly stating what is expected of them. They need to know what they are expected to do and what is required in order to do well. Stage 4 was one that I found interesting because it was about how not everything should be included in grades. These include diagnostic and pre assessments. They should never be graded because it was seeing what they previously knew before coming into the class. Depending on what they had for previous learning situations, it would be very unfair to test on that. Formative assessments shouldn’t be included either because they are mostly supposed to be about giving the teachers or students’ feedback about what is going on, rather than just grading them on it. Grades should be derived mostly from the results of summative assessments that were carefully designed to allow students to demonstrate accumulated proficiency related to identified content goals. I agree with this statement because summative assessments are made to allow students to show what they have learned in the class from the teacher so it should be graded and that should be one of the only things that are graded at all. This will relate to my classroom because usually in math classes, you are given a pre assessment to see what you know and often are graded on it. I always thought it was unfair. How can they grade me on what I never learned? It never seemed right. I will certainly not grade these assessments. It will just be for my understanding of where the students are as far as skill level. A concern that the book posed about grading is grading with differentiation. In normal grading systems. Struggling students are basically doomed to live on the bottom of the grading heap. This is very unfortunate. It is unfair to them. They should have a different grading system if they need one because they are different learners and have different needs. They deserve to be successful just like everyone else does. I agree with this as well because students don’t realize that there is a possibility to have different grading, but if they did, they would certainly want and expect it. All students are different and have different needs. If teachers are going to consider utilizing UbD into the classroom they should certainly be using a diverse grading system as well.

**Brittany**
According to the chapter grading should be based on specified learning goals and standards. I agree with this thought, but I also think grading for attendance and participation allow for students to really be engaged if they know it is part of their grade. It brings them to think outside the box and think about how to word things so they can get their point across to the rest of the class. I agree that grades should be clear to students and parents, as well as valid. Most teachers believe that grades defer the learning process, but I think if you base your grades on things that show obvious proof of learning than grades can be a great thing. This would allow students who typically do poor in standard grading systems a new revitalized look at grades, rather than being simply about right or wrong, the grade would be based on improvement towards a learning goal. Overall I do think grades are an important thing. I realize school should be about learning, but unfortunately the real world could care less that you learned what you did if you do not have the evidence to back it up. While I think it would be amazing to keep portfolios and show potential bosses your college or high school portfolio, the cost and time that would need to be put into that is unrealistic. The fact of the matter is that jobs want an easy way to say "Yes, this person is good for this job" or "No, this person is not good for this job", and unfortunately the easiest way to do that is through grades and test scores. I believe that until the rest of the world changes over, the schools will only be holding students back if they do not use a grading system that potential employers can read over quickly.

Dan
As one would suspect, grading is a major part of developing a curriculum. This chapter is a guide on how grading should be, and strategies to best utilize the grading system so it is fair and valuable. Six principles outline how teachers should base their grades. Though I believe all of these principles are essential and important, there are two that really struck me due to the fact I felt there was a lack of such principles at my school. The first one is about grading based on clear and specified goals and standards. I did so many papers and received grades for them without any clear directions or expectations of what was needed in order to succeed. Granted I still did well on the majority of those papers, I hated not knowing what I really needed to do. Whenever I need to grade papers, I will make sure I established clear and sound goals, so my grading is fair and clear. The second issue is having everything included into grades. I hated teachers that included work ethic, informal assessments, and other entities that really didn’t show my true potential. Some of these concepts just affect your grade on their own. If you do not put a lot of work into your work, it is obvious that your grade will not be as high. I will do my best to make sure I grade my students on the content, not anything else. I will also consider the “photographic” analogy, which a single grade should not reflect a student’s entire report, but rather a collection overtime to see how they have progressed.

Alex Slack
MI Chapter 8 – In this chapter based on classroom management I realize that classroom management is something that you do not just walk into or read a book and learn about. I mean yes you can learn effective strategies and tips on what is the right way and the wrong way, but it the end it is you classroom and your rules, now don’t let the power go to your head! Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither wills you classroom management skills. The first thing that jumped out at me was the idea of grabbing kid’s attention in class. The first reason why this jumped out at me is because it made me realize what I did as a student versus what it means to be a teacher. I now look back and realize why so many teachers told me they felt as if they were fighting with me for class room attention. Therefore how do you handle the class clown, the prankster, or the Alex Slacks who just talk for the same of hearing their own voices? This question would probably intimidate most old school teachers but I feel us new school teachers are going to make their material so engaging that this student’s energy won’t be focused on class disruption but by how much they can learn in the time they are allotted. Therefore lets go out there and show this Alex Slack’s I mean students how we run our classrooms.

Jenn
In this chapter of UbD/DI it talks about grading and reporting grades. It is obvious when studying the UbD/DI models that there is some cause for concern about whether grades are needed at all. Assessment, certainly, but grades? Doesn’t that just put everyone back to a standardized place? Sadly, many teachers are required to give out grades, and UbD/DI has some helpful ways to help teachers do this fairly while meeting the requirements.

If teachers look at grading as more of a type of feedback to help support their students’ learning, then grading becomes more open and information, rather than strict and standardized. I really like this idea because, as the book mentions, having grades be the ultimate goal in the classroom can hinder students’ learning and motivation. I believe thoroughly that making it clear that grades are just a number, all effort deserves credit, and that everyone can succeed, will help students move past the idea that focusing solely on the grade is the right idea.

It is not just the students who will have to work past the idea of grades, however. In order for students to really buy into grading as a tool for communication and support the book suggests that teachers use reporting systems. In this way the teacher is developing a large collection of data to help show the student all the progress and success they’ve had in the past, and to give them a more well-rounded piece of feedback. I really like the idea of using these methods to put less stress on grading and more stress on learning. Helping the student through the grade war and making sure that it is helpful for them personally is something that I would love to use in my classroom.

Lizz
In chapter 8 of UBDDI it talked about how there were six different principles that discussed what is necessary and what is not necessary in order to have effective grading. The first principle called grades and report cards should be based on clearly specified learning goals and performance standards talks about how educators should establish indicators of success, describe the criteria by which they will measure success, measure students accordingly, and report the results in a clear and consistent manner. Students need to know what they’re expected to do and what is required in order to do well or else they won’t end up doing the best they can. Principle two is called evidence used for grading should be valid and principle three is called grading should be based on established criteria, not on arbitrary norms. Principle four was called not everything should be included in grades. The most intriguing principle was principle five, which was called avoiding grading based on averages, and basically it was about how when grading a teacher shouldn’t use the mean or averages. The chapter talks about how if the goal is learning and a student accomplishes that goal later the students shouldn’t be penalized. What a student’s learns should be more important than when they learn it. I agree with last statement because school shouldn’t be about the grades but about learning and if it takes the students longer to actually learn, it then planned it shouldn’t matter because they finally achieved mastery on the topic. The last principle was called focus on achievement and reports other factors separately meaning the grade given should give as clear a measure as possible of what is the best the student can do. Knowing these principles will help me as a teacher because sometimes grading, assessment can be hard to separate, and that’s what needs to be done.

Roger
The eighth chapter of UbD/DI focuses on grading. Basically, the chapter goes into detail about how to grade. Most of this is fairly common sense stuff, at least to me. Grading expectations need to be established to give meaning to grades. That makes a lot of sense, for you cannot give a grade that has no meaning. The purpose of grades is to give feedback for assignments. Grading seems to have been turned into some huge, overthought beast. In reality, grades should be one of the simplest forms of feedback. Like any other form of feedback, the person receiving is going to need to know what you are analyzing, and the method for giving this feedback should be known to them for it to be effective. The thought of grading assignments based off of anyone else’s assignment is just, well, stupid. Why should someone receive a better or worse grade based off of how the class is doing? The only way feedback will be effective is if it is truthful, and is centered from individual assignments, not the class.

Overall, the information from this chapter is something that I would have already previously included in my classroom and my teaching style. The grading practices described seem like common sense to me, and I am a little upset that some people choose to use such unfair and unethical methods for measuring student progress.