FIAE 11, 12, 13, 14

These chapters all discuss grading practices in the classroom. The topics covered includes weighted grades, grading scales, and how report cards should be formatted. All of these topics are important to consider when creating a classroom environment that is a safe, effective, and positive learning environment for each student. It is crucial that these aspects of assessment be differentiated. Chapter 11 starts off by discussing whether students should be given zeros or sixties for work that is not passed in. It argues that giving zeros throws off the entire grading scale, making it so that grades are not an accurate representation of student learning. I agree with this because I think that grades should not be used as a punishment, but as a way to see how well the students are understanding material. I think that when zeros are given for work that is not passed in, it is a way of punishing the student rather than a way to actually see where the students are at in their learning. Because of this reason, my mentor teacher has a unique way of calculating class grades. Instead of using a mean-based system where the teacher simply calculates the average of the grades, my mentor teacher uses a mode-based system where he looks at which grades are there the most. This way, he is seeing how much the student really know, rather than letting the whole grading system be thrown off by one zero. These chapters also discuss the issue of some classes having scaled grades. For example, in some schools AP classes are weighted higher, so an A in an AP biology class would be worth more than an A in an average biology class. While the book states that schools do this in order to encourage students to take more difficult classes, I do not think that that is the reason for this practice in many cases. In my high school, AP and honors classes were weighted higher than other classes. However, this was not to encourage students to take the higher levels. The reason my school did this is because it is innately more difficult to get good grades in these higher level classes and the school wanted to make sure that AP students had grades that were competitive in college applications and the class rankings as compared to students who took easier classes and got easy A’s. I think that this reasoning is flawed because it is making the assumption that lower level classes are easy for everyone. However, that is not the case. Lower level classes can still be very difficult and challenging for many students. These classes can be just as difficult to some students as AP classes are for AP students. We should not place more value on students in higher level classes than those in lower level classes by giving the higher level students weighted GPAs. These chapters also offered ways to differentiate report cards and make them accessible to all students. There were many suggestions along the lines of separating the topic into different categories that help students understand more specifically what they need to do to improve their score. This chapter shows that little things like this can many such a big difference for many students. It is important to consider the little things that one must do in order to create a successful differentiated classroom.

FIAE Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10

            These chapters all discuss issues pertaining to grading. I found these chapters to challenge what I had previously thought about grading and made me realize the intricacies that go into deciding grading criteria and the role grading plays in the classroom.

            Chapter 7 introduces grading and discusses the concept of a classroom without grades. Before reading this chapter, I thought that grading was a necessary part of the classroom to show who was doing well and who was not. In high school, I thought grades were necessary to assess how intelligent and hardworking students are and to determine important things such as class rank and GPA. After reading this chapter, I realize that grades should not be used for this purpose. Grades should be used to determine the mastery of students and to provide feedback to them, but students and teachers often focus on them in a negative way. Classrooms without grades allow students to focus on the feedback and their level of understanding rather than the implications of their grades. However, grades can be used in a way that is largely positive, which is discussed in chapters 8, 9, and 10.

            Chapter 8 discussed elements such as attendance and behavior and if they should be factored into grading. What I took away from this chapter is that grades should not be used as a way to discipline students or manage classroom behavior; rather, they should purely represent the understanding of the material. One aspect that I agreed that I agreed with was the discussion of giving students an automatic F based on unexcused absences. The book suggests that rather than giving a failing grade to students who skip class, teachers and administration should consider why these students are skipping class and attempt to address these problems and find solutions that will engage these students. This method will actually help students, rather than for them to attend by threatening them with failure.

            Chapter 9 gave many grading policies to make a grading system that will best benefit the students. I enjoyed the book’s take on revisions and extra credit. The text said that revisions should be graded for full credit, acknowledging the hard work that students have put into fixing their assignment and learning the material. It suggests that instead of allowing students to do extra credit work, which is typically just busy work with no meaning, students should be encouraged to revise assignments.

            Chapter 10 delves deeper into the policy of allowing revision for full credit. It encourages teachers to be careful about these policies, mentioning that in some cases it might be best not to allow students to retake a test or revise a paper. It says that these policies may best be handled on a case by case basis. However, one of the parts that I enjoyed is the one that said that we should treat students how we want to be treated as adults. For me, this is an important issue. I find that many classrooms policies and procedures can be de-humanizing for students. It is important to think of how you would want to be treated and treat students with that same respect.

           

Chapters 8 UbD/DI and 8, 11, 12 MI

            These chapters discussed how to ensure success for all students, including those with disabilities who many typically be viewed as inferior. While traditional classrooms only value writing and reading skill as applied to topics such as history, English, and mathematics, a classroom that utilizes multiple intelligences will value a wide range of intelligences.

            There are many ways that the use of multiple intelligences could change special education. One aspect to consider, is its impact on IEPs. The book asserts that currently, IEPs usually ignore a student’s strongest intelligences and force them to do more of what they struggle with. However, there are ways to teach students and build in their weaknesses while still relating the instruction and activities to their strengths and interests. This way encourages more success in students and less boredom and frustration.

            The book also asserts that if multiple intelligence was used more in a typical classroom, there would be less cases where it is necessary to refer students to a special education classroom. This is positive, as it encourages inclusion. This is something we discussed a great deal in my SED101 class, where it was expressed that inclusion is usually extremely beneficial to students with disabilities and it should be something that education is moving towards. However, the use of multiple intelligences is useful for every student, not just those who have a disability.

            It is also expressed in these chapters how important it is for students to learn problem solving and the ability to dig into the content, making connections and being critical. Essentially, this is the idea of teaching students how to think, not what to think. The book recognizes that problem solving techniques can be found that suit each intelligence. Encouraging students to use their preferred style of problem solving will help them be less frustrated and allow them to be problem solvers.

            If we as teachers want to encourage success, it is necessary that we recognize the differences in each students. Whether these differences stem from culture, any disabilities, or learning styles, being familiar with them is crucial in order to design lessons that will work successfully for your classroom. These books give us many methods of how to consider these differences when shaping activities in your lesson, as well as in other aspects of the class, such as deciding how grading will be based.

            I found these chapters to be useful for me as a future educator because I know that I will be teaching some students with disabilities. Previously, I had never thought of a connection between MI theory and special education. However, I enjoy the connections I saw in the text to what I had talked about in SED 101 last semester. It is really important that all teachers are aware of how to work with students with disabilities, as it is not just special education teachers who need these skills. I am aware that I will have these students in my future classroom, and I am excited to help these students learn and grow, just like I am for every other student.

            

MI Chapters 7, 9, 13, 14

            These chapters expanded on how multiple intelligences can be used and included examples in and out of the classroom. While I found many of the techniques listed to be geared to a younger group of students than I will be teaching, some of the discussion in these chapters was very engaging and thought provoking. For example, the information about classroom ecology in chapter 7.

            I found the discussion of classroom ecology to be very interesting. I do believe that learning is shaped by the environment around the student, but I recognize that this environment is very often out of the teacher’s control. The chapter listed many issues to consider, some being factors that are unchangeable to teachers, such as if the room has windows or the way the class schedule is set up. Even though these factors are out of a teacher’s control, it may help to recognize that there is a problem with the classroom ecology and that this problem is impossible to fix but can be compensated for in other areas.

            As a person with strong intrapersonal intelligence, I thoroughly enjoyed the section on the ecological factors on learning for intrapersonal intelligence. I really liked that it mentioned that people with intrapersonal intelligence may desire privacy during the school day. I could relate this to my high school experience, as I often wanted just a few minutes away from everyone but there was nowhere to get that privacy. This section strongly relates to the quote that the chapter opens with, which basically says that it is ridiculous to expect students to perform well in school when they are packed in with others for hours and pressured to do well. This holds especially true for those with a lot of intrapersonal intelligence.

            These chapters also gave examples of how to use multiple intelligences in aspects of classroom management, such as quieting a room down or assigning groups. I found many of these ideas to be very strange and impractical. I feel like many of the methods would not be effective and definitely would not be preferred by students. I think some of the classroom management techniques would work wonderfully in an elementary level classroom but would have to be adapted in order for students in middle school or high school to tolerate them.

The text goes on to explain that the multiple intelligence theory should also be used and considered in many other fields and aspects of life than just teaching, such as career counseling. The book provides a list of careers that use each intelligence. While it is an interesting list to consider, I fear that it could limit some people who will try to force themselves into whatever career fits their strongest intelligence. I could especially see this in a high school student who is searching for a future career goal and is looking for something to base a decision of off. In that case, a list like that might inspire the student to look into a career they had never thought of before, or it could make them feel like they must choose one of the careers listed.

UbD/DI Chapters 6,7 and MI Chapters 5,6

            All of these chapters discuss traditional teaching methods and how they are challenged by differentiated instruction and multiple intelligences. The chapters also touch on how these new types of instruction can be integrated into more traditional styles of teaching. Each of the chapters provides some example or recommendations of successful teaching using differentiation and/or utilizing the multiple intelligences.

            Chapter 6 of UbD/DI discusses how teachers have a tendency to teach students labeled as low achieving only the basics, not allowing them to fully synthesize and understand material. This topic is also touched upon in the next chapter, which discusses how the “ladder method” is flawed. The ladder method is the idea that in order for students to analyze and make meaning of material, they must first understand the basic facts. This practice is flawed, as all studies have shown that all students, despite whether they are labeled as high or low achieving, have the ability to synthesize material. Using the ladder method prevents all students from learning the material and forces low achieving students to be stuck in that category.

            The importance of teaching more than just the facts is emphasized even more in the chapters of UbD/DI. Chapter 7 discusses the flaw in “covering” content. Covering content means the teacher is just skimming the surface of that topic and rushing through it in order to meet standards. The book argues that teachers should “uncover” content. That is, to go into multiple layers and allowing their students to discover and investigate this topic. Due to the pressures put on teachers by standards and testing, many teachers do not uncover content, but rather just rush through units.

            This pressure put on teachers is discussed in Chapter 5 of MI. This chapter emphasizes how standards, pressure to complete text books, and testing is shaping classrooms in a negative way. This chapter discusses how important it is to teach to “awake minds” and how traditional teaching does not always succeed in doing this. However, it is possible to incorporate multiple intelligences into more traditional teaching styles. Chapter 6 of MI goes into great detail of how to suit each intelligence in the classroom. Many of the ideas presented in this chapter could be incorporated into a more traditional chapter, and others are more modern.

            These chapters were helpful for me as a future educator because they gave me explicit examples of how to differentiate and utilize multiple intelligences. I liked the discussions on covering versus uncovering material. I agree that classrooms are under too much pressure to meet standards and not enough pressure for students to actually be learning and enjoying school. I see a lot of posts on social media and hear a lot of people in real life talking about how they hate school and find it to be a requirement to get through life rather than an actual enriching learning experience. I hope that as I teacher I will be able to use multiple intelligences to differentiate my classroom in a way that encourages students to truly dig into material and understand it on a deep, meaningful level.

FIAE Chapter 6

            This chapter focuses specifically on test questions and test formatting. It explains that it is important to be extremely careful in how tests are set up, how questions are phrased, and the type of questions that are important. I really enjoyed what this chapter had to say about testing because it focuses so much on ensuring student success by making questions clear, including a variety of types of questions, and setting the test up in a way that does not tire out the student. I have had so many teachers that have tests that seem like they are designed to make the student fail. This chapter emphasizes how important it is to design tests in a way that is clear and meaningful for the student. I wish I had more teachers in high school and even here in college who design tests in a way that actually benefit the student.

            This chapter also discusses how to design tests in a way that benefits the teacher, as well. There are several methods that can be used to make grading tests faster and easier. However, when using the methods in the chapter, it will take longer to design tests. The chapter encourages teachers to be very specific in how questions are phrased, chosen, and placed on tests. Creating an effective test takes time and work, but in the end will reflect learning much better than tests that are thrown together with unclear questions and a lack of variety. Teachers who care about getting an accurate picture of their students’ understanding will be willing to put the time and effort into creating good assessments.

FIAE Chapter 5

           Chapter 5 introduces the concept of tiering in assessments. Tiering is the practice of changing the difficulty levels to meet the needs of students. This is not based around multiple intelligences, but it based around the skill levels of students. The chapter discusses many ways to incorporate tiering into the classroom along with assignments based on multiple intelligences.

            Both tiering and multiple intelligences are designed to meet the diverse need of students. These concepts work together in many of the examples the book provides. One of the examples that I liked was the “learning menu.” In this type of assignment, there is a list of assignments that students can choose from and some that are required. These assignments should include different projects that meet the various needs of the class. The projects can range in difficulty and in which intelligence they appeal to. I liked this idea because it gives students some choice in what they do, while also being an effective way to assess the students. Tic Tac Toe boards are another similar type of assignment where students have choice in which projects to do, but must connect three of them. This type of assignment can be tiered by having different versions of the board or by including tasks of varying skill level.

            Before this chapter, I had never really thought about how a teacher might build up difficulty in their assignments. I see now that it is a difficult but important thing to do in order for students to learn. The text states that tiering is a difficult practice for new teachers, but I hope that I will become proficient at it throughout my career.