Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10

These four chapters talked about grading and what should be included in final grades. The main focus of chapter 7 was grading policy. I learned that differentiated instruction directly impacts a teacher’s grading policy. I learned that because there is no common benchmarks for an A, B, C, etc. grades are not an accurate indicator of mastery. A suggestion that the book gave is to talk to colleagues and define what exactly makes an A, B, C, etc. Talking about these differences can help inform me as an educator what my colleagues think and will help a team of teachers grade so that the students’ grades are accurate indicators of mastery. Another big idea that I got out of this chapter is that grades are more accurate if they are based on points, not based on an average since averages compare students to each other. Chapter 8 talks about the reason why teachers grade. The most common reason that teachers grade is because as teachers we need to document, provide feedback and guide discussions on a regular basis in order for students to achieve in our class. The big thing that I learned about in this chapter is whether or not behavior, attendance, and participation should be included in grades. The big take away that I learned from this chapter is that these things shouldn’t be included in the final grade. Attendance should not be included because if students aren’t present but are still doing the work then they shouldn’t be penalized for not being able to make it to class. The reason that the book gave for not including behavior is because it is not an accurate indicator of mastery, which is the goal with grades. Participation should only be included in the grade is it is the skill being taught. Chapter 9 gave a list of ten things to avoid when grading. Some of these things were incorporating behavior, attendance, and participation into grades, which was talked about in chapter 8; penalizing students for multiple attempts; grading homework; extra credit and bonus points; and recording zero’s for incomplete work. I learned that these things should not be included in the final grade for the same reason: it’s not an accurate portrayal of what the student knows. Chapter 10 talks about an idea that happens every day in classrooms: makeup work. In this chapter I learned that as a teacher I should give students the change to redo work because different things are happening every day in students’ lives outside the classroom. This chapter talks about the fact that teachers should give full credit for makeups and redo’s. Since the goal is for the students to master the material, it is not fair to penalize the student for redoing the work in order to master the concepts, especially since everyone learns at a different pace.