FIAE+B1+Chapter+3


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Abstract (Jasmyn)
Chapter three, titled, //Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom,// of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// textbook focuses on what we know about the students in that classroom. It introduces the idea that assessment isn’t just a way to see “how the kids measure up”, but to gauge what they know, do and understand. The principles that this chapter examines are providing a clear understanding of the end result, differentiated assessments like essential and enduring knowledge (EEK) or (KUD) knowledge, understanding and do. Assessing readiness of the students and designing assessments like pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment. This chapter puts great emphasis on authentic assessment and its application to real-life. You can also find a detailed planning sequence for a differentiated lesson. The chapter explains the importance assessment throughout the unit, having developmentally appropriate units and providing enough information about the end learning result.

Synthesis It is clear that summaries of the chapter focus on carrying out assessment, for example[| __self-assessment__], through the stages of the unit. There is no advantage to the student or teacher to do full assessments at the end of the unit, doing so will not allow the student to receive feedback and revise their work. It is crucial for the teacher to observe the “location” of the student’s brain as they continue to learn the material. It is important to have [|__authentic assessment__] an assessment that relates to the progressive learning throughout the unit.

toc

Brody
The third chapter of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// provides information on how to best use a variety of assessments to evaluate student’s learning. Assessment is vital because every student in my class will not be at the same level, arriving on my doorstep in perfectly wrapped packages. Differentiated instruction is all about “location, location, location” of the student’s mind. This is why pre-assessment is so integral. The teacher must determine their student’s levels of readiness regarding the topic so they can alter upcoming lessons and assessments accordingly. Pre-assessments should be smaller pieces of the summative assessment so the teacher can examine and compare before and after levels of readiness of the essential understandings and questions. The summative assessment is what we start with because it’s the final assessment of the unit’s objectives and understandings, so we start with the end and plan earlier assessments off of that. In spite of being the last point to check for understanding, it’s a mistake to put a high level of emphasis on the summative assessment because its end point nature limits the ability of students to use the feedback to grow. This is where formative assessments come in. These are frequent “en-route checkpoints” that provide the helpful feedback needed to develop the unit’s objectives.

Brittany
One of the ideas that I really liked from this chapter is that teachers should not wait until the end of the grading period to assess how their students are doing. Having different opportunities for students to show what they have learned and how much learning they have to do before they meet the stated goal throughout the year would go so far toward helping not only the students but the teacher as well. I think it sort of gives us direction. If we want to go one way with our lessons but our students really need us to go deeper into something else or spend more time on one subject than we would be able to adapt to that and in the end everyone would win. Another almost odd idea I had was to give the students the ability to tell me as the teacher what was working for them in the class and what could be done better or differently. It would be a voluntary thing for the students and they would not have to put their names on the statement if they did not want to. The idea was to have a “comment box” in the back of the room by the door where students could put their ideas and at the end of the day or week or whenever the teacher decides they would open the box and use those comments to make their class better. It would be one of those things that would have to be experimented with to be sure if it would work in practice or not.

Seth
The section on determining student’s readiness really seemed to jump off the page. There have been many times when I’ve thought about tasks/projects I can use in the classroom to determine my student’s readiness. Yeah, that’s a bunch of crap, Seth. You can go ahead and say that, but it’s true. Through these tasks teachers are able to shape their lessons around what student’s already know and what they don’t. Planning ahead can really pay off if you do it correctly. Also, if you plan ahead things should just glide along like a hockey player would on a clean sheet of ice. Yes, a hockey reference, pretty awesome, eh? And like the book says the pre-assessment shouldn’t be too large. In my case (as a history teacher) something like a ten question quiz on the upcoming unit would be a good pre-assessment. I would save the pre-assessment and then hand them back at the end of the unit with the test the students just took. Yeah. I think I’ll do that.

**Kim**
This chapter really showed me a lot about why it is important to plan units backwards. A lot of evidence was provided in favor of starting at the end when designing a unit. Knowing the ultimate goal endpoint helps to plan the rest of the unit because you know what you want your students to come away with afterwards. Letting the students know what they are working toward throughout the unit will help them to become involved and engaged in what they are learning, which is important for their success. I also learned how important it is to break down the skills students need to acquire to ensure that they grasp the concepts. I really like the idea of beginning a unit by telling the students what we will be focusing on throughout it, and I think that it is entirely possible to do in English, while it might be a little more difficult in other subjects. Not only will I design units backwards and inform my students of the end results, I will break down the skills they need in order to be successful in my classroom.

Max
I can see from this chapter that it would be very helpful, when planning your lessons, to start at where you want your kids to end up. This chapter shows how planning your lesson plan backwards is beneficial. You can easily see the steps you need to take to get where you want to go. There you can see how long it will take you to get through a lesson and what steps are necessary to be the most beneficial to the students and their learning style. For math I can see what concepts the students need to know to get to the next step. I also think that this is why you need to know where the students are at with the skills they need. When you have that you can start at where you want them to go. Then add lessons to get them ready for the steps to come.

Jen
The different types of assessments seem to be very effective in their own respective, or instance: pre-assessments could be used at the beginning of the unit to determine where the students are at. Formative and summative assessments really seem to be beneficial because they help the students get a better understanding of how much they really did know. For instance: in the formative assessments I do agree that a teacher's feedback is very important for the students to help them understand what they need to work on. Another thing that really struck as essential was that teachers tend to focus too much on preparing students for life that they don't focus on what the students need to gain from the curriculum. I feel like I can relate to that because I always said I would be that teacher who is preparing them for life and using school as an example of the difficulties that life will present, but I do realize that as much as that holds importance for students you really do need to focus on what they need to learn and help them with what's essential academically. There will be plenty of opportunities for life to present them with challenges and even though being prepared is helpful, also knowing you have support is equally helpful and that's what I really learned we need to focus on.

Lily
This chapter was packed with information that is all extremely helpful. The two things that I stood out and were important to me were starting at the end of a unit when planning it. This could greatly benefit the students because we as the teacher know what the common themes or goals we want our students to reach are and this way we can plan the unit around those and make sure that they are going to be covered. The other great point I liked was on page 34 “Be Substantive—Avoid ‘Fluff’” I cannot agree more! I hate busy work and there is no point to have student’s waste paper and time that they could be using to do a larger and more interesting project based on the same subject. Another problem I see with busy work is the fact that it could make or break a students grade and the work is so pointless!

Casey
In chapter three of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal//, Wormeli discusses the importance of assessment. He made a good point when he said “Students achieve more when they have a clear picture of the expectations.” For example Wormeli suggested that we as teachers should try to give the students and end-of-unit test on the first day of teaching the unit that way they know exactly what we want them to learn out of this unit. While learning the unit, and going through it, they will be able to refer back to that test and fill in the answers as they go. When the test finally comes they will have mastered the information because it was presented to them before that test day. I had never thought to do this until reading this chapter, and now I strongly believe that starting a unit almost backwards is actually very beneficial for the students!

Leighlan Martin
Lessons should be guided and changed by assessments. A great deal of thought should be given to pre assessments, and formative assessments because they tell one how well the student is learning, what they need help on, what they are learning, and what they aren’t learning. It is important to know if what one is doing is working, because if it is not, something needs to change in order to accomplish one’s goal. This is not just important for teachers and assessors. If a person needs to cross the ice they have to test which parts are safe, and they have to adjust their rout accordingly. If I want to learn in a class and the teacher is not providing feedback, it is not a dead end. I can assess my own understanding from the home work and how much I “get” the lecture. I then know what I need to ask my friends or the professor about. Assessment should be used not to judge the learner or the teacher, but because it can empower the learner to take charge of their own learning.

Mike
===**Wormeli really taught me that planning your unit backwards is important. Before, I thought the whole concept was silly, but in reality if you plan a unit backwards with a idea of how you want to end it then planning the rest of your unit will be smoother since you know in the end what the big idea of what you want students to get out of your unit. I always liked from previous experiences when a teacher told us the big idea we were eventually working towards at the end of a unit. In health, for example, a lot of what you teacher is a step by step process so planning backwards makes compiling a unit very beneficial towards not only the teacher but also the students. In the end, by planning backwards you will ensure that students will have a better understanding of what your goal is for them in the classroom when teaching a unit.**

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Jasmyn
This chapter really explains the importance of presenting the expectations of learning first to students. //Wormeli// suggests presenting the end-of-unit (p.21) first, this is a good idea for two reasons 10 the students are shown what is expected of them as they learn the unit, and 2) the teacher can use it as a form of assessment, assessing what the students already know about the topic, before getting started, then the teacher can concentrate on the information that the students are less knowledgeable, providing a more appropriate lesson. Assessments should not just be done at the end of the unit but throughout the process. Assessments can be done at the beginning of the unit to give an understanding of what the group already knows or wants to know. Other assessments can be done at checkpoints throughout the unit to assess if the students are learning and/or grasping the information up to that point. And, finally assessments at the end of the unit will determine if there was any progress in the learning.

Kaitlyn Bartlett
In chapter 3 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, the author starts off explaining the chapter with a picture example. I really liked this example because I never thought of students being biased about a subject, but it completely makes sense. If a student has had a teacher that they haven’t liked or been told that they were no good at something their whole life, they will most likely want to rebel in that particular subject area. The part in this chapter that I thought I could use in my classroom was giving the students a question that would be on the test, with just different numbers. I feel like if the student does have a bias toward math, this will help grab their attention and listen to my lesson. Not only do I feel it will make the students want to listen, but participate as well. If you can get students to really participate and enjoy that material, they will learn it.