FIAE+B2+Chapter+10

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Tiarra
In this Chapter Wormeli discusses what teachers should consider before allowing students to redo an assignment for full credit. This is a subject I have been particularly curious about because I think there is a delicate balance between allowing students to refine their work until they truly understand the lesson, and allowing yourself to be a push over whose generosity is taken advantage of by less motivated students. We know from previous chapters that feedback and revision is paramount for student education, however, in order for a teacher to preserve their sanity we cannot allow students to redo every assignment they are given whenever they choose for whatever reason. We would be grading forever! I particularly appreciated the sentiment that teachers should reserve the right to change the format for all redone work and assessments. This ensures that the student isn’t simply going in and fixing the mistakes you have pointed out with your bold red pen, but instead they must prove through differentiated application that they have truly seen their mistakes and finally understand the curriculum. It is important that students take responsibility for their own work, so implementing a clear plan for make-up work and what criteria a student must meet in order to qualify for that work is incredibly important to maintain a good student teacher relationship.

Will L.
This chapter focuses on the conditions one must consider before allowing students to redo assignments. If a teacher allows students to practice this, those students may use to their advantage more than for learning purposes. Thus, that teacher gets walked all over and isn’t taken seriously anymore when it comes to assignments, as more and more students blow off the initial assignment and wait to do it later. I think that when I become a teacher, I will require reasonable expectations before I allow a student actually redo an assignment. It would also depend on the weight of the grade, as more heavily weighted assignments would be legitimized to be redone.

Danny K.
Chapter ten covered conditions teachers should follow for letting students redo work for full credit. The author says on page 131 that “in a successfully differentiated class, we often allow students to redo work and assessments for full credit.” Where I like this idea because I would want to give students feedback and a chance to learn more by fixing their work I feel that as a teacher you need to be careful while doing this. I had a teacher in high school that let students retake tests that they did poorly on and take the higher of the two grades. The worst part about this, not that I minded it at the time as the student, is that the teacher gave the same exact tests so students would not have to study the material the first time and instead could just memorize the answers of the test and take it again. As a teacher I will allow students to redo particular assignments and if I allow students to retake tests I will make sure to make them different then the original test. If I do allow students to redo work I will allow all students the same opportunity. I had another teacher in high school only allow students who failed to retake tests and then she would average the two. That meant if one student got a 69 on a test and retook it they could get up to an 85, while a student who got a 70 on the same test would be stuck with a 70 no matter what.

Grace K.
At several points in Fair Isn’t Always Equal, Wormeli has advocated giving students the opportunity to redo work, stating that meeting the standard is the important thing, not when they meet it. He also states that feedback is more effective if students are given the opportunity to implement it immediately. Chapter 10 focuses on some of the logistical issues that may come up during this process and how teachers can offer this option while still promoting learning. I especially related to his suggestion of treating students the way we would want to be treated as adults. I am a firm believer that if you treat students like mature, responsible individuals, they are more likely to act that way. I also liked Wormeli’s suggestion to have the parent sign the original work and request a re-do for their child, as both an effective way to keep the parent involved and a way to keep students from abusing this privilege. I would worry about how students in less-than-stellar households could meet this requirement safely, so I would avoid having this requirement written down as a hard and fast rule. Overall, I felt that this chapter offered clear and logical advice about how to successfully implement a practice that many teachers are worried about utilizing.

Jen R.
Chapter ten of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// deals with the conditions of allowing students to re-do their work. As teachers, we need to be prepared and willing to deal with the unexpected. Things are going to happen within the lives of our students that they cannot control. If a student unexpectedly misses class, teachers will need to have a proper system installed in order to arrange plans for make-up work. In addition, some students will attempt to take advantage of this system and therefore, you need to have alternative plans to deal with this situation. This chapter provided great information on how to deal with make-up and unexpected situations. Chapter ten impacted me to have a well-developed plan as a teacher, and be prepared to deal with these type of scenarios.

Justin C.
Chapter 10 of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// talks about the topic of allowing students to redo their work. It talks about different policies that can be placed by the teacher in regards to any aspect of redone work. For some students, it may become a habit for them to request that they want to redo their work, and therefore, are probably putting less time into the original product. They are only thinking about getting it done to have something to pass in, and then go all out for the redo. One concept that is going to come in quite handy in my math class would be changing around the numbers in problems so that students cannot memorize the answers and just write out the correct ones on a redo. If we do not mention on the top that all work needs to be shown, and they have the right answer, we, as teachers, have no choice but to call it correct. We have no idea if they understand the concepts that are used in getting to the correct answer; we just know that they got it right. Not changing the numbers around would hinder our efforts in finding out if our students have mastered the content.

Kaitlin T.
Chapter ten discusses the concept of allowing students to redo their work and assignments. I'm absolutely a supporter of allowing students to opportunity to revise and make corrects, but I'm concerned about students taking advantage of this opportunity. I don't want to receive half-completed assignments the first time around just because students knew they'd have a chance to correct it when they have more time and/or motivation to do the assigned work. As if teachers don't already have enough to do, let alone re-grade/re-assess the same assignment a dozen times. I'll require my students to plan their redo. What I mean is that students will be expected to show me where they made their mistakes and how they intend to fix them. If a student passes in an assignment that is clearly incomplete and hadn't talked to me prior about having difficulties, than he or she may have forfeited their chance to makeup their work.

Dan B.
Chapter 10 talks about redoing assignments for full credit. I think that students should be able to redo asignments and get full credit for them, for the most part. I think that it should be at the teachers discretion. For example, if it becomes a pattern for certain students to do poorly the first time around then the right to redo work should be taken away. I think that students need to try all of the time, not just the second time because they know that the first time doesn't matter because they can just retake the test. I also think that they should only have the right to redo an assignment for only up to a week after they get it back; the student should not be able to do poorly on all of their assignments throughout the quarter/semester and then just pass in all of their work at the end of the grading period. This is abusing the system and creates unneeded stress for the teacher. I think that there should be a redo policy, but it should be used only in situations when it is need, and it should not be abused by students.

Jonathan B.
Chapter ten considers the issue of students redoing work for full credit. What are the parameters for this kind of situation? The author suggests a few guidelines for redo policy. All of these are centered around ensuring student understanding, not necessarily the student making the grade. Students should be asked to formulate plans and timelines with which to work with in redoing the assignment, and the teacher should be able to change the assignment as needed. This organization and progress-based mindset will help to ensure that the student actually completes the assignment well and meaningfully. Teachers should be flexible in this aspect, but firm in those very policies they employ. I will allow my students to redo assignments, but not to the point where they don't have to complete anything of worth the first time around, or where they have no respect for a due date. Assignments need to be completed on time so that the class can move forward, both students and teacher alike.

Grady B.
In reading this chapter, I gained some important points of clarification regarding the author’s previous statement that he allowed work to be redone for full credit. While I was glad to see that the author supported sometimes denying a student the right to redo for full credit, I was struck by the author’s statement on page 132, where he makes reference to the fact that he takes character into account when allowing work to be redone. I found this interesting, as the author had just attacked in the previous chapter the subjective nature of teachers tying grades to effort or work ethic. While I agree with the author that integrity should be taken into account when allowing for redo’s, I am unsure how he reconciles the subjective nature of such a decision, given his stated opposition to subjective, non-mastery based reasons to grade students. Regardless, I see that if I am going to be a successful teacher, I need to come to terms with these issues myself, for my own future classroom. 

Chris D.
Chapter 10 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal talks is about when it is alright to allow students to redo work that they didn’t do well on. I believe that students should be allowed to redo any poor work that they turn in. However, if it gets to be a habit, like Wormeli says, then I might have to reconsider my policy on second attempt work. Tests are a big thing for me here. I was already thinking before reading this chapter that I wouldn’t allow any of my students to redo a test if they got a bad grade on it beforehand. My reason behind this was that a student can just take the test as an extra review and a sneak peak of what the test looks like, so there’d be no harm for them to retake the test and get an even better grade. While the likelihood of that happening is rather slim, I know that it exists and it may occur in my classroom. However, after reading this chapter I have come to the conclusion that I will allow my students to retake tests. First off, my job as a teacher is to make sure that my students demonstrate mastery for what I’m teaching to them. If I don’t allow for them to show me that they know something, then I’m not doing my job. Second, and it’s something I can’t believe I didn’t think about the first time, is that the test won’t be the exact same copy as the original. Doing this allows for students to use the previous test as another study guide and what to expect to see when they take the redo test. Although, as the teacher I will reserve the right to not allow some assignments to be redone if I feel that the student just assumed that they can count on a redo.