FIAE+B1+Chapter+8


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Brody- Synthesis

 * Abstract:** The eighth chapter of //Fair Isn't Always Equal// focused on grading in relation to effort, attendance, and behavior. Wormeli does not suggest grading these factors because then it distorts the teacher's view of whether or not a student displayed mastery of a subject. When approaching this controversial issue, Wormeli stresses the importance of what grades are actually about. Teachers grade to document student progress, provide feedback, and inform instructional decisions. When a grade is distorted by factors not directly related to mastery, teachers can not document student progress, can not provide feedback on mastery that is not accurate, and can not inform instructional decisions. Effort, attendance, behavior, and participation are best left as a supplemental sheet included with a report card or as comments left on the report card itself.


 * Synthesis:** After reading everyone's blog entries for the eighth chapter of Fair Isn't Always Equal, it is apparent that we all have varying opinions on whether to acknowledge the factors of [|effort], attendance, and behavior in grading. One theme that came up a few times was the fact that teaching students how to put in their best effort and to be attentive to their responsibilities will prepare them for the "real world." Some of my peers take the viewpoint that students will be entering into areas of more responsibility such as the workforce, voter eligibility, and payment of taxes. Enforcing responsibility thus translates into their students becoming better citizens. Another interesting argument brought up in favor of including participation in grading is that there will be a lot of group work in one of my peer's classes. Thus, participation will need to be a factor as it will be directly related to learning. On the other side of the spectrum, some of our blog entries showed a preference for keeping effort, behavior, and attendance separate from grading. A few of us were concerned that introverted students are unfairly punished in a system that grades participation. Why should a student be punished for being shy? What does this have to do with their ability to learn the material? Sometimes, these factors don't have anything to do with whether or not a student has the necessary knowledge. Thus, some of us believe effort, participation, and [|attendance] should be recorded on a separate part of the report card, such as in feedback form on a supplemental piece of paper stapled to the report. The goal for us was to not punish the student but to find them another outlet to participate such as an online forum or blog. Overall however, all of us agreed that effort, participation, and attendance are a balancing act in relation to the actual work being assessed.

toc

Seth
Effort and behavior in the classroom are just as essential as study habits while at home. “You practice the way you play,” was one thing I was always told and that can also be applied in the classroom. Poor effort and behavior in the class can lead to the same outside the classroom which makes perfect sense when you remember that as teachers we are preparing the next generation of students to enter the real world. These two cannot, however, drastically affect the grade. If a student gets A’s on his/her papers and tests and does the homework but doesn’t participate in class and is always a disruption (although that rarely happens) you can’t fail the student based upon that. It’s all a balancing act and everything needs to be weighted accordingly.

Max
Once again, //Fair isn’t Always Equal// talks about the exciting topic of grading. It give a list of not to dos dealing with grading which is good because it seems like the book has, for the most part, looked at what teachers should do. I think the biggest disagreement I have with the list is that zeros shouldn’t be recorded. Zeros are a real disappointment but if we let things slide then the students can get away with missing assignments and getting away with it. If the student has a legitimate excuse then of course we can move due dates around but if we “let it slide” then the student will just see right through us and not take it seriously. I do like how the list included avoid giving them bonus points because assessment should

Mike
This chapter talks about what do we expect with students with the grades that we assign to them. Ideally, we would love our students to come into class with an open mind ready to learn while also behaving and participating throughout the whole year. If a student is able to do this throughout each class then they should be able to learn all the information needed and hopefully show to their teachers that they have learned it. All of these characteristics play a factor in how you are going to assess your student. The only concern that I had always had in school was that I was a shy student and would not like to talk at all in class. Sometimes due to this reason my participation grade was not as high as I would have liked it to be. As a teacher, I will make sure that all students receive the grade that they rightfully deserve and if you disagree I will be willing to meet with that student and discuss my reasoning for their grade.

Jasmyn
Grading for participation, effort, attendance and behavior should always be considered. Students who make an effort to well in those areas should be rewarded for this. There are some children who stay a constant level of participation and always make an effort and those students should be rewarded and noticed for this. The teacher should always make note of when the grade reflects the efforts of the students in these other efforts.

**Lily**
Once again grades are the topic. Chapter 8 talks about why we grade and what is the importance of grading. What is important to grade and what is not? The book gives six examples why we grade, to document student and teacher progress, to provide feedback to the student and family, and the teacher, to inform instructional decisions, to motivate students, to punish students, to sort students (102) None of these reasons are good reasons! Grading should not be on busy work that means nothing, it should be on things and skills that we want all the students to master. This book says to put less emphasis on participation, behavior and effort because these are all skills that need to be mastered by the students. They are life lessons that may not come out of a book but are important for all students to learn and become a better citizen.

**Casey**
In this chapter, there is a part where Wormeli talks about low grades, and how they do not motivate students. I think this is very true. Whenever I get a low grade, a lot of the time it brings my confidence level down, and I can convince myself that I am not that smart of a student. I think this has to do with the teachers that I have had. When I get a bad grade and they do not tell me or encourage me that I can do better I am convinced that that specific teacher has no confidence in me. I think it is important as a future educator to give students confidence and encouragement after they receive a lower grade, otherwise they will not have motivation.

Brittany
I agree with this chapter that areas such as participation, effort, turning in work, and attendance should be taken into account on a student’s report card and that those areas should be separated from the academic portion of the report card. The four areas that I just listed are affected by factors that may have nothing to do with whether a student knows the subject matter that you are trying to teach them and as such should remain separate from it. With that said, I personally think that points should be taken off for work that is turned in late if the student cannot present something to me on the day the assignment is due. By this I mean, if I want a student to hand in a paper of some sort but they do not have it finished on the due date, I want that student to show me that they have been working on the project and then the two of us will discuss when the student will be able to hand in the work. It could be something as simple as they finished the paper but could not print it, or maybe something happened where they did not have the time to finish the work. For cases where the student can show that they are working no points will be taken off for late work; the point is to take point off projects from students who simple did not care enough to do the assignment at all. They will still be able to hand in the work for a decent grade but they will not be able to earn the A that their classmates might have earned.

Brody
Naturally, a teacher appreciates the students that consistently show up to class, actively participate, work hard, and act in a mature way. However, should these qualities be included in grading? Before reading this chapter, my answer would have been a resounding “yes.” From my experience growing up on a farm, being attendant, well-behaved, and hard working were qualities that were drilled into my brain. A classroom however is different than regular work as report cards are given to show how a student is faring in acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills. Teachers grade to document student progress, provide feedback, and inform instructional decisions, not to punish, motivate, or sort students based off of personal habits or qualities. Furthermore, there isn’t a fair way to document effort and participation. It would not be effective to make a tally of how many times a student speaks up in class as students would start screaming over each other to receive participation points. It’s also unfair to penalize learners with strong intrapersonal intelligences who think and work quietly. These qualities will be subtly evident in the grades anyways as there is a connection between academic mastery and effort, behavior, attendance, and participation. I believe an effective solution would be to grade based off of knowledge and skills in relation to standards. Effort, behavior, attendance, and participation would be ideal to give in feedback after formative assessments. It would also be valuable to comment on these habits on report cards, progress reports, and rubrics as a supplement to the grade. In this way, students can improve while knowing what a grade they receive truly means.

**Jen**
In this chapter the authors discuss students absence and whether or not teachers should penalize them for being absent. The discussion of grades is an essential question in this chapter. It really puts into perspective the challenges of teaching and the intense process of grading. It never seemed like a problem or a situation to have 180 papers to grade but in this chapter it really made clear the time commitment that comes along with these papers and this is for one assignment alone. When the chapter mentioned that low grades are what cause students to do badly because they don't feel driven it kind of irritated me because what do they expect teachers to do not give bad grades because it will discourage students even if that's the grade the legitimately deserve. A big question is whether or not we as teachers should incorporate behavior, attendance, and participation in the students grades. I always thought it should be included, but now I have mixed feelings. Part of me believes it should because it is a part of the students "work" in the classroom but really on the other hand it should be expected so why should I recognize a student for doing what's required. Also, it doesn't accurately demonstrate the students understanding of the content but rather their character or personality traits that are what enables them to get through school.

Kim
Participation is not an indicator of a student’s knowledge, and it should not be assessed as such. I understand how difficult it is to find a way to make participation, which included attendance, effort, behavior, preparedness, etc., a meaningful grade. Students, especially in high school, should be held accountable for these areas, but they shouldn’t be used against students, or used to motivate them. Effort can be evaluated in individual assignments and participation can be evaluated for other assignments such as debates, but effort and participation in regards to the class as a whole should not be included in the academic grading system. Every student is in a different stage developmentally and some just are not ready to contribute to discussions while others are. Some students even feel intimidated when trying to contribute and shut down because of it. Should these students be given poor grades because of that? I do not believe so. If I feel that those particular students need to contribute, more I will find other ways, such as online discussion forums that will allow them to contribute in a more comfortable environment for them. I think the important thing to take from this chapter is to be careful about grading students for participation, effort, and behavior because it mostly makes things worse for you and the students. = =

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Kaitlyn Bartlett
Chapter 8 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal talks about grading participation and effort. Wormeli brings up a good point about what criteria will be used to grade participation. He talks about different possibilities that he feels fit under this category but suggests that teachers give feedback rather than a formal grade on participation. As for effort, he gives a really good point about how giving students a grade for effort shows that they don’t need to get the material right to get a good grade, they just need to try. I feel like I will incorporate this into my class because I agree with the author about grading effort, but not about participation grading. Although I don’t feel that effort should have its own category in grading, I do feel as though if you grade participation, effort will be shown in there somewhere. As I will be doing a lot of group work in my class I feel like participation is a vital part of the learning and therefore should receive credit.

Leighlan
The reasons for grading fall into two categories, documentation and manipulation. The fist seeks to create an acrit and concise representation of what a student has mastered. The second is what happens when grades are used to punish, reward, and otherwise manipulate students into doing what we want. Manipulating people is not only morally distasteful, it often does not work because people can sense when they are being manipulated and don’t like it. Teachers should avoid using grades as a tool for manipulation because manipulation can back fire too easily. Grading students on effort, attendance, and behavior has too much potential to be manipulative, it is already difficult to do well in a class without attending giving effort and behaving, giving it additional weight in an academic grade is too much like saying the academics don’t mater. Also effort and behavior are impossible to measure objectively.