FIAE: Chapter 14

Report cards are similar to how a teacher should format their grade book. A teachers grade book needs to provide some sort of representation of a students overall achievements on a given assignment. I liked the idea of providing a key or legend on the report card to provide information on a certain comment or grade so that there are not misunderstandings. Standards and benchmarks should be the main focus on a report card so that it will show where a student is doing well and what they should be focusing on a little more. I noticed that the report cards used as examples used a 4 point scale to provide the grade which now that I see the four point scale in effect it really seems like it could be a better grading method. The four point scale does lead away from worrying about exact grades and letters. Also I think that it is important that as a teacher I provide feedback on the report card as well even if it does take more time on my part, written feedback can usually be the best especially when side by side with a grade.

FIAE: Chapter 13

To be honest, as of now, I haven't thought much about how to organize a grade book. It is going to be an important aspect in my over all grading in general. So far I don't really understand some of the formats for a grade book that this chapter has provided because I haven't really had much, well any, experience using a grade book. I would have to see one and use one first hand in order to really understand and choose which way would be best for given situations in differentiated instruction. But one thing that I did find to be important when formatting a grade book is that assignments should be given more then one grade for different aspects of that one assignment, because it could include writing or presenting or showing different knowledge's. In this way it will allow for a better idea of how a student is doing in that one area in its different ways. Organizing a grade book that can include feedback from simple numbers and letters is what a teacher should aim for because then the grades will be useful to the teacher, students, and parents.

FIAE: Chapter 12

This chapter I found that I could really relate to, where it deals with grading scales. The most popular are the 4 point scale and the 100 point scale. While I was in school I always had the 100 point scale, that was what I was used to having my teachers grade me by, and it is what I understood. Then my sophomore year of school some teachers started using the 4 point scale and I did not like it at all, because I didn't really understand it. When I started reading this chapter I automatically thought that I would prefer to use the 100 point scale as a teacher. But then as I read on I became convinced otherwise. The 100 point scale leaves room for a minus or plus letter translation, and the minus can be very discouraging for a student. The four point scale's allow students to understand what level they are at in their learning and focus less on a grade. The 100 point scale allows for a lot of room for different kinds of grades, too many, and the four point scale allows for an understanding of where the student is at, not down to an exact number. The focus is on learning and a four point scale puts the focus more on learning.

FIAE: Chapter 11

This chapter deals with specific issues a teacher may encounter when it comes to grading and provides solutions or suggestions for these problems. The first problem is the big zero burning in a grade book which can really be the downfall of a student, with just one zero. It is suggested that a zero should be replaced by a 60 for fairness, so that it won't completely ruin a students overall grade. They provide many convincing arguments for replacing a sixty with a zero, and the most convincing of all is that all grades including A,B,C and D have a range of about ten points, but then an F has a sixty point range, with this they had me convinced from the beginning of the chapter because I never thought of that before. If I do use this method as a teacher I just need to be sure that students do not take advantage of this. Next was dealing with gifted students where basically when grading them it is important to show the highest grade that they have obtained in a higher level class. Then it goes on to state that weighting grades is basically not a good idea which I completely agree with because it is not a good reflection of the students mastery. Grading is supposed to show not just a letter but it should provide some sort of feedback in a way and provide a good snapshot of where a student is at in their learning.

FIAE: Chapter 10

Letting kids redo assignments is something that I believe in and would want to allow my own students. But it can really be a risky thing because some students may just do bad on an assignment because they know they will be able to make it up, determining those students from the rest who tried and really should make it up is going to be difficult. Redoing an assignment does take extra time and effort on top of that that they already had to do to begin with so if they want to redo it then it should be allowed. As a teacher I will have to make sure that any assignments such as tests will have to have a different redo assignment with similar but different questions. It makes sens that they should be able to make it up to the full percentage, because if education is all about mastery then they should be able to improve and as they do their mastery in a subject will too. It would be pointless to redo an assignment if you could only get a few point higher, if they are going to take the time to do it then they should be able to get a perfect score if that is what they deserve in the end. These chapters have really helped me to understand that school is about mastering a given subject or topic and students should be given all kinds of chances to improve their knowledge.

FIAE: Chapter 9

So this chapter was a list of things a teacher should avoid when grading, I found some of them to be really interesting because when I was a student in high school my teachers would use these methods that this chapter warns teachers against. First of all it is important to give student second chances because not every student s going to master a topic at the same time. The section I liked the best was the portion on homework. As a teacher I don't know how much homework I am going to want to give and when and this chapter really helped me to decide this. Homework should only be given when a student has master a topic and is for further practice and understanding, homework should never be assigned when students are first learning a topic. I thought this was so true, kids have lives outside of school and when a teacher gives them homework on something they don't understand then it only stresses them out and doesn't help them to understand any better. As a teacher I do not want to give out too much homework because it can't really provide evidence on true mastery in a subject and anything that I teach is going to be important so I should teach it in class where the students can ask questions and receive help. Another important concept offered in this chapter was the plain fact that students should not be assessed in ways that do not show mastery meaning do not use words problems in math if a student is not good at reading and writing, this will only distract them from solving the actual problem. Also if I offer extra credit I shouldn't let it weigh in on their grade too much and it should be on a topic that is including in them showing mastery. All these things are great to remember when becoming a teacher.

FIAE: Chapter 8

This chapter really opened my eyes to the difficulties I may face as a teacher when it comes to grading. It is going to be so hard to decide what is going to contribute to that one grade letter such as participation, effort, and behavior. They are important factors in a students education, but they don't actually reflect how the student is doing in the course as a grade should do. Grades can be used both positively and negatively for a student. Low grades will not motivate a student to do better, but discourage them and make them want to give up. Good grades sometimes, but not always, make a student strive for more of that grade for a while. No matter how a student is doing it is important to get to know them a little better, know what is effecting them so that you can tailor their experiences in the classroom. This is where behavior, participation, and effort come into play. They should be only considered in a students mastery when they are contributing to it through their effort, behavior, or participation when these aspects are a positive thing. They should not hinder a students grade, and as a teacher if I want to incorporate participation into my grading then the students should be clear on it and it should have it's own designated grading scale separate from the grade that reflects their mastery in the course. But either way I am going to have to think how I will allow behavior, participation, a effort to effect the way that I grade my students.