FIAE Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10

These four chapters focused primarily on grading and how we can be successful graders in a differentiated classroom, when everyone shouldn’t be graded on the same level. These chapters brought up a lot of good points about grading and what kinds of assignments should and be shouldn’t be graded. One of the major things that these chapters seem to agree on, is that students should be graded on their journey, instead of just their end product.

Grading is such a grey area in teaching; every teacher grades differently and uses a different scale to grade different things. Some teachers put a lot of weight on participation and others put a major emphasis on homework and attendance.  While, it might be important to note attendance and participation when finalizing a student’s final grade, along with their homework grades, chapter 9 suggests that students receive a grade for homework, especially if it’s just a grade on whether or not they did the homework.

Chapter 9 outlined ten different key things teachers should remember when grading students, and I found these points very helpful and agreed that all of them are important when grading a student. One of the major things pointed out in this chapter, that seemed to be a major point throughout the entire four chapters, was number five, “avoid assessing students in ways that do not accurately indicate their mastery,” not all students reach that mastery the same way, some it can take days, others it might take weeks, everyone works at different paces and has different strengths, so instead of just grading everyone’s test or essay after a certain amount of time, should be avoided, or at least changed to make it easier for the student to succeed.

Sometimes, as teachers, grading might be affected by something happening in a student’s life, as outlined in chapter 8, with F. being a smart student who is present and participates in class, but because of a hard home life, has a hard time completing a homework assignment. While, it might be tempting to just not grade this student on homework at all, as teachers, it’s hard to give certain students passes on homework, while every other student in the class is required to finish it and work towards a grade.

I really enjoyed these chapters of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, after learning a lot about assessment; reading about grading was extremely helpful. Before these chapters, I had assumed that assessment and grades were the same thing, and was unaware of all the different aspects of grading. I definitely know that when I have my own classroom, I’ll work to making sure that students are grading more on their own process to mastering the skill or task than anything else, because at the end of these chapters, that seems to be the most important point that is being made.