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Kelsea Trefethen
Chapter 8 of FIAE was brief but still full of some really great information. The chapter was devoted to contemplating the purpose and importance of grading, as well as what is appropriate to grade and when it is appropriate to grade it. As I was reading the section where it listed the reason for grading I agreed with all of them until I read the three below the dashed line. I could not believe “To punish students” was one of the responses for reasons for grading. I was extremely relieved when I read further on to see that the book believes that the three below the line “cross a line.” A teacher should never grade for to punish or motivate a student; both are equally damaging. The book stated that “low grades push students farther from our cause, they don’t motivate students.” Bottom line is that grades should never be used to encourage or discourage students. I had never considered when it is appropriate to grade students on participation or not. I always considered it to be a fundamental grade of each class. However, this chapter got me thinking whether or not participation is an actually goal for the course. For instance, is part of the course to be able to engage in meaningful conversation? That is an obvious example, but teachers should consider whether or not participation is really an important aspect relating to the course content. When the book started talking about grading students on effort I got a little concerned. I don’t think there is any proper way to grade students on effort without comparing them to other students. I think all teachers should try and avoid evaluating effort, unless it is a self-evaulation.

Johnny Buys
Chapter 8: Why Do We Grade and What About Effort, Attendance, and Behavior? Grades serve three major beneficial purposes in schools: “document student and teacher progress, to provide feedback to the student and the family and the teacher, and to inform instructional decisions” (102). This beneficial list does not include some of the more common notions about grading such as, “to motivate students, to punish students, and sort students” (102). Those common reasons misuse the grading purpose for extrinsic motivators which should be dissuaded from the classroom. Especially as student rates are dramatically different in modern classrooms, insensitivity to grading’s power is a misuse of teacher authority and overall student wellbeing. Grading participation is only permissible if participation is being a skill taught (105). A teacher would never expect a student to perform something from later content at an earlier time for assessment. That model discourages any need for teachers. Participation also poses the question of objectivity as levels vary dramatically (107). Similar problems arise for grading effort and behavior where we can only “provide anecdotal evidence and list the amount of time and resources students spend on a task, but identifying personal effort levels objectively eludes us” (108). Student should be encouraged to reflect on the quality where they can “learn more about the convention between self-discipline and higher achievement if we help them reflect on their use of time and the resultant quality of their work” (110). Self-assessment are a much more productive means of gathering data (and gradable data at that) rather than arbitrary evidence a teacher can gather from overall quality and class time.

Leanne Fasulo
Chapter eight of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// explores grades, effort, attendance, and behavior. Grading can be considered one of the most tedious and evil aspects to the teaching profession. Grades in some circumstances can seem like they are completely irrelevant to learning and are only there to punish, motivate, or sort students. The book gives examples of the most important types of learning that do not involve grading like figuring out which colors to mix to make a sunset, or that moment of clarity when a math problem seems easy. Grades can be useful under some circumstances though like documenting progress, giving feedback, and knowing what the students already know so that they teacher can move onto something new. Some schools think grades should incorporate behavior, attendance and effort, but this causes problems. When grades reflect the number of days a student has been to class, or what someone already knows than the grade will not be accurate to what they have learned. Some schools believe that grading participation will keep students from dropping out, but if the student already knows the information and is just bored so they do not bother to go to class then they are not failing the grading system, the grading system is failing the student. A suggestion the book made was that it is okay to mention effort, participation and attendance in the report card to parents, but it should be in a separate column. This way the grades would better reflect the student’s learning.

Christina L Quach
Chapter 8 of //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// talks about grading again. This time they focus a lot on attendance, effort, and behavior. Participation was the first part that really caught my eye. Like all the other topics he brings up, Wormeli mentioned that although participation may be important, if it does not relate to the concept of mastery, then it should not be included in the grade. Wormeli says that we cannot rightfully determine how hard someone is trying. He says, “Identifying their personal effort levels objectively eludes us (108).” As for their behavior, the author says that sometimes what the student is going through needs to be taken into account. If this means the teacher is going to bend the grade a little for the student, then the teacher needs to reflect what was graded so that parents and future teachers know when they look at the records. Wormeli says, “Just making expectations or policies clear to students doesn’t always mean that it’s fair to invoke them. Students have to be given the personal tools to achieve those expectations as well, and that includes time, reflection, and feedback (108).” It was always important in my classes to participate, and this was graded. I used to hate it because I was so shy, and sometimes I still have that problem. The only good thing about it for me was that I would do whatever I could to get A’s, so I would force myself out of my comfort zone to get those points. This can be very difficult for some students, but for some it is a type of motivation. Obviously both types of students cannot be satisfied by picking to either grade it or not.

Evgeni Bouzakine
In chapter eight, Wormeli focuses on how teachers can incorporate other factors into the student’s assessments. How can we incorporate attendance and participation in a classroom? Participation seems to be a big topic in this chapter. To me participation is a big key factor in having a successful classroom. Although I do not contribute to a lot of class discussions, I still find it necessary in a classroom. If the students do not get involved, there is a potential of losing them for that lesson. I could not agree with the whole chapter. I do not condone grading a kid on his behavior, which has nothing to do with the content he knows and should be separate from the grade at all times. It should be a side note and not something that hinders them from moving on to the next grade. As a teacher I find myself incorporation other factors into my assessments, but not in a way that would hinder my students. I will deal with some of these other factors by consulting those individuals guilty of these other factors.

Tyler Oren
Chapter eight of //Fair isn’t Always Equal// by Rick Wormeli discusses the actual idea of grading and whether or not it is actually a sound principle for assessing mastery, and if we do grade do we only grade academics or should we as teachers include effort, attendance, and classroom behavior to the grading equation, do these help correctly gauge mastery? When considering whether or not to grade classroom participation Wormeli asks that we ask ourselves if the participation if an integral portion of attaining mastery or if it is simply a standard of grading that has been added onto the grading scale without and real rational. If participation is a necessary key part to achieving mastery and understanding, if so it could be fairly included into grading procedures, however if it does not it should not be included. For many aspects of grading participation is intrinsically included, when a student takes a test they are not graded on whether or not they took the test they are graded on the test itself. If a teacher is grading for effort then they must first find a method to grade effort objectively, which can be very difficult to measure accurately. To do so a teacher would have to observe study and work habits of each student in depth to understand what a base line level of effort for each student is, not an easy undertaking or practical considering the time it would take to observe every student before they can grade for effort effectively.

Brittany Blackman
Chapter eight talks more about grades, but is more about how to incorporate other factors into grades other than proof of mastering the content. Firstly they discuss why we even grade in the first place. A lot of teachers think they grade because they need to. They did come up with three good reasons to grade and three “bad” reasons to grade. The good reasons are to track progress, to give feedback, and to make decisions. The bad are to motivate students, to punish them, and to sort them. The reasons behind them being good and bad are kind of obvious. Grades shouldn’t motivate a student, because then they aren’t learning for intrinsic reasons. It’s the same reasoning for why we should avoid rewards. They mention how getting a low grade or a high grade doesn’t even really keep a student motivated. I can relate to this. If I get a bunch of bad grades, eventually I feel like there is no point in trying. If I get a bunch of good grades, I feel like I can slack more and still do well.

They mention that not everyone should grade based on participation. Participation should only be part of the grade if it is part of the mastery. For example, you shouldn’t grade participation in terms of just showing up for a math class, but you should grade it in terms of participating in class discussions in a debate class. I think this is an important idea, because a lot of teachers grade students on things simply to grade them on something. I think it is important to be sure you can relate everything back to mastery of the content. The same goes for effort and behavior.

Kyle Kuvaja
Chapter eight in //Fair Isn’t Always Equal// looks at the importance of grading, specifically three topics: effort, attendance, and behavior. Wormeli begins by saying how useless grades are again and actually states that the majority of teachers, when asked, say that they only grade because “they are required to do so” (102). Grading already can be viewed negatively by teachers, with the current system, and when other tasks are required of them it can be received with negativity. A study on grading shows that “D” on a paper does not push students to do better, but most often causes the student to begin shutting down from the teacher and the material covered. Wormeli says that grading participation is subjective, which is not a reliable indicator of student performance. He suggests that participation could be part of feedback and not a graded. Grading participation means that the teacher may be penalizing students who know the material, but just do not want to speak up in front of the class. When looking at effort, we must consider whether or not there are clear objectives that can be met to assess effort (108). Wormeli says that one person’s week long project could be another student’s last minute job. Effort is all individual and is not something that can be graded and given meaning. Educating students on the importance of hard work is one way to help with their effort and behavior in the classroom. While this was yet another chapter on grading, it was somewhat useful. I found the information gathered on low/high grades effects on students to be very intriguing. The study makes sense after hearing it, but it is great to see there is an actual correlation that can be seen.

Richie Johnson
Ah, so chapter eight of Fair Isn’t Always Equal essentially summarized the question, “why do we grade?” This chapter proved to be far easier to read than the last- I wish that chapter seven and eight could trade places- it would likely be much easier to read about Wormeli’s “definitions” of grading if I had a clear idea as to what purpose he considers grading to have. Anyway, I am very interested in a lot of the points he made, and already agree with a lot of them. On page 102 he has six elements that relate to grading listed, with a line in the middle. I absolutely support the fact that the items that “crossed the line” are poor uses of grading, but am not entirely sold on those he considered to be good aspects of grading. While they are not uncommon uses and don’t pose any real harm if delivered correctly, I feel as though there are better methods. For instance, using grading to give feedback to students and their parents does not seem very effective- what does a number or letter really delineate? Why not write a summary of feedback for them, or invite them in for a conference instead?

Kalib Moore
I would like to start by mentioning a quote found on page 102 of //Fair Isn't Always Equal//: "Grades as motivators breed dependence, reduce risk-taking, creativity, and value. - Rick Stiggins" I felt that this quote fit perfectly with Chapter 8 because it is all about how grades effect students. Just from the quote we can see that students are affected negatively by grades. Students receive many different pressures from teachers, parents, and peers because of grades and usually it makes their school lives very stressful. Student's never take chances and never get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes because they are pressured to follow the rules precisely to receive the highest grade possible. I think that it my future classroom I am going to try and convince students to think creatively and out of their comfort zone. I want them to understand that it is okay to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes and grow.

Cyril Lunt
Chapter eight of FIAE talks about //why// we grade. I sort of find it a little off that the description of grading comes //after// the chapter about grading, but who am I to judge?

Throughout my life as a student, I've have had every single grade under the sun. As, Bs, Cs, Ds, Fs, Pass, Fail, etc. And the thing is, none of those motivated me in the least. You know what did motivate me? Innovative teaching styles, interesting discussions, and feeling like what I'm learning matters. My average grade for a math class is somewhere around a D. But in my sophomore year of high school, I had an -A in geometry for the majority of that year. Why? Because the teacher actually attempted to teach math in a way that wasn't just lecture-test-lecture-test. Grades never really were an issue.

Now, I fully understand why we do it, and I agree with grades to an extent. But honestly, we should be focusing more on real feedback rather than numbers.