FIAE Chapter 9

This chapter had a good list of things to avoid when grading in a differentiated classroom, and one of the points that seemed to stick out to me was allowing students to make revisions or retake tests for full credit. We’ve all had classes where the teacher allowed us to redo work if we scored lower than a passing grade, but our two grades would be averaged. This chapter argues against that policy, saying that everyone learns at different rates and cannot be expected to master the material at the same time as everyone else in the classroom. Some students just need an additional day or two in order to fully understand the material, but we should not penalize them because they don’t learn through the same methods as everyone else. If a student needs a second or third opportunity to show mastery of a concept, then they should be able to take those opportunities and not have to worry about how it will affect their grade. We don’t want students to feel as though they are not capable of learning the material at all and refusing to let them receive full credit for something that they should have gotten right on their first try sends this message. As teachers, it is our job to educate the students and to create comfortable learning environments, but we often do just the opposite when we tell students that they can’t have a second chance at proving their mastery. Another point that this chapter made was to avoid grading homework that is simply students practicing a concept. Certainly, students should receive credit for doing the work, but teachers should not give it a letter or numerical grade. A lot of students think that this means that homework doesn’t count at all, but that is not the case. Homework does count, but it only counts for a very small percentage of the grade. These two points will help me as a teacher because I feel that students should have the option to redo and revise work as necessary to show mastery of the content, and I don’t think homework should be graded like an assessment would. Homework should be used mostly to give students feedback and help them to understand the concepts being taught.