Chapters Seven, Eight, Nine, and Ten FIAE

I have always wondered if it is actually fair to say that a student can grasp a subject by the grade that they receive in the class. These four chapters discuss this topic very in-depth, and give good examples as to what some grades mean, and what grades should mean. A sentence that I particularly enjoyed on page 95 of chapter seven states, “Grades are inferences, personal interpretations on the part of the teacher, not infallible truths about students’ mastery.” There are so many variables to be taken into consideration when giving a student a grade. For example, participation, effort, homework, quizzes, tests, group work, extra credit, etc… If a very high percentage of a student’s grade is participation, they could probably breeze through the class with no problem without demonstrating too much knowledge of the class. I also don’t think it is right to give students better advantages (grade wise) when it comes to anything outside of the classroom, for example socioeconomic status. I believe students should have to earn their grade, and do so by working hard. Obviously I will help them in every way I can, however, I will not give students something they have not earned.

When we see students doing poorly, sometimes we assume that their low grades will motivate them to do better. A lot of the time this is not the case; students will, hypothetically, roll over and give up. Giving a student a bad grade on a text will just hurt their confidence in the classroom. Obviously this isn’t across the board—some students will work harder because of it. Some students work hard in the classroom but when it comes test time, they shut down. Many teachers base their class grades on participation and effort, which isn’t entirely bad, however, it should not have a huge baring on the grade if we are looking for mastery in a subject. An A in the class could be portrayed as mastery when it really wasn’t. Class participation, I believe, should never be something to be detrimental to a students’ grade, just positively help it.

A strong theory that the book had was to allow students to redo their work to get FULL credit on the assignments. I personally, do not fully agree with this, because some students—obviously not all—will take advantage of this and go into the test ill prepared knowing that they can have a little bit more time to study later on. The honor system is a great tool sometimes but it can bite you as well. Also I think giving students partial redo points will give them the incentive to do better the first time.

When it comes to homework, I strongly agree with the fact that it is used as a learning too, and should never be graded. We should check to see that they have done it, and put minimal weight on that, although students learn from it, I know I do. I will give feedback to students on their homework who need it because it can be a very powerful learning tool. Many times I try a problem superficially if I know it is something I can’t do yet, and will wait for the teacher to do it on the board the next day. This helps me understand it rather than doing it wrong over and over again, reinforcing poor work.