Abstract & Synthesis:Chapter 9 UbD/DI

The goal of chapter nine is to "offer a sample of how instructional planning might look for a teacher who uses backward design..." (page 141). This chapter is basically a review to what UbD DI has taught us to this point. Examples of how to design a lesson using the backward design model in this chapter are useful as they provide us with an outline to go by when creating a lesson plan of our own. Chapter nine stresses the importance of differentiating lessons to benefit the students. Understanding by design is a sophisticated planning process that that requires in depth knowledge, attention to students thinking, and the ability to think like an assessor. Differentiated Instruction demands attention to the strengths and requirements of learners and the ability to be a flexible teacher. The result of integrating both models in the classroom will yield a more engaged and effective classroom.

It was important and useful for the book to include an example of what it has been trying to teach us throughout the reading. Having the visual of a backward design template in front of us is a good guide. It touched on various methods of assessment that should be integrated into the classroom, and how the flexibility on the part of the instructor is most crucial. The aspect of differentiation is key to the chapter, because with differentiation, the students will be more engaged, and a higher level of mastery achieved.

Chapter 14: FIAE

Armstrong expresses the need for responsive report card formats. As in my high school, a lot of report cards just have the letter grade, and then generic responses from the teacher who used a number key to comment on my performance in the classroom, usually summed up in a sentence. The grades on my report card were never justified or explained. Responsive report cards will help parents understand why their child got the grade that they did. My mentor teacher uses powerschool to submit students grades so that they can see them and show their parents. Beside the grade for each assignment, she write comments about if they didn't try, or it was late, or any other reason why they got the grade they did. It lets the parents know how the student is doing academically as well as any problems with understanding or missing work.

Chapter 13: FIAE

Armstrong gives many examples of ways to format a grade book. Some different ways are to: Group assignments by category (ex. Analysis, Synthesis, Prediction), which measure students level of performance based on skills that they have acquired. Another way is longitudinally or by date, a topic based grade-book, which I liked because it allows the teacher to see which topic the students struggled with and might need to work some more on, I had never thought too much into different formats of grading, all I have been exposed to are the generic ones that have the assignment and the grade out of how many points. As a teacher I would like to get creative with my gradebook, and most likely use the topic based format.

Chapter 12: FIAE

This chapter is all about different types of grading scales. Grading scales are either used in a 4 point system or a 100 point system. This causes teachers to justify their grades mathematically. What the math comes out to is the fair grade for the student. However, this does not take mastery into account, and more justification for student's grade than just mathematical reasoning is called for. Armstrong suggests using rubrics for assignments, which help to justify a grade clearly to students, but is also mathematically correct and uses a point system. Armstrong offered many different point systems in the chapter, to stress that interpretation of grades is not always universal. I did not like the 100 point grading system that went 94-100 and so on. There should be one universal scale for schools so that there is no mathematical differences between schools which could result in a lower grade for transferring.

Chapter 11: FIAE

Armstrong discusses how to grade fairly in chapter 11. The chapter begins with a discussion on whether or not it is fair to give zero's. Armstrong claims that giving a student a zero for work that was not handed in is not fair, and that it distorts their final grade. If a child is given a zero, their average will lower dramatically, even if they had all A's before. This does not reveal the students true mastery of the subject. The suggestion is to give the child a 60 instead of a zero so that their average drops, but not past the point where it is unfair. While Armstrong does have some good points here, I don't know if i agree with giving a student an undeserved grade. If a student does not complete the work they should not get the same grade as a student who did, and who may have tried but still did not do well, and got a 60. That student will start to wonder why they pass things in if they can get the same grade without doing the work. Armstrong also discusses what to do with late work. A lot of teachers take off a whole letter grade for each day that the assignment is late. Armstrong disagrees with this, and says that it will eventually deter the student from completing the work. Instead, points off every day should be taken, unless the student habitually turns in late

Chapter 10

Wormeli advises that teachers allow students to re-do work and assignments for full credit. This allows students to build mastery on the content and skills, if they did not understand it the first time around. Wormeli stresses that teachers need to have compassion for the student and their circumstances, and that as adults in life we get extra times or re-do's as well. However, the offer to complete re-do's on assignments should not be granted if students don't try the first time or wait till the last minute and come out with a product that does not show their full capability. When a student does this with the mindset that they can blow it off because they can always re-do it when they feel like it, then a re-do should not be an option. If students or a particular student show effort but constantly need to utilize the opportunity for re-dos, it can be an indicator to the teacher that the method they are using needs to be modified. I fully believe that students should have the ability to re-do an assignment. First, because students can have bad days or bad weeks that affect the quality of their work, or they may not have learned the content or built the skills at the same rate as other students.

Chapter 9: FIAE

Wormeli lists ten different things to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. Mainly these restate past chapters that discussed flaws and ways of grading that should be avoided, such as grading nonacademic factors like attendance. It even jumps ahead by advising teachers to stay away from giving zero's, as is the basis of chapter 10. One thing to avoid that I found interesting, and really does make perfect sense, is avoiding allowing students to do extra credit. Often the extra credit is busy work and does not use the same skills that were meant to be built in the original assignment. At first it seemed a little cruel, but it does make sense. The teacher can allow an alternative and allow students to receive a better grades by allowing re-do's on assignments.