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.

Chapter 8: FIAE

Chapter eight discusses whether teachers should incorporate behavior, attendance, and effort into the students final grade. Overall, Wormeli was against using any of them as part of assessing a student. The argument was that often times these serve to discourage students when they are penalized, and often there are factors or reasons behind why they have not been in class, have behavioral problems, or are missing assignments. I like how Wormeli states that often students missing assignments aren't because they just decided not to do it, but teachers treat them as if that is the case. There have been past experiences in school were I had extenuating circumstances and could not complete an assignment on time, but teachers punished me as if I just decided I did not care or just blew it off. In the case of some teachers, it feels as though they do not treat students as human beings who have a life outside of school with other priorities and problems. Taking time to understand students instead of reducing there final grade for not being in class is important as a teacher.

Chapter 7: FIAE

In this chapter, Wormeli discusses how to give grades meaning. It is argued that letter and number grades in many systems do not accurately describe mastery, and that too much emphasis is put on grades. There were two major points in this chapter that I found particularly interesting. The first in the results of a test that Wormeli quoted, that was taken of A and B students at an impoverished school. It turns out that they tested the same as C and D students at an affluent school. These schools are help to the same state learning standards so why is this? Wormeli claims that it could be because the teachers of the impoverished school have lower expectations. This is unacceptable, it discriminates upon students based on their socioeconomic status. This is no basis for lowering the level of education that is available to students. Another problem described by Wormeli is the idea of a "passing grade". If a student gets by with a D, the lowest grade they need to move on the the next level, then the student does not have mastery of the content. That is the flaw with the system, when we allow students who have not built the skills set forth in the course, to leave without meeting the standards.

Chapter 12: MI

Chapter 12 discussed the ever popular method of students memorizing knowledge so that they can get a good grade on a test, and then forget it after because they don't think they will ever need that information again. As a teacher, MI states that we are responsible for helping students retain what they learn. The chapter explains that memory is intelligent specific. I believe this is true because some students memorize knowledge by putting it to a beat or making rhymes, others like myself benefit by relating the content to real life. If you can find the strengths of your students, than you have to tools to help them retain the knowledge that is being fed to them. Another method of helping students retain knowledge that works with MI is getting students to think and allowing them to come to a conclusion themselves. I can recall many experiences were a teacher made me think and find the answer myself, a method that I think worked very well for me and gave me greater appreciation for the material. The content or ideas that I understood on my own I never forgot, and my self-esteem was boosted along with my ability to think.

Chapter 11: MI

Multiple Intelligence's are found in every human being, including those with special needs. While they may experience difficulty in many areas, they also have a strength that can be related to a multiple intelligence. The example given by Armstrong in chapter 11 is that autistic kids, while having difficulty in interpersonal intelligence, are amazing interpersonal learners and may have an amazing aptitude for music, art, or mathematics. This is why as a teacher, it is important to find the strengths within all of your students. MI insists that this needs to be done at the instructional level and also at the assessment level. Those students will be motivated to learn and gain a higher self esteem. I read that in Europe, an autistic child walks around looking at buildings or famous pieces of art, and with only walking by them, can recreate them in amazing detail and ability. Helping students find what they are good at, will help them succeed in your classroom and later in life.

Chapter 8: MI

Chapter eight discuses many ways to manage your classroom. There are many little things a teacher can do that are meant to get the classes attention at the beginning of each lesson. This chapter gives some great examples of how to do this effectively, and how to use methods that involve one or more multiple intelligences. These are meant to be used during transitions that occur before instruction or when the class gets in to small groups, and before activities. Things such as turning the lights off when students get too loud or having some your own sort of thing to do to quiet a class down is helpful. In my experience it takes much more than words to get the full attention of a group of students.