FIAE- Chapter 9

This chapter was so interesting to me because it was from a different standpoint then we have continuously seen. It discussed ten different things that teachers should avoid when they are differentiating grading and assessment. The list includes such things as, grading on a curve, avoiding recording zeros, avoiding extra credit or bonus points, avoiding scaffolding, avoiding categorizing students or using terms that may hint towards this, avoid grading things that are not relevant to mastery of the material at hand, and avoiding grading homework. I think that having a list of things that should be avoided makes me consider all possibilities of a situation, such as grading. Many times teachers are so concerned with what they should be doing and what they should include, that they often times accidentally include some things that could have been left out.

I don’t agree with some of the items on the list simply because I may over think or analyze many different aspects of a situation or particular piece of material. However I feel that sometime it may be better to include more than less. What if a particular student is doing poorly and you know they are capable to achieving much better, why can’t they have extra credit- a second chance to help themselves? If students know that what they are “supposed” to do outside of the class is not going to be graded then why would they bother doing it? They could simply say I forgot about it, I lost it, and every other excuse. I feel that including so many different aspects when grading could help my students to be more prepared and more involved with the material at hand.. Each class may need to be graded differently considering that they will understand, learn, and interact differently on every level. I think the biggest point of this chapter was meant to make us think more extensively about being flexible and adaptable to every kind of classroom environment that we may encounter.