FIAE- Chapter 14

This chapter allowed me to think about the report cards I will be giving my students as well as how I can relay information about their challenges, successes, and overall progress. When students receive a report card, it is seen not just by their eyes but by the eyes of other colleagues (sometimes), other students (if they share), and parents. It is important, therefore, that schools take a good long look at how they are giving or presenting these grades to these eyes. Report cards should give much more feedback than a number or letter grade. They can give a wide variety of feelings to a student, as horrible as that may sound. These students, parents, and maybe even other colleagues must be able to understand the format. If students are judged on a particular piece of the classroom that is not on the report card, what are we really saying to them? You did really well on this, but it does not matter in the end? Students must be able to know that their grades are the result of not just one homework assignment or a test, but the combination of several aspects in the classroom resulting in their overall understanding and mastery.

How to have or even present a report card in a specific format bothers me. I wish that each teacher could create their own individual report card. Although they essentially do grade by their own system, they must still meet certain requirements and for me, too many requirements or pieces of a puzzle just make me frustrated. This frustration also falls into how to relate one class’s grades to others. Because each teacher is so different and will have different ways of assessing, one teacher’s way of doing it may be different. A 90 in my class may be a 93 in another. I know this is why having a set format for all report cards is important but it takes the individualized, special part of each teacher to student relationship away. The report card is the overall assessment of the student, but it is also a reflection of the teacher, this means that how I value my students’ grades will affect how they value their grades. I will definitely have to truly think about how to “grade” my students in relation to understanding for not just them but for me.