FIAE Chapters 7-10

Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10 of Fair Isn’t Always Equal talked about the ways that we need to change our grading tactics in order to match up with differentiated instruction. The key point was that all grades in their various forms need to be measurements of mastery, and the ways that teachers grade currently are not often accurate representations of this. Grades also need to provide teachers with specific, informative feedback about how much content their students are learning. The book says that things like effort, homework, and participation are factored into finals grades in ways that do not benefit students. There is a fine line between rewarding students for trying hard and allowing them to have a good grade without knowing the material well enough. The author says that all three should be considered as steps in the process of mastery, and that we should not penalize students for the time it takes them to master the content because the learning process is just as important as the material. The job of a teacher is to guide students through these steps, not punish them if they don’t understand everything right away. The book says a lot about grading homework, and how this impedes the learning process because low grades do more to discourage students than empower them, and a grade earned at the point when a student has not had adequate time to master the material should not be factored into their overall score. The same goes with giving students the opportunity to redo work for full credit. If the student doesn’t fully master the material on their first try, it does them a disservice to not let them have another chance to learn it and prove that they know it.

I went to schools that always took a very traditional approach to grading, so that’s all I know. A lot of the things these chapters had to say about grades seemed foreign to me, and because I enjoyed my school experiences so much, it’s tempting to say that the author might be stretching things a little bit. But the more I think about it, the more I see that grading has to be differentiated just like instruction does. Grades are a huge factor in students’ lives. They have the ability to cause so much anxiety and stress, as well as low self-esteem or an overdeveloped sense of self. Grades determined what college a student will attend and even if they will graduate or not. Because of these things, grades are not to be taken lightly. Even though it would be easier for me to stick with what I have always known when I am a teacher, I’m going to try really hard to think about what is best for the students instead of what is easiest for me as the teacher. I think teachers need to stop thinking about grades as the end portion of a lesson and instead see them as another stepping stone, as a way to modify and personalize their teaching in a way that best suits their students.