FIAE 7, 8, 9, 10

    Chapter 7 of FIAE discusses the nature of grading and how to define it. In this chapter I agreed with the statement that teachers today are placing too much emphasis on grades today. So much so that students see getting a good grade as their only motivation to complete their school work. I also agreed that when it comes to grading each teacher brings their own life experiences into how they grade. One thing that I connected with in this chapter was when it talked about how in some classrooms meeting the standard is an A, but in others an A would be exceeding the standards. This is something that had really bugged me in school. I feel as though if a student knows the information, and shows that they know and understand it they should get an A. I will definitely encourage all my students to exceed the standards, but I’m not going to lower their grade if they don’t. 
    Chapter 8 of FIAE essentially questioned whether or not we should include criteria other than mastery in grading. The other criteria that was considered was behavior, effort, and attendances, and the general consensus was that it should not be included in grading, only in some circumstances. These circumstances only include when the said criteria applies to the standard that students are trying to achieve. In general, I really like this idea of only grading students based on mastery. I feel that it not only has opened up my imagination when it comes to grading and evaluation, but I feel that it will also make students feel incredibly comfortable in the classroom. 
    Chapter 9 of FIAE focused on things to avoid when differentiating assessment and grading. I have to admit that I find this book quite funny and amusing at times. Under the first two approaches it says teachers who deny their students the opportunity to redo or revise assignments should, essentially, reevaluate their purpose in the classroom. I think this is great, I don’t know why, but I feel that teachers often lose themselves, and their reasons for being a teacher after years of teaching. I also appreciated the statement made about feedback saying that if we want students to take our feedback seriously they need to know that they will actually have the opportunity to do something with it. How is that feedback useful to them if they can’t even do anything with it?
    Chapter 10 of FIAE talked about how you should handle letting students redo or revise work. I agreed with a lot of the idea in this chapter, but especially the idea that as long as students don’t make asking for extensions a habit, it should be an option. I also liked the idea of sitting down with a student to create a plan when they do ask for an extension, or a redo. I think it is important to develop those planning, and time management skills in students.