Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10 FIAE

Fair Isn’t Always Equal Chapters 7, 8, 9, and 10

            Grading has been a topic of controversy amongst teachers.  Is it possible that we weaken curriculum based on some student information?  I agree with Wormeli when he says we do, but in doing so we look at the big picture that students will actually learn the material and not just have it placed in front of them and expect them to perform on their own.  We know students learn at different rates and with differentiation; students will fail to comprehend much at all.  I feel like teachers have to discriminate against students because of personal backgrounds.  Any way we discriminate, we should still have the same common end goal with the same amount of work for all.  Be clear and consistent with criteria; agree with faculty around the school so students don’t have different expectations to meet for each class they have, it’s also our jobs as teachers to be highly knowledgeable in our subject so we can assess student understanding and growth, and grades can be subjective in nature and not properly reflect a students body of work.  Even though grades can be subjective, they are still useful tools of reflection and communication.  Just because we as teachers may lower our grade expectation due to a student’s socioeconomic status, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have the same expectation for them as everyone else.  Work shouldn’t be made easier, but more relatable.  As time has progressed we have come to expect more from our students.  Instead of a C being the average grade, now a B is going to be the new average.  Telling students they all have an A in their class in the beginning is something we should stand clear of.  Students then feel pressured to be perfect the entire class to maintain their A.  Grading is seen as a necessary evil and only done because they are forced to.  Grading is done because they are kept as documentation for progress or regression, to provide feedback to teachers, families, and students, to motivate students, to punish, and to sort students.  I don’t think grades should ever be used as a punishment.  That isn’t fair to a student and then distorts the student’s growth and mastery.  Also, students shouldn’t use grades as a motivator.  That can lead to them just simply memorizing to earn a good grade and then they will loose whatever they learned in as soon as the next day.  Also, participation and class behavior should no be used in the grading process unless we are actually teaching about participation and behavior.  Don’t penalize students using multiple attempts to master something and don’t incorporate nonacademic factors.  It’s not fair to grade everyone with the expectation that everyone understands everything completely the first shot at it.  Also, don’t grade homework.  You are supposed to practice when doing homework not learning.  Providing important feedback on students  homework is helping them master content while grading it pressures them to perform well. 

Chapter 8 UbD/DI + Chapters 8, 11, and 12 M

    Grading can be assigning symbolic letters or numbers at the end of a specified time to evaluate a student’s performance, or reporting evaluations to students and parents. The important part about grading is to give high quality feedback to the importance audiences like students, parents, or guardians. A grade should represent proficiency related to important goals. This is why goals and standards should be made very clearly to students so that they can receive a proper evaluation of their understandings. Grades should not be influenced by outside factors like putting names on their paper or the quality of their penmanship because neither of those shows mastery or understanding. The worst student in the world can put their name on their paper and write excellently, but that won’t help them in the real world that much. A grade should represent that students full capabilities. Don’t limit them based off solely one or two pieces of criteria. There are students who can be misplaced in a class full of high performers when they are a low performer or vice versa. Normal letter grading tends to promote an unhealthy competition and discourage those with low grades. People in my high school actually made cliques out of who got what type of grades. The sort of “winners” and “losers” of the school based off grades is not acceptable. It’s not fair because there are students who have lower grades just because they are bored, aren’t being challenged enough, or not being taught the right way. Working out of a J Curve where all students have the same opportunity to earn high grades based on achievement of clearly stated goals. Grades should be established based on summative assessment that is properly designed to allow students gathered proficiency related to identify goals. One of the worst things in school is when teachers have different opinions about grading. You have to memorize each teacher’s preferences on what constitutes a good grade. For all teachers to make it easier on students understanding of how to succeed, they should uniformly apply the aspect of grading. Grade students for achievement of goals, progress toward goals, and work habits.
Managing a class when using MI can be approached a variety of ways. To gain attention you can write silence please on the whiteboard, clap a short rhythmic phrase, put your fingers against your lips, provide a picture of what an attentive class looks like, use a stopwatch to keep track of time wasted, whisper to a students that its time to start and pass it along, simply start teaching and let the students settle in, or even play recordings of a bird whistle. These methods all reach each aspect of MI. Similar performances can be applied when it is time to transition to a different part of the day or want to communicate class rules. It is not necessary to address all MI’s when developing classroom management, but it helps to. For students with disabilities it can be helpful to name a few popular success stories of others with a disability. Also, creating eight different lesson plans for all intelligences so cratering to a student with disabilities needs. We as teachers should push students to challenge limited beliefs.

Chapters 7, 9, 13, 14 MI

Obviously when teaching with MI’s you need to differentiate, but no with just content, but with the classroom environment as well. Making MI activity centers in a classroom greatly expands their time and skills with all intelligences. Setting up a book or nook library for linguistic learners, a math lab with calculators and manipulative for logical-mathematical, an art area for spatial, open space for creative movement for bodily-kinesthetic, a music lab for musical, a round table for discussion for interpersonal, study carrels for individual work for intrapersonal, and a plant center for the naturalist learners. Great centers like these will make each student’s day enjoyable and filled with learning. Making the students rotate between stations is a great way to develop all sills. Using the MI model is an ongoing structural revolution for school systems. Schools today are all about budgets and restrictions. The only ones who loose with schools running like this are students. Having the arts program cut along with the physical education program are far from the answer. Those are both vital to the developing human never mind the developing student. There is no proper excuse for cutting into these disciplines. MI schools have been suggested as an answer. They would focus on hands-on, interdisciplinary, based on real-life contexts, informal atmosphere, and project based learning into a student’s everyday experience. The Key Learning Community in Indianapolis, Indiana is a prime example of a successful MI school. There are three applications of MI mentioned in the reading and they are computer technology, cultural diversity, and career counseling. Computers are intelligence-neutral mechanisms so they can’t be stereotyped. There are so many specially designed software programs that dip into each intelligence. Cultural diversity in the past two decades has become prominent in the U.S. Don’t undervalue any MI because each MI is a cherished skill in different cultures. For career counseling, it’s important not to stereotype a student into a career or intelligence. Just because a student can dance really well it doesn’t mean you focus on only their dancing and influence them only to dance. Finally, there is a possibility that even more MI’s can be discovered moving forward. One particular topic of conversation is the existential. Keep your mind open to all ways that students learn. You never know, maybe we could discover the next new intelligence in one of our students

Chapter 6+7 UbD/DI and Chapters 5+6 MI

In these four chapters the topic of discussion is on multiple intelligences and how to apply them in the classroom strategically like what an MI te
acher room would appear to be. Everyone has the ability to be good at all intelligences so a good teacher will teach all of the intelligences and not just to the ones that are the students strengths. Ironically enough, we used Inspiration in Dr. Overall’s class today and in chapter 5 of MI it uses webs as an example of an activity to use to better organize and brainstorm ones thoughts. Chapter 6 of MI discusses how a teacher can involve all facets of the MI Theory through many different examples. I think it is very important to teach all the intelligences. If a teacher just teaches to the strengths then I believe that would cripple a student in the long run. Having the ability to tap into all eight intelligences will greatly benefit all who are taught that way.
Chapter 6 of UbD/DI starts out well by making you analyze your class as a whole and ask four important questions. Who are the students I will teach? What matters most for students to learn here? How must I teach to ensure that each student will grow systemically toward attainment of the goal and moves beyond it when indicated? How will I know who is successful and who is not yet successful with particular goals (84)? I really like the last question because of the “yet” portion. It implies that a student can always be taught and to never give up. Sometimes you need to run through the questions until you can fix the problem. When you teach basic concepts, teach them in a meaningful and useful context so students don’t discard it as useless. Also, be clear of the “big ideas” and goals hey will have accomplished by the end of the unit. If they know what’s expected of them then they will be able to perform better. Although students must build meaning on their own to properly master material, sometimes as a noted cognitive scientist points out “ There are times, usually after people have first grappled with issues on their own, that “teaching by telling” might work extremely well” (86). Also, I like the idea presented by Mortimer Adler in his book The Paideia Proposal that three rolls teachers can play are direct instructor, facilitator, and coach.
Chapter 7 of UbD/DI introduces WHERETO as the big concept of the chapter. In schools there can be a lack of depth in content. I know when I was a student I often learned by memorizing facts for a test date. That is not a successful style of teaching. Students will forget within days, sometimes hours what the crammed into their heads just for a test or quiz. This acronym WHERETO stands for What, Why, Hook, Equip, Experiences, Rethink, Evaluation, Tailor, and Organize. It reveals content. Engage students in deep content and make it meaningful and useful to them while differentiating for those who need it. Also, make all the goals, expectations, and ideas very clear to students.

UbD/DI Chapter 6+7 and MI Chapters 5+6

In these four chapters the topic of discussion is on multiple intelligences and how to apply them in the classroom strategically like what an MI te
acher room would appear to be. Everyone has the ability to be good at all intelligences so a good teacher will teach all of the intelligences and not just to the ones that are the students strengths. Ironically enough, we used Inspiration in Dr. Overall’s class today and in chapter 5 of MI it uses webs as an example of an activity to use to better organize and brainstorm ones thoughts. Chapter 6 of MI discusses how a teacher can involve all facets of the MI Theory through many different examples. I think it is very important to teach all the intelligences. If a teacher just teaches to the strengths then I believe that would cripple a student in the long run. Having the ability to tap into all eight intelligences will greatly benefit all who are taught that way.
Chapter 6 of UbD/DI starts out well by making you analyze your class as a whole and ask four important questions. Who are the students I will teach? What matters most for students to learn here? How must I teach to ensure that each student will grow systemically toward attainment of the goal and moves beyond it when indicated? How will I know who is successful and who is not yet successful with particular goals (84)? I really like the last question because of the “yet” portion. It implies that a student can always be taught and to never give up. Sometimes you need to run through the questions until you can fix the problem. When you teach basic concepts, teach them in a meaningful and useful context so students don’t discard it as useless. Also, be clear of the “big ideas” and goals hey will have accomplished by the end of the unit. If they know what’s expected of them then they will be able to perform better. Although students must build meaning on their own to properly master material, sometimes as a noted cognitive scientist points out “ There are times, usually after people have first grappled with issues on their own, that “teaching by telling” might work extremely well” (86). Also, I like the idea presented by Mortimer Adler in his book The Paideia Proposal that three rolls teachers can play are direct instructor, facilitator, and coach.
Chapter 7 of UbD/DI introduces WHERETO as the big concept of the chapter. In schools there can be a lack of depth in content. I know when I was a student I often learned by memorizing facts for a test date. That is not a successful style of teaching. Students will forget within days, sometimes hours what the crammed into their heads just for a test or quiz. This acronym WHERETO stands for What, Why, Hook, Equip, Experiences, Rethink, Evaluation, Tailor, and Organize. It reveals content. Engage students in deep content and make it meaningful and useful to them while differentiating for those who need it. Also, make all the goals, expectations, and ideas very clear to students.

Wes Fryer on Copyright and Fair Use

Like in the assignment description, it is pointed out the Fryer spends very little time discussing fair use and I think that's because Fryer and I think the same thing when it comes to that "It's complicated" It's the first thing I think I've seen someone try to teach it by avoiding it.  He uses the acronym HPCF and gives it meaning by connecting it to say Harry Potter Can Fly.  It actually stands for Homegrown, Public Domain, Creative Commons, and Fair Use.  In this chapter I learned that fair use is complicated and it's easier to work around it by using homegrown media you create yourself, public domains where there are no copyrighted material, and creative commons which are materials shared upfront by copyright holders.
I think instead of trying to implement fair use we can all just use creative commons.  It's obviously all the materials manufacturers, artists, etc. feel comfortable openly sharing.  Why bother going through the hassle of the unclear fair use guidelines and end up being sued for a lot of money.  I would just use anything from the HPCF examples and if I have to go outside of those I would cite as much information as I could to give complete credit to the author and at least show I wasn't trying to commit plagiarism or intellectual property theft.  

Copyright and Fair Use

While reading The educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use by Hall Davidson ( http://umfresources.wikispaces.com/file/view/copy_guide.pdf/254864262/copy_guide.pdf ), I learned many new things about copyright.  In reading the introduction, the author actually encourages you to use as many resources you can and build off of the ideas of others, not pass them off as your own.  It goes on and talks about the special law of fair use.  This was created so that mainly school and other places may use intellectual property to benefit society as a whole.  It goes on the say that the exact definition of fair use was an ambiguous one and that there are no actually laws, just accepted "deals".  In my opinion, this is something that needs proper defining.  It seems sketchy to operate as an educator at the will of intellectual property owners.  I think this can actually favor the rights of intellectual property owners more because it is the educators taking all the risk.  If someone's property is being used in a way they don't like it seems like they can sue and educator or an educational system anytime they want.  This topic makes me wary as a future educator and more afraid of being the teacher someone makes an example of.  After reading all of this I took the quiz that was offered to see if i could really grasp the concept of fair use.  

Question three deals with a new version of Photoshop being installed in only five computers because thats the quantity the teacher bought and because it isn't backward-compatible they should be able to install it on all the computers.  I think a system like this would operate like Microsoft Word and be able to be compatible back to its previous version, but couldn't you just save in a rich text format or something and be able to open it acceptably?  Also, as the company I am providing a software to make money, so I would put a limitation of how many times the software could be shared because I would like to keep making money.  

Question four is relatable to three.  If a school doesn't have enough money to buy a new product for everyone they can't just buy it once and copy the rest for everyone.  Inventors deserve money for their work if thats what they want.  Again, I am sure there would only be a certain amount of times you could share the product before you run out of uses.  If you have 5,000 student and buy a software thats allowed to be shared five times each then you would only need to buy it 1,000, but you can't buy it once and share it 5,000 times, that's pirating. 

I also feel like question five deals with the same exact issues covered in three and four.  

Question seven is interesting to me.  It says that it's okay to use copyrighted material without permission because it's posted on a website they requires a password which only the teacher, students, and parents know.  This seems like the sketchy side of fair use to me.  You are using something copyrighted without permission, but it's okay because you are only distributing it for educational purposes.  How would any copyrighted material owner ever know their stuff was being used if all we did was create a website with a password required and shared it with everyone but the copyright owner and company?  Maybe I am missing something, but maybe not.  

Question twelve is another example of the murky waters of fair use.  Manufactures are putting blocking systems on DVD's and VHS's to prevent anyone from digitizing it themselves.  The author states that this inhibits our "constitutional right to use material for teaching"  I thought there were no formal laws with fair use?  Seems to me like this is a case of Manufacturers using this fair use concept when it benefits them.

The last question I will examine is question sixteen, which I have a big problem with.  It says we as teachers can use machines that are invented to purposely beat the copyright protection on "DVD's, CD-ROM's, and just about everything else." In question twelve there seems to be a battle over constitutional rights to obtain material and now we are inventing what I consider "pirating machines"  Whats the difference between using a machine that purposely defeats the concept of copyright and illegally downloading music using certain softwares that allow us to do so?  

This reading really confused me as to what is right and wrong.  Fair use seems like a concept that can really help or really hurt.  I got a lot of mixed signals from this and reading it makes me nervous to use things I find on the internet or anywhere else that I did not create.  I guess I will just use as much citation as possible at all times to prove that I had no intentions of  plagiarism or intellectual copyright.   

FIAE Chapter 6

I’ve had multiple-choice tests before where I thought the answer could be multiple choices, but I couldn’t read the teachers mind on which one they were looking for.  Chapter six starts out on a relatable note.  Be clear with test questions.  Tests aren’t guessing games.  Using mixed traditional (multiple choice, true/false, fill in the missing word, etc.) and not-so-traditional questions (analogies, drawings, diagrams, etc.) and prompts can be good ways to test students if done properly.  Also, using mixed “forced choice” and “constructed response” can be an asset for students.  “Forced choices” are questions and prompts provided by the teacher (true/false, matching, and multiple choice) and “constructed responses” are questions and prompts that students must generate information themselves and apply it as necessary (interpret graphs, write essays, short answers, mind maps, flowcharts analogies, or drawings).  Make tests efficient like writing the “T’s” and “F’s” to circle on true/false questions, write definitions on left side and word bank on the right, keep matching on the same page, and keep fill-in-the-blanks items close to the end of a sentence or stem.  Avoid confusing negative like “All of the above except C and E”.  There were some things I didn’t agree with thought.  The book says to make multiple choice answers in a pattern so they are easier to grade, but as a student I found myself recognizing patterns sometimes and second guessing myself thinking “There is no way I did this right, look at that crazy pattern.”  So, I will never make my answers into a pattern even if it would make it easier to grade.  Also, it says to include two special questions and to make one that at first sounds reasonable, but if examined closely is impossible.  Why would I ever want to try and trick my students on a test?  Earlier in this book it said to make tests clear, short, and accurate.  Sounds like a contradiction to me that I will never do.      

FIAE Chapter 5

Tiering assignments for students who are at different levels of learning is the opening of chapter five.  Differentiating assignments at different levels of learning is something teachers do to make understanding easier for s student, not make the assignment easier than everyone else.  We don’t need to tier for every assignment.  We should expect all students to demonstrate full proficiency.  Having a student start out at the benchmark, or lowest point, may inhibit their learning.  Starting at full proficiency guarantees the student the opportunity to demonstrate their full knowledge and understanding.  Using equalizers is also a way to make sure students have full comprehension.  Grouping elements together that don’t seem alike, but are on totally different spectrums of one another.  If a student can pick out continuums from a lesson then they most likely have an excellent mastery of the lesson.  Another helpful tool a teacher can use to closely monitor is a learning contract.  You can set rules and checkpoints to present behavior and content expectations.  My favorite activity for tiering is the RAFT(S) activity.  Choosing content and presenting different scenarios to effectively communicate the big ideas is an excellent idea.  Having students choose their own roles, audience, format, or topic (or time) is a great way for students to show you how they like to learn and be creative in their demonstrations.  I never thought that by using certain verbs, writing prompts could seem so much more alive to a student.  I will try and use this strategy because as a student I remember looking at some prompts and not being very excited or motivated to write it even if I had a lot of knowledge to work with. 

FIAE Chapter 4

Portfolios are where we begin in chapter 4.  Portfolios are great ways to tell if a student has achieved mastery.  There are no interpretation or guessing to be made about the level of mastery.  Unlike tests or quizzes, in portfolios, students get to reflect on their work and progress when they are asked to choose some of their own work to put together a portfolio.  They can be one-year things or be put together over an entire academic career.  They can be a hard copy, electronic copy, or even both.  Another way to differentiate to show student knowledge and mastery is to use rubrics.  They give multiple options on how to complete one assignment and have clear instructions as to what knowledge they are expected to gain.  Students can also keep their own journals and blogs.  This can greatly demonstrate if they actually understand content, like or dislike a subject, or even give insights to other aspects of the student’s life.  I would implement any one of these great self-assessment tools.  Students should be just as involved in their education as teachers are.  I want my students to feel comfortable enough in my classroom to be unafraid to tell me what works for them and what doesn’t.  Given students the chance to be comfortable enough to work with their strengths and self-assess can infuse them with motivation to perform well in their assignments.  Keeping students motivated and comfortable in the classroom is a must in order to be successful as a teacher. 

MI Chapter 10

Chapter 10 covers assessment.  Basically, if we can allow students to learn in eight different ways or more, then why should we test them only one way?  Standardized test are great for logical/mathematical intelligences, but does not truly incorporate every type of learner. Designing different ways for each type of learner to show you they actually understand content and didn’t just memorize it for a test is when true learning takes place.  I feel like teachers have been teaching “How to Take a Standardized Test” for far too long.  What good is it to a student when they need certain skills later in life, but forgot them because they didn’t have a full understanding and only memorized specific answers just to pass the test.  So, observe your students and see them exhibit signs of what type of learner they are.  We can definitely assess eight or more different ways if we know students learn eight or more different ways.  When I have my own classroom I will ensure my students that they will not be left behind and that I will always teach to their needs and not mine.  Also, I like the idea of keeping a journal or folder of student work so that I know what each of my students need to learn and what type of work they are capable of.  I think its something all teachers should do with every student they.  Collaborating with colleagues to build a file or journal for a student for each class or grade level can show the growth of a student over their academic career.  These are also good because parents love this type of assessment rather than just a letter grade.  Showing evidence that you care about the success of their child and the advancement of their knowledge over the years would make any parent happy.    

FIAE Chapter 3

This chapter was no doubt the most in depth I have ever read into properly assessing.  There are fifteen different way to performing good assessment.  Good assessment advances learning and is integral to instruction, determines what’s worth being assessed, provides even information to the teacher to inform instructional practice, never saved for the end and is ongoing emphasizing formative over summative feedback, is never kept a secret and performed with the end in mind, focuses on developmentally appropriate, enduring, and essential content and skills, authentic to the learning experience, highly valid indicator of what students know and are able to do, reliable, occurs appropriately and doesn’t seem like a test, engages more than one discipline, calls for the use of different tools and products, uses tasks that reveal common misunderstandings, includes those being assessed in its form and criteria, and last but not least is conducted with multiple experiences over time.  There are many ways as a teacher to assess students and these assessments are vital in understanding what a students knows and what we need to focus on to help ensure mastery of weak or non existent areas of learning.

To be honest, when I read this chapter I felt a bit overwhelmed with all the knowledge about proper assessment.  It makes me feel like there are many ways I can unintentionally asses improperly and get the wrong ideas about my students.  However, over time and with the help of my future colleagues I know I will use assessment properly in my classroom.  I think it is essential to have to keep improving my curriculum content wise and differentiation wise as well.  

FIAE Chapter 2

Demonstrating through understanding like breaking down a math problem into component pieces, critique it against criteria, and being able to recreate math is demonstrating mastery of a subject and in this case math.  It is so important to fully understand the how’s and why’s of the ways things work is so much more important than memorizing the formula and not understanding why that formula actually works.  We as teachers need to strive to help students accomplish this.  Accepting one sentence answers like “Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.” Does not constitute mastery.  Elaborating why he freed the slaves and highlighting specific connections that can be made to why he freed the slaves would be a good demonstration of mastery.  Deciding what specific material to mastery as a first year teacher will be hard, but I will have plenty of resources at my disposal to assist me like my colleagues, profession organizations, curriculum guides, etc. 

            I want all my students to become masters of everything we cover.  When I was in school I just focused on memorizing dates, event, and formulas.  Never thought twice about the meaning behind it except that it would be on a test.  I want to make students want to know why things work they way they do and not just memorize it because I asked them to.  The more mastery the gain then the more they will be prepared for college level work.  Once I find out through implementation what works and doesn’t work, I won’t hesitate to share it with my colleagues because I know I will be relying upon them a lot as well. 

FIAE Chapter 1

Providing a student with differentiation even if they need it every single assignment will not make them mentally weak.  In fact, it will make them more competent because they fully understood all the material being taught.  They are fully aware of what type of learners they are.  Just because differentiation is applied does not mean that we as teacher make the work easier.  All we need to do is provide another way of learning.  Differentiation is a tool of success not to be viewed as a crutch to learning.  The real world provides differentiation quite often.  If differentiation were never provided to a single student then it’s highly unlikely anyone would graduate.  No one cares what we teach, what we teach is irrelevant.  The only thing that matters is if our students are taught how to properly learn.   

I am glad that differentiation is such a big part of education.  It gives everyone a fair opportunity to exploit his or her learning abilities.  If differentiation never existed then we would, perhaps write off some of our most brilliant students.  No one learns the exact same way so therefore there can be no uniform way to properly teach everyone.  As a future teacher I will make sure no to exclude anyone from learning.  Everyone is a capable learner and even an eager learner, even if they don’t show it.   Even if you look at differentiation as a crutch, there are many successful people in the world because of their crutch.