Vignette 5: Getting What They Deserve?

I liked how this vignette explained the topic of including non-achievement factors in the academic portion of a student's grade. I found myself agreeing with the new teacher that a student's academic grade should not be a guessing game on if they are achieving the curriculum or not. I say this because I can see both sides to this. On one hand you may have a student who is academically sound but is getting low grades due to the non-achievement factors being added to their mark. On the other hand you may have a student who is struggling with the curriculum but gets a better mark because they are always on time and listen well in class. I find that the topic of making sure that non-achievement factors are separate from the reporting on learning outcome mastery is becoming clearer as I go. I can see why a teacher should not combine them and why that is not fair to the student.

I think it is important to have go work habits and that is what will make you successful in life. I think that if you are just an "average" student then there is just as go a chance for you to be successful as an "above average" student. In my classes this year I have heard how it is the work ethic and other skills that employers are looking for more so then a student at the top of their class. I think this is because there is a change in the work force and how it is set up. So skills in non-achievement areas are just as important as being able to meet curriculum standards. There are many habits which I value. Cooperation and participation are two that I feel are very important. Others that feel are important and rank high is the ability to be responsible and take responsibility for yourself. So homework completion, being on time and respecting others ranks high for me too.

Vignette 4 What Counts?

In the vignette I thought that it was unfair to give the student a lower mark because he does not pay attention in class. I think that the student should receive the mark that his "knowledge" of the material reflects even though he may not be the best behaved student in class. I can see why we are not supposed to include non-achievement factors such as work habits and effort in our assessment of the student's ability to meet the learning outcome. Non-achievement factors should be treated like formative assessments in this sense and not be used. From this vignette I understand that I am not supposed to judge the student's grade except by the criteria which pertains to their meeting of the outcomes they are being evaluated on. The role that achievement factors would play is they are the ones that will judge the ability of the student's success with an outcome. So then why do some teachers include a mark out of the outcome grade section for participate in class if it is not suppose to be part of the graded mark?

The textbook says that progress (formative assessments) and work habits should be in reported separate from the grade that is given and these two components should not be combined either. What I am not sure about is how that would look on a report card? Is it reported in a similar manner as a grade? What I mean is in this section do teachers give an "A" if say the student always arrives on time for class? Or is it more of a comment section where they would just note that a student is always on time for class and never late. So I know these should be separate from the outcome aspect of the grade but how do you report on this.

Something that I found interesting was the textbook mentions that, "...there are no studies that support the use of low grades as punishment for low academic performance. Instead of promoting greater effort, low grades more often cause students to withdraw from learning." (page C23) I thought this was interesting because I can see why this would work the way it does. If I normally got good grades and then all of a sudden I did not I would probably not want to work any harder than either. I can see why a student would want to put in even less effort especially if they felt they were going to get a low grade anyway which does not deal at all with their ability in the subject material. I will keep this point in mind once I am a teacher.

Vignette 8: Decisions, Decisions

In the vignette it asks what is fair and an accurate representation on achievement. I think what is fair and accurate is taking only the final product grades for use in calculating achievement grades. It is not fair to take student work and use for grades when they are in the learning stages of achieving concepts. So Mr Brit should only use the final products whether that be an essay, test, or project mark. In the text the reason it says you are not suppose to count formative assessment is because the students are in the process of grasping the concepts. If you count the formative grades it may stunt their cognitive growth. The students will not really get involved and play around with their learning as they will be worried about making mistakes. The fear of getting a bad mark may hold back their risk taking ability.

I can see the point the text is trying to make and I agree with it for the most part. The one area I am not sure about is how do you make the students want to do the other work if the know it is not for marks. We learned in class that you are not suppose to use participation in you final grades either. I do not see the problem with having a small percentage based on participation
of the final mark. It does not have to be based on if the student got the answers right or wrong but rather if they have tried. I think it is one way to help students realize they need to be participating to fully understand the concept being learned. We will see if this becomes clearer as this course progresses.

One last comment is I found it surprising in the text that they included quizzes as a formative assessment tool and not as something to use in the final grade. I have had courses where quizzes were used as a grade gathering tool. On one hand I can see why they would put this under formative assessment as a quiz can be used to see if students are learning the material necessary to go on. One the other hand I think it can be used for marks in the sense it is like a mini test. Especially if the students know it will be used for marks and are forewarned that it is coming. This way a teacher can test them on smaller portions of a unit especially if it is one that spans over a month. So I think quizzes are on of those tools that can walk the fine line between a formative and summative assessment. Depending on how it is utilized, depends on which side it falls on.