FIAE Chapter 10: Conditions for Redoing Work for Full Credit

This chapter discusses the conditions for redoing assignments that students didn’t do well on the first time. Most of the conditions are for teacher sanity but a few of them are also to keep the student honest. For example, making parents a part of the process and reserving the right to change the format of the redo. This chapter affects me because it gives me some ideas on how to go about giving my students second opportunities to prove that they know the material without being duped or overrun with work. It affects my class because if my students have the chance to redo an assignment that they had trouble getting done due to outside circumstances they can without having to beg and plead and explain the situation they may not want me to be aware of. It would be unfair to not allow a student a redo because they were embarrassed to tell me they were at the hospital or a relative died.

FIAE Chapter 9: Ten Approaches to AVoid When Differentiating Assessment and Grading

This chapter is a list of 10 different things that teachers should avoid when differentiating grading and assessment. The chapter thoroughly explains all of the reasons why these things should be avoided. The list includes avoiding grading on a curve, avoiding recording zeros, avoiding extra credit, avoiding scaffolding and avoiding grading homework, to name a few. The list is a good way for me to look at things that teachers often do that don’t work in the classroom. It is kind of like getting experience with using these practices without actually having to try them out myself. It affects my class because now that I understand a few things to avoid and why I don’t have to spend time trying them out for myself. I can work at avoiding them and know that it is what is best for my students.

FIAE Chapter 8: Why do we Grade, and What About Effort, Attendance, and Behavior?

Chapter 8 of FIAE is about including effort, attendance and behavior in the grade. Many teachers disagree about whether or not these should be included in the grade. The chapter gives many arguments for both sides. This means that as a teacher I will have to decide whether or not to include this, decide how to grade it and how much of the grade it will be worth. I’m not sure that I would include effort or behavior in my grades but I probably would include participation because it is difficult in an English class to teach students how to analyze without allowing them to pick each other’s brains.

FIAE Chapter 7: The Relative Definitions of Grades and Their Definitions

Chapter 7 of FIAE is about grading. Grading is arbitrary because the meaning of the grades A, B, C, D and F are not agreed upon among all educators. This chapter affects me because despite how arbitrary grades can seem at times I will have to come up with some kind of system for giving my students a grade. This grade will have to mean something and I will have to know what it means. I will have to decide what constitutes an A or an F and everything I between. Not only that, but my class will have a right to know these things so that they will know what they are striving for.

Synthesis of Chapter 14 of MI

Synthesis-
The class agreed that it is worth thinking about incorporating Howard Gardner’s ninth intelligence into their lessons whether or not it has been made officially. Many of us thought that it would not be long before it was added to the list of intelligences and were willing to accept it as such. The class thought that it would be fairly easy to incorporate into classes because its nature involves looking for deeper meaning which is what teachers should be asking their students to do. Many of us linked it to science because so many scientists have been inspired by life questions in their research and experiments. There were also connections made to history and literature because both of those subjects deal with why things happen.

Abstract-
The last chapter of the MI book is about a possible ninth intelligence. It is called the existential intelligence and it deals with the big philosophical questions that all humans ask. This intelligence is often controversial though because many cultures answer these big life questions with religious beliefs. However, this intelligence isn’t about being extremely religious but rather about looking for meaning in life, looking for similarities in beliefs between cultures, and in the capability to see the big picture. It does meet many of Gardner’s criteria for being an intelligence but there has yet to be enough evidence to support this idea.

MI Chapter 12: MI and Cognitive Skills

Chapter 12 of Mi is about teaching students to use the different intelligences to think deeply about a topic and remember it. Everyone thinks in different ways so it makes sense that the multiple intelligences should be used to describe the different ways that people think about a topic or subject. This will be great when trying to teach my students ways to study for a test as well as when thinking about ways to help students think deeply about material. If I can tap into how they think I can teach to that and encourage that process. Being able to think is often more important than the material.

MI Chapter 11: MI and Special Education

Chapter 11 of MI discusses using MI theory when teaching students with disabilities. It also provides a list of famous figures for each intelligence that struggled with some kind of disability. This affects me because it is a good reminder for me and for all teachers that there is more to the students then just their disability. It is important to stop looking at what they can’t do and focus on what they can do. The MI theory is an excellent way to teach the same material to a student with a disability because it looks at how to communicate information in all intelligences. This is important in my classroom because these strategies will help me teach students in my class who have disabilities.

MI Chapter 8: MI and Classroom Management

Chapter 8 of MI is about using the Multiple Intelligences to help in classroom management. The chapter gives a few different ideas on how to use them when breaking the class up into cooperative learning groups, when trying to develop classroom rules, in conveying transitions and in trying to get the class’s attention. The last one was most useful to me because I had many teachers in school that just could not get and keep the attention of their students. It will be great to try out these strategies on my class and see which ones work best. It affects my class because getting my students’ attention is vital to teaching them. It also means I have a few ideas on how to manage a class which is also important to the learning environment.

UbD/DI Chapter 8: Grading and Reporting Achievment

Chapter 8 of UbD/Di is about grading. The chapter talks a lot about how to grade a classroom that integrates differentiated instruction in to the everyday learning environment. This important because as a teacher I will be required to put a grade on each of my student’s report cards. I need to be able to do so in a way that is fair and shows the amount of learning that students has achieved. It affects my classroom because if I want my students to learn they have to know where their grades are coming from. If they don’t then the only thing for them to assume is that the grades are arbitrary and in that case why should they try? Grading should be a summary of how much a student has learned from my class.

UbD/DI Chapter 9: Bringing it all Together: Curriculum and Instruction Through the Lens of UbD and DI

This chapter takes everything that the book has been discussing, sums it up and then gives a real life example of the model working. It was interesting to see another teacher working through the backwards design model and then making adjustments to the plans so that the students would get more out of it. The book was very helpful in offering ways in which to differentiate both for readiness levels and for different learning styles. I liked that it also listed the observable indicators of a UbD/DI classroom. I think this chapter is a very helpful resource when getting ready to plan my own units of study. It is an easy way to remind myself of how it all comes together in the end.

MI Chapter 14: MI and Existential Intelligence

Chapter 14 discusses the possibility of a ninth intelligence, existential. This intelligence focuses on the “ultimate life concerns” or in other words the big questions that every culture tries to answer and no one can agree on. The chapter also gives a few ideas on how that intelligence can best be activated in the classroom. This intelligence is pretty interesting because it involves thinking about the unanswerable in many different ways. It affects my classroom because as a teacher it really should be my goal to do this anyway. In order to help students understand other cultures, ideas, people, beliefs and motivations these questions are important to look at.

MI Chapter 13: Other Applications of MI Theory

Chapter 13 applies the MI theory to other aspects of the world besides the classroom. Different software is suggested for different intelligences. The chapter also discusses the different cultures that value each intelligence. This would be good to bring into the classroom after teaching my students about multiple intelligences. This way they can see value in the way they learn. It’d be especially good for those students who feel like teachers don’t value their way of learning.

MI Chapter 7: MI and the Classroom Environment

Chapter 7 is about creating a classroom environment that is friendly and welcoming to students. The chapter asks questions about the environment to help students make improvements on it. It also suggests setting up activity centers for each of the intelligences. This way students can enjoy their strengths while getting a chance to develop intelligences that are not as well developed. I’m not sure that as a teacher I would set up the activity centers but I do understand how important a good learning environment. My high school was always too cold and it made it hard to focus in the winter. Having an environment that is more cozy will make my students feel more welcome in the classroom.

MI Chapter 10: MI and Assessment

This chapter is about using the multiple intelligences to assess learning. I learned in this chapter that it just doesn’t make sense to teach to the multiple intelligences and then ignore them when assessing my students. I also learned a number of strategies to assess students using the multiple intelligences. This affects the way I have always thought of assessment. Before taking practicum the word assessment just meant test to me. Whenever my teachers said that word they were talking about testing. This affects my classroom because it will mean I will spend less time writing tests for students and more time creating activities and projects to assess them with instead. It also means that my classroom will be filled with more creative learners.

MI Chapter 6: MI and Teaching Strategies

Chapter six of MI suggests five different teaching methods for each of the eight intelligences. It emphasizes the fact that there are many different ways to activate students’ intelligences in all subjects. It suggests ways to bring math and science into humanities classrooms. It offers ideas on how to use music in the classroom and how to involve the highly bodily-kinesthetic learners in the lesson. All of the suggestions are excellent and very helpful. They impact my classroom because they are ways of rethinking teaching so that I can help all of my students learn.

MI Chapter 5: MI and Curriculum Development

Chapter five suggests ways to design curriculum that will activate all eight of the students’ intelligences. Suggestions on how to do this include, thematic learning and a seven step lesson plan procedure. The thematic instruction suggests coming up with a theme that can be taught differently to students using each of the eight different intelligences. Using the eight intelligences in creating lesson plans will mean that my lessons help students develop intelligences that are underdeveloped. It will also help them understand the concept in a way that works for them. The idea is to help as many students as possible learn the content to the best of their ability.

UbD/DI Chapter 7: Theaching for Understanding in Academically Diverse Classrooms

This chapter is about using the WHERETO design model to design a series of daily lessons in a unit of study. The idea is to use the six facets of understanding to help students learn. It is also necessary to get students interested in the topic by asking intriguing questions or giving them a mystery to solve. It is also important to put skills in a real world perspective so that students see why it is important for them to know. I like the idea of hooking students’ interest in the topic before going ahead with the rest of the unit. It makes sense to me that they would be more engaged if the lesson seemed interesting to them. It is important to use in my classroom because if my students are engaged they will learn more.

UbD/DI Chapter 6: Responsive Teaching With UbD in Academically Diverse Classrooms

Chapter 6 of UbD/DI is about finding ways to successfully differentiate in the classroom. At first is seems impossible to differentiate each lesson to every student’s specific needs but the chapter suggests looking at it differently. Instead of tailoring each lesson to each student it is better to look at patterns of learning or find groups of students that seem to be relatively in the same place or who learn in similar ways. This will be very usefully in my classroom when I am trying to find ways to teach all of my students in a way that makes sense to them. This seems like the best way to differentiate. It is much easier to look for patterns than try to tailor every lesson to every individual.

FIAE Chapter 6: Creating Good Test Questions

In chapter 6 I learned how to create test questions that are fair and tiered towards my students’ levels of learning. This means asking questions in the same manner that the material was taught, trying to keep questions easy to understand, being to the point and making tests easy to respond to. It also means grading and getting students feedback on how they did on the test or quiz in a timely manner so that they can improve for the next one. This affects my classroom because if I do ever decide to use a test to assess my students’ learning than I need to know how to write one that will probably assess what has been taught. It also gave good ideas on how to tier the test which means that I’ll have a few to consider if I should need to adjust the test for different learners.

FIAE Chapter 5: Tiering Assignments

This chapter is about tiering assessments successfully so that they are neither too hard nor too easy. The trick is to develop an assessment that pushes students but at the same time meets their readiness levels. I learned that there are a number of different ways to tier an assessment or assignment. One such way is to create different menus with different options for students to pick from. This way means the teacher has some say in determining what the students do while giving them some options. This idea was very appealing to me for use in my classroom because it meant that I could excite the students to do their work by interesting them in the project while having some control on the conditions.

FIAE Chapter 4: Three Important Types of Assessment

Chapter 4 of FIAE continues to discuss how best to assess students in a differentiated classroom except this chapter focuses more on designing fair standards and laying them out in a way that easy for students to read. The chapter suggests using portfolios, rubrics or self-assessment as ways to assess student learning and growth in a unit. I learned that portfolios can be a great way to look at all of a student’s work over an extended period of time. I also learned a few tips on designing rubrics that work. This will be very helpful in my classroom when it comes to outline for my students what they must accomplish in order to show me they understand the material. It also helps me figure out a fair and easy way to grade my students.

Synthesis of Chapter 3 of UbD/DI

Abstract:
This chapter introduces the backwards design model. In this chapter stage one was described as establishing the goals for the unit, stage two was defined as deciding what evidence will be used to figure out if the students have learned the material and stage three was defined as where the day to day activities that will help students learn and meet the goals from stage one are created. The backwards design model’s purpose is to keep teachers focused on the desired end. In this way teachers are working towards something and not just trying to cover a textbook. This way both students and teachers know where everything is heading.

Synthesis:
Overall the class found the model helpful in planning lessons especially in subjects where there was a lot of material. We all agreed that the model would both help us plan our lessons and help our students learn because having a clear focus makes it easier to differentiate in order to reach all learners, we have a clear goal so it is easier to assess how the students are doing in reaching that goal and because the students won’t just be doing activities or busy work but working towards learning something specific. The class thought that the backwards design model also addresses the gaps in state standards making it easy to meet them while engaging students.

FIAE Chapter 3: Principles of Successful Assessment in the Differentiated Classroom

Chapter 3 of FIAE is about assessment. I learned that it does my students no good to only be assessed once. After all there could be a number of factors that could be influencing their performance that day. It is more helpful to assess my students many times over the course of the entire unit. This way I can know what they are really learning and give them feedback. This allows them to make adjustments and improve. But it is not enough to just assess my students. The assessments must also be fair judges of what has been taught. This affects me in that it means I have to send a lot of time making up different appropriate assessments and giving good feedback. It affects my classroom because it means more chances for my students to show me what they know.

FIAE Chapter 1: The Differentiated Instruction Mind-set: Rationale and Definition

Chapter 1 of FIAE discusses why differentiation works and why it is a good idea. I learned that differentiation doesn’t make students dependent on teachers to adjust the curriculum for them but rather make them tolerant individuals or are intrinsically motivated. These students are creative, hey take risks, they are competent and independent. This affects me because that is exactly how I want my students to be when they leave my classroom. I want them to know themselves, be creative, be smart, be compassionate and take risks. I think that differentiation can help me accomplish this. This affects my classroom because it will be easier to manage a classroom of students who are intrinsically motivated.

FIAE Chapter 2: Mastery

Chapter 2 of FIAE is about mastery and what constitutes mastery of a subject. I learned that mastery can be defined many different ways by many different teachers. It seems the best way to decide if a student has mastered the material is to look at the standards or goals that the teacher set at the beginning of the lesson or unit. It is also good to match the assessment to the goal. This affects me in that this means I will have to constantly redefine what I think it means for a student to master my subject. It affects my classroom because I need to be clear with my students about what is expected of them. If I am expecting them to master a subject they and I, should know what that looks like. That way they will know what they are working for and where their grade comes from.

UbD/DI Chapter 5: Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms

In chapter 5 of UbD/DI assessment practices are discussed. I learned that it is best to do many different and on-going assessments of students in order to get a much clearer picture of student learning. This way as a teacher I can try to play to my students’ strengths thus allowing them to show me what they have learned in a way that is not too challenging for them. This affects me in that I will have to be very creative in coming up with multiple assessments so that my students will have many choices. This will help me in my classroom because my students will be more motivated to do their assignments if they can choose their projects or find ways to be creative with them in their own ways. It will also mean that my classroom will be effective in reaching a variety of learners.