Chapter 12 Assessing Abstract and Reflection

Abstract- The chapter focused mainly on grading and grading scales. It talks about how a rubric can be much better for students than using grades. It states that rubrics correctly assess students mastery of the subject where as simple grades do not. It also talks about assessments and states that it is better to use better assessments than standard exams.

Reflection- We thought that overall the idea of using a rubric is much better than using a simple grades. A rubric is much better for assessing exactly what students know and their mastery of the subject because it lays out exactly what expectation are whereas a simple grade does not tell the students what they have done well and what could be done better. The only thing that we sometimes don't like about this book is that it sometimes seems that the authors grading suggestions do not give students that work hard credit for doing work. Students that work harder and understand the material better deserve a better grade. We also did like his ideas about making sure that we assess students mastery, not fickle things such as attendance.

Chapter 13

This chapter is about grade books that can be used in differentiated classrooms. There are many things to consider when picking a grade book such as, can it be interpreted by others, does it show accurate mastery, and does it make grading more manageable. There are four different styles of grade books mentioned: grouping assignments by standard, objective, or benchmark; grouping assignments by weight or category; listing assignments by date; and, a topic based grade book.

Generally, I think this is not very useful, because in most cases schools will give you the grading format they want you to follow, usually a computer software program. However, I think the date based grade book is the best for me as I like seeing progress over time laid out and easy to read. That would just be the easiest way for me to follow. But like I said, that doesn’t seem like something that you are given a choice on these days.