FIAE Chapter 10

In chapter 10, redoing work and receiving full credit for it is discussed.

Policies about redoing work should go under careful consideration. Not because they shouldn’t be allowed, but just because there are many ways to allow redone work that doesn’t fully benefit the student. The best policy to have is to understand that students want the same courtesy that a teacher, as an adult, would expect, but to also understand that, because the student isn’t an adult they do need regulations, and a plan on how to redo the work. I can say from personal experience that I understand how difficult it is to try and make up work when you’re battling a sickness, and teachers are responding to your cries for help. I do believe that redoing work can be beneficial, but I also believe that it should be done within a timely manner so that the student is able to move forward and benefit from the next assignments on the agenda. I also think that if a student is behind in work, or if they can’t seem to master the work assigned, assessing their understanding through conversation is one of the best ways. It keeps students comfortable and less stressed about a grade and allows them to focus on what they really know. It’s harder for the teacher to assess if they’re comparing it to concrete evidence from other students, but the crucial part is that the student has proved that they have mastered the material.  

FIAE Chapter 9

This chapter focused on the things not to do when incorporating differentiation into grading. I found this chapter really helpful, because it is confusing on how to combine differentiation with assessing students.

One concept that I really took away from this chapter was confabulation. I can recall countless times when this has appeared in my life, through my own ignorance and through talking to people with a clear lack of understanding. It’s funny to me that even though I’ve been confronted with this again and again, I still didn’t fully understand it. In some ways I believe that this happened from signals in our brain being crossed, or maybe subconsciously we were being bothered by something, or maybe we simply couldn’t recall things because of outside factors. I didn’t fully grasp that this occurs from not fully understanding something, and this makes a huge difference when dealing with secondary education level students. These students are ones who are low on self-esteem and high in pride, so it is only natural that they are going to project that they’re an expert on things that they aren’t. Obviously, when looking at this from a teacher’s perspective, it becomes clear that “two of the greatest allies in the battle against confabulation are frequent assessment and revision of instruction” (117). If students are filling in missing critical details with their own inventions then assessment should reflect this. If a teacher uses frequent assessment they can more easily avoid it and then they can work on revising how to teach the missing information. I really thought that this was a helpful thing to think about when assessing students. 

FIAE Chapter 7

This chapter was really about learning about grading and what it really is.

I can honestly say that I had all these preconceived notions that rubrics were the best tool to use in a classroom and that they keep the bias out of grading, they help push students and motivate them to do better. After reading this chapter I am unconvinced. Though I still think that rubrics are a fabulous idea, I have to say that there is clearly always bias in any classroom, especially in grading. As teachers we give ourselves the right to judge other people and how biases can play into how we judge our students.

Making grades reflect less of our ideas of how well they’ve completed work it makes sense to “build their learning and achieve mastery throughout the grading period” (100). Making grades feedback instead of a finalization of the material helps create an atmosphere that cultivates learning. It can help students find motivation while keeping them on track. Feedback can give students something to think about, and it creates a respect between the teachers have with their students. If students feel like the teacher is giving them opportunities for improvement and is leaving the learning open ended, which feedback can do, it’s much more effective for the student. Showing students their improvement helps focus on the positive and lets the student know that teachers can appreciate the work that went into getting as far as the student did. As many teachers know from personal experiences, students are already really critical on themselves, so feedback can help boost their feeling of self-worth, while helping them see the things that need  improvement. 

FIAE Chapter 8

Frankly, I found this chapter both insightful and annoying, which, remarkably is extremely important. My first reaction after reading this was that the entire chapter except for the very end was a complete waste of time, but on second thought the fact that the book kept going back and forth between sides helped me realize how hard grading actually is.

Before starting this chapter, I have always believed that any type of recognition should be based on how much you put into it. Everything is worth something if you at least tried. Honestly though, that isn’t all that there is to something. There have been people who have tried so very hard and gained nothing from that except the realization that the task they were working on wasn’t for them. The sad truth is effort is tied with improvement. How much did you get out of this experience? Well, obviously if you tried, you got more out of it than the student to whom it just comes naturally.

This chapter completely changed my perspective on how I view grading now. I am not, by any means, saying that grades are the way to help kids, but since they are such a large part of the educational system it only makes sense that a teacher has an opinion on them. Well now my opinion is better formed I feel that grades should be represented on how much progress the student has made. This is not to say that standards should be lowered because a student has difficulties, it means that students with difficulties can have the most room for improvement. Room for improvement is now something that should be viewed as a positive simply because it gives the student an even larger opportunity to grow.

MI Chapter 12

Chapter 12 in the MI book talks about memory, problem solving and cognitive skills in general. This chapter was helpful, in a new way, of stating how to use MI theory to build, not just comprehension, but learning techniques that will ultimately allow each student to be able to process information in the future more easily.

            Tailoring MI theory to ways of promoting memory is only the beginning to the benefits of this model. Of course students are more likely to remember something if they learned it in a way that interests them or connects to their interests. But what can they do with all this information? That’s where problem solving comes in. With a closer look, teachers can understand that much of the problem solving process relates to forming essential questions, like in differentiated instruction, it just works best when the questions are made to target specific intelligences. Overall, I really like this idea, simply because it’s something that every teacher should use and recognize with their students. If a teacher is unaware to the strengths of each student, especially in problem solving, it becomes almost impossible to give them the resources they need to make strong connections to the material.

            I also really appreciated how this chapter encouraged teachers to push the limits of their students by going beyond tailoring lessons and focusing on how students could use their strengths to dive into material deeper and in a more challenging way. This too relates to differentiated instruction. Overall I thought this chapter did a good job of explaining how to tie MI theory concretely into other methods we’ve been learning, and just promote important life skills in the classroom. 

MI Chapter 11

I love the idea of using MI to highlight special education and that’s exactly what this chapter is about. One of my favorite things about MI is that it opens up a way for students to connect with one another through the similarities of their learning styles and creates a more understanding, tolerant atmosphere.

            Special education plays right into MI theory’s strengths because teachers are able to view students as people with strengths in learning styles, as well as their weakness. This is the first step in being able to use the theory to its full potential. The best way to work with a special needs child is to simply consider them a “neurodiverse” student. I love that idea because it is no different than highlighting specific learning styles in the classroom. Also having special needs students almost requires you to think about MI on a very regular basis, so the class as a whole can benefit from the specific needs of a few of its students.

            Introducing MI theory opens the door to talking about the differences in the classroom, and can help everyone understand that everyone has special needs and should be treated as such. A great way to show students how everyone, even famous people, and noted historical influences have had their fair share of problems, like Figure 11.2 points out. My favorite thing about MI theory is this allows students to be more comfortable with not just the people around them, but who they are. Many students going through school are insecure about multiple parts of their lives. Understanding that everyone has things that make them similar, but that their combination of things makes them unique, helps every student come to terms with their own needs. 

MI Chapter 8

As talked about through many theories on education, creating a good system for classroom management is impossible. However, MI theory has some good ways that it can tie in and become more effective by targeting everyone’s intelligences.

Although I felt like the book was stretching for ideas on how to target all eight intelligences when grabbing the attention of the class, I do understand the usefulness of reaching out to different learning styles. There were a few examples that the book explained for settling a class down, or getting started, that I didn’t think would be appropriate in the long run. First of all, although I think these methods would attract the attention of various learners it is exactly that attraction that usually causes thoughts to wander, and students will begin yelling out questions, discussing possibilities of what the teacher is trying to accomplish, etc. and the class might not end up quieting down for some time afterwards. I do believe that there are ways to transition and class and target multiple learning types at once, but I didn’t think that the book gave strong enough examples, and frankly the ones they did give I had seen used and failed in a classroom.

In my opinion, the best way to work with MI theory and transitioning the students would to be to come up with a way that uses multiple learning styles in one method. For example, in order to settle students you could play a music, have students tap a beat, and have the students be responsible as a whole class for making sure everyone is prepared to start. This could connect to musical, spatial, verbal, interpersonal, and kinesthetic learning. This method would seem much more clear, engaging and powerful than just using one type of learning style to target and I feel like the book missed the importance of that. 

UbD/DI Chapter 8

In this chapter of UbD/DI it talks about grading and reporting grades. It is obvious when studying the UbD/DI models that there is some cause for concern about whether grades are needed at all. Assessment, certainly, but grades? Doesn’t that just put everyone back to a standardized place? Sadly, many teachers are required to give out grades, and UbD/DI has some helpful ways to help teachers do this fairly while meeting the requirements.

            If teachers look at grading as more of a type of feedback to help support their students’ learning, then grading becomes more open and information, rather than strict and standardized. I really like this idea because, as the book mentions, having grades be the ultimate goal in the classroom can hinder students’ learning and motivation. I believe thoroughly that making it clear that grades are just a number, all effort deserves credit, and that everyone can succeed, will help students move past the idea that focusing solely on the grade is the right idea.

 It is not just the students who will have to work past the idea of grades, however. In order for students to really buy into grading as a tool for communication and support the book suggests that teachers use reporting systems. In this way the teacher is developing a large collection of data to help show the student all the progress and success they’ve had in the past, and to give them a more well-rounded piece of feedback. I really like the idea of using these methods to put less stress on grading and more stress on learning. Helping the student through the grade war and making sure that it is helpful for them personally is something that I would love to use in my classroom. 

MI Chapter 14

Howard Gardner’s final, and not fully considered intelligence has to do with existential thinking. I think that this chapter does an excellent job at explaining what it is, why it is almost considered an intelligence and how it can be used in the classroom. I like that the chapter specifically mentions that this intelligence is not limited to religion or spiritual concerns, but I think that for most people, when looking at life questions it is related. One of the very interesting things I found in this chapter was that people have been found throughout the world who appeared to be savants in this intelligence, and I loved the example of Forrest Gump. I feel like I have met several people in my life who, wouldn’t necessarily be savants, but would be classified under this intelligence, and that example helped clarify those qualifications for me.

I also really appreciated how the book recognized concerns that teachers might have about incorporating this into their classroom. I think that tying in existential thinking into any topic can be beneficial to students, especially ones who are affected greatly by these ideas. In a way I think that this intelligence should almost be considered an emotional intelligence because all of the relations it has to beliefs. Regardless, it is an extremely useful tool to utilize in a classroom. I can only imagine how much more engaged I would have been if some of my teachers had taken more time with this in my classes. I think that this adds a whole new level to content matter in the classroom, and it’s more than something that should just be considered; it should be used. 

MI Chapter 13

In this chapter it talks about how MI theory is applicable in the real world, and how the real world ties into the classroom, through computer technology, cultural diversity and career readiness.

When talking about computer technology there were a few things that I thought were worth mentioning. First of all I loved how the book made clear that computers are not just for logical thinkers, despite the stereotype. I feel like the majority of my teachers were under the impression that if they couldn’t use computers (which was only because they believed them to be logically based) than the students couldn’t either. I also really liked the mention of how beneficial and exciting multimedia projects are in concordance with MI theory in the classroom. This is definitely something that I would love to do with my students.

I was beyond excited to see that the book mentioned cultural diversity! I think that MI theory is one of the best ways to help students, especially who are from different backgrounds, connect with each other, simply through how they learn material. I can’t think of a better way to impress upon students how useful MI theory can be, and why they should appreciate it. I think exploring different cultures and how they learn is a great way to explain to students how to use MI in their classroom. It can spark ideas they haven’t thought of, or even create a curiosity in other cultures. It seems to me that too often students separate themselves based on differences instead of accepting similarities. This is not to say they shouldn’t also accept differences too, because that is also a huge part. Overall, cultural diversity and MI theory are something that I plan on using all the time in my classroom.

Finally, I do feel like career counseling is important and I agree that using MI to do this is a great idea. However, I have never fully agreed with the idea that we should be pushing students into figuring out what they want to be when they grow up because it makes it seem like they should be stuck in one profession for the rest of their lives. I prefer the idea of presenting them with multiple opportunities and suggesting that some of them could simply be hobbies or volunteer opportunities and go from there. 

MI Chapter 7

This chapter of the MI book talks about tying MI theory into all aspects of the physical and emotional classroom, whether it be through arrangement, or management. In the first section of the chapter there are questions a teacher should ask themselves to make sure various learning types are being met fully. Some of the things mentioned here were things that I had never thought about before. For example, I liked that it suggested that the sources of light in a room could be a reason for engagement issues. Another one that really stuck out was how the teacher uses their voice. When I thought about it after reading this chapter, I realized that these are both things that can cause me to become disengaged in the content and I felt like the majority of teachers overlook things like this.

Also mentioned in this chapter were using activity centers, to help cultivate students’ specific intelligences. I like how the book offered four ways of having activity centers in the classroom, because, of course, every classroom has different needs. Although I feel like activity centers are a great idea, and that there were many useful examples of how to use them, I also feel like the book didn’t make it clear how these could be tied into the curriculum. For the most part, the activities that were mentioned were things that students could do during their free time. I think that these centers, especially the permanent open ended centers, should be incorporated into every classroom, and should be used to help teach the content. 

UbD/DI Chapter 9

Chapter nine of UbD/DI covered, as best it could, methods that should be used to connect UbD and DI in the classroom to the curriculum. In this chapter most of what it was explaining, or giving helpful, useful advice on, was modeled in a nutrition unit. There was a lot of really great information in this chapter that the model helped show. However helpful this example was, it was the big ideas that surrounded this example that I took away from it. Many of them have been mentioned before, but seeing it modeled brought out a whole new significance.

When discussing how to differentiate the activity of making a brochure, I seemed to catch on to a few really important details. First of all, the original idea was a starting point; it wasn’t wrong because it wasn’t differentiated, it just needed improvement. I think that will be helpful for any teacher who is struggling with differentiated lessons. Secondly, I really enjoyed how the differentiated model was split into four levels, and that the lowest level was the original activity because it was still a well thought out lesson. The four levels in this specific example followed the same task, but included chances for the students to use new vocabulary, a different audience, different technology, and was easily still connected to their lives in at least minimal ways. I think these are very important things to think of when differentiating any lesson, so the model was very useful in that regard.

I also found some really helpful ideas under the observable indicators section of the chapter. Some of those included that teachers should be interacting with their students, not just lecturing, and the idea that when teachers give feedback it needs to be meaningful. All of these are things that I would use in my classroom. 

MI Chapter 6

In chapter six there are multiple examples under each intelligence to help give ideas for teaching strategies. There were many ideas that I thought were new, exciting and useful in any classroom.

One of the ideas that I really like was having tape recorders as a regular resource in the classroom. I think a lot of fellow students or students I’ve worked with would have benefitted greatly from being able to use tape recorders for variation of small written assignments. I also really like the idea of using tape recorders as ways of giving instructions. Then the students would be able to rewind and listen to parts again, instead of asking the teacher to repeat instructions.

I also really liked how the book mentioned that students take their bodies with them when they leave the class, therefore using bodily/kinesthetic learning techniques can become extremely effective. Because I am not a kinesthetic learner, this concept was particularly inspiring. I especially liked the strategy of body maps, because I think for many this would help with simple memorization, maybe for something like vocabulary.  I hope to find multiple ways to use it in my classroom to help avoid over using boring worksheets.

            Finally, although the idea of using goal setting sessions isn’t a new one, I think it is worth mentioning. With every subject the teacher should be explaining their goals for the class as a whole, and the students should be able to build off those goals to make personal goals. These goals will not only help the student set up a strategy for how to get through the subject matter, but it will also help the teacher recognize the students’ individual needs and give them the resources necessary to accomplish their goals. 

MI Chapter 5

Chapter 5 explained how to incorporate MI theory into the curriculum. I really liked how it mentioned that the No Child Left Behind law has created restrictions on how to do this easily, but it has also been used throughout history, even recognized by Plato. Although it may have not been fully recognized or used to its full potential, it’s encouraging to hear that it’s been used by many influential people in education. Another thing I really liked about this chapter was how it pointed out that MI theory can be used in any classroom, which really helps explain how easy it can be to implement such a vast idea into your personal classroom. This chapter really helped put my mind at ease, because using MI theory seems like such a hard concept, especially since there is no set way to accomplishing it. In other ways I thoroughly embrace the idea that one or two ideas for specific learning styles can be translated through your own personal interpretation to encompass all the other learning styles. I think that this could be problematic and worthwhile at the same time. In one way, you are incorporating the themes as you see fit to benefit the students, so they are bound to all be on a similar page. The other way though, is this can cause your classroom to still have a personal bias which isn’t really helping the students as much as the MI instruction methods should. I think that it should have been mentioned that, in this regard, teachers should find colleagues with strengths in learning styles you have a harder time recognizes, and review lessons with them to get a better insight into the appropriateness of the activity. Also, having students contribute ideas on what works best for them would be extremely useful, which the chapter did mention. 

UbD/DI Chapter 7

In this chapter of UbD/DI, it discusses various methods of how to create deep understandings of the content, rather than memorization, through uncovering content, using the six facets of understanding, and WHERETO framework.

            One of the main ideas that sticks out to me in this chapter is, in order to create true understandings, using questions about a topic that relates to the students can be key. This involves using essential questions, but from there making a real world example that students can comprehend and connect to easily for either assessment or, even more interesting, as an introduction to the content. I can personally say this is not an approach I had given much thought of until reading this chapter. I like the idea of starting all the students out the same page by creating an interesting, engaging question, or a hook. It allows students who may not have any pre-existing knowledge feel comfortable participating, because the students are all faced with a new problem to solve.

This relates back to the WHERETO model, which is a new idea to me. I really like how this model mentioned how important metacognition is in the learning process. It’s great if students can take the problem, understand it and solve it, but it doesn’t help if they don’t reflect on what they’re learning and how it affects them. I really feel this is a skill that many teachers skip over, but makes a huge difference between memorization and understanding, which is, of course, the ultimate goal of the model. 

UbD/DI Chapter 6

In this chapter, the main ideas are how to incorporate responsive teaching into the backwards design model using instructional tools, clustering, and flexibility.

Most of the things covered in this chapter seemed to be repeated from previous chapters, but there were several specific things mentioned that I found particularly useful. I think that the understanding that a teacher is there to help build the skills needed for a student to be constructive is extremely important.

I also really liked the idea of working with another differentiated teacher. I’ve seen how effective this can be for the students. I also liked how the book pointed out that this can be beneficial to the teachers as well. Although not all people are interpersonal, clearly, the idea of getting another person’s perspective on your students and your curriculum is an excellent one, especially when it comes to responsive teaching.  

Furthermore, I like the idea that clustering can help with classroom management while keeping a differentiated classroom. The charts included in this chapter were helpful in giving a variety of ways on how to help students in particular clusters. I really think that having the students help with how the classroom is arranged, organized, transitioned and managed is the best idea. Once students know that part of their responsibility as a student is to understand their learning preferences, they might appreciate the opportunity to express their opinions on what works best, instead of having the teacher guess for them. Also, if the students understand the variety of learning styles there are in their classroom, they are more likely to be respectful of their fellow classmate’s needs. 

MI Chapter 10

Chapter 10 makes a very good point in saying that if you teach the lesson using MI theory, you should also assess using MI theory.

I found this chapter very interesting because I think this is something I will struggle with in my classroom. When I look back through my schooling, I can’t honestly think of any examples of using all eight intelligences to assess a lesson, and that’s extremely disappointing. I was particularly taken with this chapter because I think that past experiences will make it harder to master this idea.

I thought that the chapter made a good point in saying that any types of assessment should start with observation. This does not just apply to MI theory, and I think it makes this easier to work with. The idea that really seemed to strengthen my confidence in my ability to use this was using links to the students’ lives. If I’m working from observing my students, I should be able to come to some conclusions about appropriate links that connect to them. This idea helps break down any of the confusion about how tying in MI to assessment could happen in every class.

Finally, I really like the idea of tying all of the assessments back to portfolios, which are a concept any content area or teacher can easily handle. Also, tying in the idea that every portfolio should, in some way, support all of the eight areas, could be helpful to any teacher, and would prevent them, at least to some degree, from forgetting about differentiated instruction in assessment. 

FIAE Chapter 6

Chapter six focuses on ways to keep testing up to par. I enjoyed how this chapter made a point to state that tests should not be used to push content down the students’ throats. I like the idea of making tests easy to answer because I think, as long as they’re proving they know the major ideas, students should be able to get through assessments without much stress.

I like the idea of combing forced and constructed response because it allows you to distinguish between learners who have memorized facts and those who have grasped the main ideas. When I think back on tests I’ve taken with both of these being used, generally I’ve felt that I was really expressing what I had learned.

I also like the idea of not trying to trick the students during the test. Using clear language, highlighting key words that could change the meaning, and other little things like that can make all the difference for students. I think along with that should be the idea that students should be allowed, if they misread something, to see you promptly and give the correct oral response, if it’s a constructed response. I thought it was interesting for the chapter to suggest using clear language, but then to suggest that using common errors could be equally beneficial. Although I agree with that idea, I feel like that was almost a contradiction, but I liked how they suggested informing your students if you decide to use common errors.

For the most part I felt like this chapter really helped build and clarify what I already knew about making effective tests; in other words, it was extremely helpful.

FIAE Chapter 5

In this chapter of Fair Isn’t Always Equal, it talks about the various methods and techniques one can use to tier assignments to help students of various learning levels meet the standard.

Some of things I really enjoyed about this chapter was how it encouraged tiering to start at the standard or grade level performance, then move up to reach more advanced students. Tiering down wasn’t discouraged, but it was suggested to be used only when it was clearly indicated it was needed. I really like this idea because I agree with having high expectations for your students. I think it makes sense to expect every student to be at least at the standard, so that when moving on to the next grade, or even the next lesson, the student is prepared. In concordance to that I really support the idea of creating tiers for what was determined through pre-assessment. This is using differentiated instruction at its finest, and also can help strengthen your pre-assessment techniques so that you are sure you’re getting all the necessary information. I really like the ideas of using tiering subtly by giving students choices, which also relates to differentiated instruction. In this way students are also using self-assessment techniques to choose what they understand to work with, or even to push themselves past what they know. Also, this prevents students who may be at a lower level from feeling like they are only able to do lower level thinking, because everyone has the same choices. Clearly this is an ideal system to use in any classroom. I also feel that with these choices, if the students are struggling, or maybe getting work done to easily, you are able to challenge them both by asking them to try a more suited choice. All in all, this is a useful technique that everyone should use at some point. 

FIAE Chapter 4

In this fourth chapter of Fair Isn’t Always Equal three broad categories of assessment are discussed; portfolios, rubrics and self-assessments for the students. I don’t think that there was anything in this chapter that I didn’t agree with because I can easily see how any teacher, but especially I, would use these assessments in their classroom.

I think that portfolios are one of my favorite things to do, especially with English content, because I think with any lesson there is a lot of work involved into reaching the essential understanding. These pieces of work are extremely useful to look back upon when you continue through a unit, and therefore, portfolios seem extremely beneficial to the student and the teacher.

Rubrics seem to be fairly basic to me, but obviously extremely helpful. The only thing I really liked that this chapter mentioned about them was asking the designer questions on whether or not they need adjustments. Realizing that a rubric is either too hard or too soft makes all the difference and I think these questions should be emphasized more.

Finally, self-assessments were also something I felt like I knew pretty well, but when the author mentioned interactive notebooks I was completely blown away. I had never heard this idea, and this it’s probably one of the most useful forms of self-assessment. In this way, the students are able to explain personal insights into their work, and teachers are able to go through those, comment back, and help the student understand any similarities or differences between their ideas.

Overall this chapter was really helpful in giving insight into things I thought I understood well, just by giving specific examples. 

FIAE Chapter 3

In chapter three the importance of assessment is discussed. From all of the many great things mentioned in this chapter, there is one that I feel really stands out, and that’s presenting the end result before you learn any of the content. This has been used constantly through our history, one of the greatest examples being Shakespeare telling you what happens in his plays at the very beginning. I honestly feel like this is the most important way to grab any student’s attention. You are telling them exactly what they will be learning, and what they’ll be tested on. Not only does this help prepare them for the lesson, it also gets them interested, and can give them a sense of confidence going into the subject material. I feel like most of the time when students are being assessed and they are aware of it, they instantly become turned off to the material, but if they already know what to expect on a “test,” then they are more likely to see the test as a positive chance for them to show off what they know. I definitely think that all teachers and students can benefit from having this approach in any lesson, but most particularly when studying difficult material. If it isn’t something that the students have had much exposure to, maybe like Shakespeare, helping them understand what they are supposed to get out of it makes the prospect of the content a lot less discouraging. I really found this to be informative and plan on using it often in my classroom. 

FIAE Chapter 2

Chapter two helps define mastery, how it relates to differentiation, and how it affects grades. One of the main ways to determine if students fully understand, or have a mastery of material, is to use the six facets of understanding. I feel like the six facets of understanding are useful in determining how a teacher can assess how much their students understand, but I feel like some of the facets aren’t used as regularly in the classroom. To me, the facets of understanding are more about mastering a subject, which makes sense because that’s what the chapter is about, but that students can still understand a topic, even if they can’t do all six. I feel like this relates to what the chapter was saying about assessment because, when deciding on what assessment to use, or how appropriate an assessment is, it only relates to how the assessment is highlighting the essential questions. In most assessments, the material is presented as an interpretation and, sometimes, how it applies to the outside world. That’s only using two of the six facets. Although I think the chapter is trying to say that in order to properly assess, a teacher needs to understand how to get their students to master the material first, I don’t actually know if assessments are determining if they know all six. Although it’s still slightly vague, the chapter did make a good point in saying, “We have to be clear as to what is evidence of mastery versus evidence of almost-mastery mixed with a lot of hard work.” (18) I hope that the next chapter further explains how to properly assess whether or not a student has mastered the content. 

FIAE Chapter 1

This chapter begins by explaining what differentiated instruction is and how it’s beneficial in the classroom. Many of the pros and cons of using differentiated instruction are mentioned in this chapter in a clear and beneficial way, basically making DI the only acceptable practice.

One of the many beneficial things about the way this chapter deals with DI is that it becomes clear what things students can gain from this, and how those will apply in life outside the classroom. First, I really liked how this chapter gave clear examples of how DI is used in everyday situations, even the military. It makes more of an impression when the chapter points out the many ways it already affects lives. Secondly, my favorite and most memorable discussion this chapter has is when it explains that DI is not necessarily making it easier for the students, it is giving them scaffolding to be able to reach new levels of understand, so, in a way, it’s actually making the ending goal harder to reach. I think with the vivid example of taking away a student’s glasses, this will now stick clearly in my mind. It also helped to clarify what I already knew about DI and how to use it successfully in the classroom. Finally, I really appreciated how at the end of the chapter it mentioned how much more useful having a positive attitude toward DI would make, especially in finishing the book. I don’t think that a lot of educators think about how their attitude affects how they’re learning, so this was a really important part for me. 

UbD/DI Chapter 5

In this chapter, Stage 2 is discussed, which is mainly about assessment. In order to understand how to assess students, it's necessary to determine the desired results. There are three principles that help formulate assessment. They include creating a portfolio of assessments to get a well-rounded source of information, matching the appropriate assessment with the correct educational goal, and making sure that the purpose of the assessment is clear.

This chapter was very informative of the many different types of assessments, and the appropriate ways to use them in the classroom. There were several things that I really hadn’t considered before and will, most likely, want to use in my classroom. I like the idea of using a multitude of assessments so that you get a better understanding of the student, and they get more opportunities to show if they know the material, makes a lot of sense. After learning previously what the facets of understanding were, they made much more sense this chapter because there was a clearer definition of the variety of ways the word understand could be interpreted. Taking that into consideration, the facets of understanding are now more available for me to use easily because I understand how they provide clarity to assessments. Along with a better understanding of what understanding is came the GRASPS frame. I thoroughly believe in using assessments, or just classroom time in general, to relate to the world outside of school. I feel like the GRASPS model helps teachers do this, and I’m eager to learn more about how I can use it. I feel like this whole chapter was extremely beneficial in beginning to understand how to make worthwhile assessments for any classroom.