Secondary Standards- Based Grading and Reporting Handbook

Secondary Standards- Based Grading and Reporting Handbook has some very interesting and very valuable information on effective grading that reflects students' abilities. According to the article, students feel grades need to be meaningful for them. Students and families want a clear indication of what has been learned, what needs to be learned, and what needs work.The only way to do this, according to the article, is teaching and grading around specific standards. I believe this is a good idea. Teachers should not be teaching students meaningless information and then testing them on it. Everything that a teacher teaches needs to be for a reason and I believe that following a certain guideline and certain standards does just that.Another thing that stood out to me is that students get motivated by success and seeing that they are growing from what they are learning. Thus, teachers should not teach whatever pops into their heads. They should be teaching information that is vital for students' growth. Sticking to standards, and teaching to those standards also not only keep the student on track, but it also keeps the teacher on track as well.I also really enjoyed the section about avoiding giving a grade of 0. In my opinion, giving a grade of 0 does not help the student in any way. It certainly does not keep them motivated. If the student sees multiple zeros on his or her report card, why should they be motivated to continue working? I sure wouldn't I believe that grades and report cards should be more informational. A report card should tell the student what they can do to improve in the class rather than simply giving them a bad grade.simply tells the student that they are doing poorly in the class. If a report card, rather than giving the student the bad grade, told them how they could improve in the class, and had specific steps on how they could improve, more than likely the student would be much more motivated to work harder in the class. Overall, I really enjoyed this article. It armed me with things I will be able to use in the classroom. It was a very interesting and informative read. Hopefully we have more articles like this in the future of this class.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

To me, as a teacher, I want parents and students alike to fully and clearly understand what is expected and what is due from them every quarter or semester, depending on what system the school is working under. Many students work hard for their grades so I completely understand that giving a zero on a given assignment or test is not a good technique. Giving a zero to a student would discourage them and in no way encourage them to improve upon their work. There are many factors to consider before giving a student a zero on any assignment As a teacher, I believe that the teacher should talk to the student and find out why they scored so poorly on an assignment before giving the student such a harsh score. There may have been factors outside the teacher's or the student's handling. My favorite and the mist useful tip in this article was the segment about feedback. Feedback on paper drafts or any other kind of assignment or test should be used to encourage students to reach their full potential rather than putting them down. Feedback should only be given in a positive way that gives students advice and steps on how to improve on the next thing that they do. When a teacher gives a student positive feedback, it not only encourages them to do better next time, but it also allows them to reflect on the work they have done and create a plan to ensure their success next time. Something I will use in my classroom that I really liked and plan to use in my classroom was allowing students time to reflect on what they did that day and what they learned. Along with feedback, this allows them to find out their strong points and the points that they need to practice on to master the subject and do better on the next thing. This article overall was very helpful. It offered a lot of tips and tricks on feedback specifically that I had not considered. I think every new teacher should read this article. Along with what I mentioned above, I plan to take many of the techniques in this article with me into my classroom. It was a very interesting and helpful read. I hope to read more articles like this in future posts.

English/ Language Arts State Standards

While I was reading the common core state standards for reading literature, I focused on grades five through eight. There wasn't a lot that surprised me in the standards. However, one standard that I think is very important is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.4:
"Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts." 

For my students this is the standard that I focus on quite often because it seems to be what they struggle with the most. Being able to differentiate multiple different texts is a very important part of studying English. After working with my students for quite a while on this standard, I can see them starting to improve. I believe that as a whole teachers need to follow the common core state standards. However, I have realized that a lot of the standards should also be common sense for any teacher. My only worry and concern as a teacher is I am constantly worried about hitting what the common core state stands require me to hit while I am teaching. I also have to wonder if the reason for the teacher shortage across Washington has something to do with the stress of teaching to the test showing that your students hit the state standards. If this is the case, clearly something has to be done. While I believe that the state standards are a great resource for teachers to see what their students should be learning in the classroom, it should not be what teachers should be forced to teach in their classrooms to ensure that their students pass a state test. I believe that both teachers and students would be able to enjoy class a lot more if the common core state standards served as a resource and not a checklist of what a teacher must have accomplished over a certain amount of time.

l Response to Discussion as a Way of Teaching

Discussion in the classroom is an important aspect to any class where the teacher wants students to fully grasp the content that is being taught. I have made the mistake as a teacher where I allowed myself to get so caught up into the content that I didn't have any time left for discussion with my students. I think back to my secondary education. I hated going to class because I knew I would be listening to a teacher go on and on about a subject that I really didn't care about. However, there was one teacher, Mr. Byers, he was my senior English teacher. He was great. He always allowed half the class time to discuss or readings. This allowed me not only time to make friends with my classmates, but it allowed me to hear differing views on how the material was interpreted. Every day was a great experience in his class, and the reading for this blog made me realize I want to be the same kid of Teacher that Mr. Byers was. Discussion must be implemented in classrooms because if the teachers do not allow students to voice their opinions, they are really only hearing one interpretation of the text, and that's the teacher's thoughts and opinions.
In my opinion, as a teacher, there is no point of going to class if students do not get to voice their opinions in class. That is a big part of English to me, being able to voice different opinions and different views on the material. I find that small groups work best for this. In small groups, students are allowed to freely express their thoughts within a small setting. It is important for me to make sure the groups are big enough so the all the students get a variety of different views of the text.