Fair Isn't Always Equal; Assessing & Grading in the Differentiated Classroom - Chapter 4

Team 4 – Ryan, Mackenzie, Aaron, Renee
Practicum Block 1
10/16/2007

Reflection on Reading

Book: Fair Isn’t Always Equal - Wormeli
Chapter: Chapter 4 – Three Important Types of Assessment

Write a brief abstract of the chapter:

This chapter is about the topic of assessment. It discusses how there are three essential forms of assessment. The first one is portfolios. Portfolios are important because they cover multiple ways of assessing. They are a differentiation tool that can be very flexible in what they assess and how. The second assessment is the use of rubrics. The chapter discusses how rubrics are tools used to show students exactly how they will be assessed. They show what parts of the assignment are worth more or less. Rubrics are guides for student thinking while preparing for the assignment. The third type of assessment discussed is student self assessment. The chapter describes this as having the student look at a pre-assessment they completed before the unit and then analyze how much knowledge of the subject they have developed. Chapter four stressed the importance of using all of these assessments to depict a well rounded view of the understanding of the student.

How did you connect to the reading? And briefly reflect on your thoughts.

As a team we really liked chapter four. Mackenzie liked it for its emphasis on effective assessment and its quick and to the point text. Many of us appreciated its in depth explanations of the three assessments. Ryan and Aaron appreciated chapter four because they could connect it to assessments that were put on them as students. They connected the content to their lives, so they valued it all the more. Renee liked chapter four because of its emphasis on self assessment. As a team we deemed this chapter as educationally worthy, and the content an asset to educators everywhere.