Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 3

    The different types of assessments seem to be very effective in their own respective, or instance: pre-assessments could be used at the beginning of the unit to determine where the students are at. Formative and summative assessments really seem to be beneficial because they help the students get a better understanding of how much they really did know. For instance: in the formative assessments I do agree that  a teacher's feedback is very important for the students to help them understand what they need to work on.
Another thing that really struck as essential was that teachers tend to focus too much on preparing students for life that they don't focus on what the students need to gain from the curriculum. I feel like I can relate to that because I always said I would be that teacher who is preparing them for life and using school as an example of the difficulties that life will present, but I do realize that as much as that holds importance for students you really do need to focus on what they need to learn and help them with what's essential academically. There will be plenty of opportunities for life to present them with challenges and even though being prepared is helpful, also knowing you have support is equally helpful and that's what I really learned we need to focus on.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 2

Mastery is one of the most essential aspects of school because students need to actually retain the information and I could relate to the fact that new teachers may have difficulty figuring out what's essential for their students to learn. How much do you as a new teacher stick to the curriculum if you really feel that something is really important that is not a priority for the school board? These are all issues that need to be addressed and that we will be presented with in our career that are of significant importance. After reading this chapter I really began to think about the education system in today's society and how teachers really need to focus on having students actually "master" more of the information. This chapter really emphasized a point that I have made many times when I was in high school, which is that I am very good at memorizing the material but not so good at "mastering" it. At least that's what I thought at the time but I found since I've been in Practicum that I am able to master the information if it is provided in a way that fits my particular learning style, (i.e. repetition of the information.)  Learning all of this and reading all of this has really given me a different perspective and allowed me to understand that connecting with each student and finding a way to determine if each student really has a handle on the content is essential.

Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 1

     What I really learned from this chapter was a little bit of a clearer picture of the reasoning and what's gained from differentiated instruction. As the book does discuss, differentiated instruction isn't making the work easier for students but it's just giving them a different way of looking at things and showing the teacher that they understand the material. It really helped emphasize individuality and how important that is and that in the classroom the teacher doesn't need to be so particular on having each assignment done a specific way. I think it really showed me that students choice really helps them be more in-tuned and focused on the project. It's interesting to look back on my past school experiences and see how much differentiated instruction was used in our classrooms and how that impacted how much we learned. I can see how my high school did use in in various ways but we also had teachers who stuck to the standard tests and exams as an evaluation. I can see how those teachers who used projects and gave students choice did help each student feel better about the assignment and helps them stay engaged in the material.

UBD/DI Chapter 5

    What I found most interesting and important in this chapter is how teachers have to create assessments that both fit the various learning styles of their students in the classroom and also make the assessments effective. The various assessments due seem to serve a purpose but what I found most important was that the assessments really need to show a "purpose." Students hate when they have to just take tests just because they haven't had one in awhile or because it's required to give tests. It seems like these assessments really need to emphasize how they correlate with the material that the students just learned or are learning. How does the teacher use this particular assessment to help all the students in the class as well as address all the material? I thought this was an interesting task because it all relates back to Differentiated Instruction and giving students choices on how they are going to illustrate their understanding of the material.

   I really do believe my in field experience has given me a better understanding of what differentiated instruction is, as well as how effectively it can work for students. Reading the book and learning about this, I think I would have had a completely different view point such as "students should all do things the same way because it's how it's always been and it's worked and students need to stop complaining about not wanting to do typical work rather than all the assignments being fun." However, now though I still have that view point I do see how choice helps the students and motivates them to want to do better on the assignment and that is really important to get an accurate picture of how well the student knows the content of the material taught.