Fair Isn't Always Equal Chapter 5

    As teachers we base our lessons off "the standards", but what we don't understand is that students aren't always up to par with the standards. What we really need to do is some pre-assessments to determine where are students are in terms of the curriculum and then come up with expectations for them. I would be the first to say that students should be at their grade level but I've learned that trying to base a classroom off of the attitude "you should have learned this before so I am not going to teach it to you" isn't going to get you very far and you will have a lot of discipline problems. We as future teachers, as much as I hate to say it may have to go back and cover the grounds of what is missing and figuring out all of this through assessments is the best way to do it. They don't even have to be formal "standardized tests," but rather surveys or such that allow the students an informal and "safe" and comfortable way to explain what they know and what they need to work on and their concerns. RAFT(S) addresses a point that I am sure has been made a number of times before, this provides students with choices and that is the most essential aspect for students. I know for some teachers, maybe even myself, that it shouldn't always be based off of what the students want but rather what they need but maybe in this "structured"process it allows students to explore their opportunities in a safe way.