Respond to discussion 2

Brittany

I believe Ms. Cecilia's efforts are pure. However, I would agree with Mr. Fred. The 60-40 split is not a good way to tell the accomplishments of the group members. When you have certain students that will not put the effort in, the working students will feel the need to carry the group.  The students that are focusing on the work will complete everything, while the student(s) that have not to contribute a thought will get a passing grade because of the working students. If I were Ms. Ceclia, I would modify the 60-40 split. I would make so the split is for more on the per-student status, then have a participation grade. I feel that it would work because sometimes some of the group members do more than others. When students work in groups, all group members do not like holding up their parts. I feel it is better to grade per student over the group. If Ms. Cecilia grade the students by students instead of a team, the material will show what student understood the material and mastering the standard. "Teachers often need to know how weel their students have mastered a curricular aim (Popham, 2020 p. 98)." 

Twanda

When a teacher uses the grading group feature it allows them to sort the students in a group in a single course section. Cecelia had five different classes that she implemented the cooperative learning group as her style of instruction. The grading was based on a 60/40 split. this meant that 60 percent of the individual group grade would be derived from the students' individual efforts and the other 40 percent of the grade would be based on the collective efforts. As stated, some of the other teachers may want to implement the same grading system while others might be skeptical such as Fred. He believed that there could be no arrival of validation estimation of each student's individual accomplishment. Cecelia believes that group grading motivated the students to help one another learn (p.101).

Many teachers' decisions on how they will instruct their classes are based largely on their judgment about student achievement. This comes about as the result of evidence-based, some sort of formal or informal evidence. Assessing the class can provide reasonable evidence of the students standing. Classroom assessment should always allow for the teacher to gain a valid interpretation of the status of the student. Through using assessments, the teacher can make a better judgment concerning the educational decision about their students.. When making validation based on a test, this can assist one in becoming aware as to how much confidence should be placed on the score inference for certain uses (p.102).

Jasmine,

I really liked your point that learners benefit from having different types of instructors.  Students who are exposed to different classroom structures, teaching styles, and teacher expectations are learning life skills along with the lesson content.  There is absolutely no reason for her to change her teaching style or her use of cooperative groups.

Your comments that teachers use the results of assessments to make decisions about future actions is another reason I think Cecilia needs to re-think her grading strategy.  Your sentence, "And this is the place validity thunders onstage," says it all :-)  She has not proven that her 60/40 split is giving her valid assessment results that truly show whether her students have mastery of the content.  

Hi Jasmine,

  I enjoyed your post. I like the statement concerning teachers having their own teaching strategies. I like to talk to each of my students individually and learn a little something about them. Being aware of cultures that are different from ours is important. It is just a fact that different students learn differently and as teachers it is our job to incorporate different teaching styles in the curriculum so that each student will be able to comprehend the curriculum that is being introduced to them. In this technical society that we live in today, it can be a good idea to introduce technology in the curriculum to use in classroom instruction.