As I think about this past week’s
class, all I remember is cookies. Cookies actually taught me a lot more than I
thought they would ever teach me! They taught me to be straightforward, clear,
be relevant, and to include creativity.
When teachers create rubrics I think
they sometimes forgot who they are initially writing for. Yes, the rubric is
meant to help the teacher know what they are looking for when grading. But,
when the teacher passes out the rubrics to the students so that they can see
what the teacher is looking for, the writing is still teacher orientated. From
the cookie exercise, I realize that the writing needs to be directed so the
student, who didn’t create the rubric, can understand what the teacher is
expecting. I can write in a rubric that judges the best chocolate chip cookie
that cookie size must be equal to the size of an adult palm, but another person
who reads the rubric might have a smaller or even larger hand. Thus, the rubric
becomes ambiguous and the other person might think they fulfilled the rubric
requirements when the teacher doesn’t think that they did. The rubric should
tell the students, in a clear and straightforward way, what the teacher is
actually looking for. Even if some students don’t look at the rubric and think
it is useless, there might be one student who does. I was that student
that would like to know what the teacher looked for in the essay. If the rubric
is created and passed out to students, then it should be stated in a language
that the student can understand and figure out what the teacher will be
grading.
One thing that Dr. Horwitz said
during the rubric lesson that stuck with me was the possibility to include a
section about creativity in the rubric. I was surprised to see that our group
had already included something that could be included under that section about
including milk or not. Should teachers give their students the option to be
creative in how they deliver their assignment? I think so. If we talk so much
about multiple intelligences (like we do in my SPED 433 class) and
differentiating the lessons (also again in SPED 433), then students should have
the occasional option to be creative! By occasional I mean that sometimes essays
are required per CCSS or school standards. But if a teacher assigns a project that
can be made into a video, play, presentation, or some other creative option
then the students should be allowed to! And the rubric should be aligned
accordingly to that option. I think that when it is appropriate, there should
be a section allowing students to be creative if they want to.
Laura, I agree this assignment was extremely useful. You make a great point about remembering who you are writing the rubric for. It is important that is be non-subjective so anyone can pick it up and know exactly what is expected of them. As a student there is nothing worse then getting that assignment where the instructions are unclear and you really don't know what the teacher is looking for. This exercise was a great way of driving that point home.
ReplyDeleteI feel like many of us are in agreement that students should be able to use their creativity to demonstrate their learning. I too am learning in SPED 433 to differentiate and appeal to multiple intelligences yet it seems that in the real classroom this usually is not the case. I come back to that Shakespeare session I went to at the RIWP conference...he allowed his students to turn in an assessment in any way and he got that amazing video reproduction. I'm sure that was as pleasurable for him to grade as it was for them to create. Learning was then made fun and engaging, simply by giving a choice and not sticking to a tight structure. Really makes me wonder if I can have that same freedom and how beneficial it will be.
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