Rubric

Understanding Rubrics

In the article Understanding Rubric by Heidi Goodrich ,she defines what rubric is and how and why you can use it.  A rubric is a list of criteria that is expected in a piece of work.  It is use to support and assess students learning.  A rubric tells the students exactly what the teacher is looking for.  The question is: do we as teachers and students like it?

A rubric is described as a list that is divided into columns labeled from excellent to poor.  The columns are divided into a grid.  Each box has an explanation of what is expected in each column.  It can be looking for: purpose, organization, details, voice and mechanics.  Each of these examples should be specific on what is considered a good  work.

The author gives five reasons of why teachers should use a rubric.  First, it can improve student performance as well as monitor it by making teacher’s expectations clear.  Second, they help students become more thoughtful in judging of quality of their own and other students work.  Third, teachers  can spend less time grading students’ work.   Fourth, it promotes flexibility in learning styles.  It is for every student and their individual learning styles.  Fifth, they are self-explanatory. 

Creating a rubric should be modified to each instructors teaching style.  Here are the author’s seven steps to creating a quality rubric:

1.  Look at models: provide students with a good paper and a bad paper.

 2.  List criteria: what is important in a project.

 3. Articulate gradations of quality: Describe excellent and poor levels of quality.

 4. Practice on models: Practice on example papers. 

5. Use self- and peer- assessment: Have the students get started and observe their assessments. 

6. Revise:  After feedback, let students revise their work. 

7. Use teacher assessment: Use same rubric as students to assess their work.

The NETS for students would fall under Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making.   It is this standard because it teaches to students to find out what is expected of them for each project.  

A rubric is beneficial to teachers and students because it is an important tool to support and evaluate learning. It is for all students’ learning styles and with the students and teachers working together to create it there is a greater understanding of what is exactly is expected of them.

3 Method to Create a Site

The Author, Elizabeth A. Baker wrote an article talking about that there are 3 Methods to make your own Web Site as a teacher. Method 1, for those of us that don’t know much about computers or how to make a web site, there are free web sites that have everything all set up for teachers. These sites, help the teachers with step by step ideas for their web sites, they are simple, may not have that many options for design or content but will get the job done.

The second Method is for those that know a little more about computer and are brave enough to go a little further in the "computer world"…These sites have templates that are ready to use. They also provide more flexibility and multiple users can use that same site. The students can add, remove and edit their work. There is also room for online discussion. This is a good method for the students because there are many employers that will expect the students to know how to make a web site when they get into the “job world”. If the students know a little more or feel comfortable to move forward they can link their work to Method 3. In Method 2, the teachers can give permission to the students to change their sites. The students can post their own work and have online discussions. Parents can also get a password to go on the sites to see their children’s’ work.  

Now, for Method 3…this is for the computer savvy. Anyone can get to this point, it will take a little more time. A down side is that software is involved and the student or teacher will have to take more time to learn the software to make the site. There are already some sites that come with some computers so you may not have to download…which may save you moneyJ. As a teacher, you may have to check with the computer specialist to upload the software at the school. All these are great ideas and suggestions for the different computer levels of teachers and students.

I really like how the author broke down the three methods to make a web site and also listed the websites to help the development of a site. It is important to pass information like this to other teachers to make creating websites easier. There are teachers and students that know little or a lot about computers and these sites are for every level.

NETS: Technology Operations and Concepts: select and use applications effectively and productively. The students have to learn to make a web site, collaborate and have online discussions. The teachers and parents can go onto the site (with permission and a password) and add to the discussions. This is a great communication tool for teachers, students and parents!