For my individual lesson I was asked to create a grading rubric for the students. This rubric was to outline the goal of the lesson and give the required criteria for a specific grade. I had no problem creating this, but during the process of developing what I felt most important for the students to learn, I decided I am not too fond of rubrics.
I do not understand how an entire classroom of students is able to be graded the EXACT same way, based on whatever guidelines the rubric may contain. To me, as a student and teacher, I never want to be compared to or compare my students to other students work. I believe that if a student completes his or her work in a timely manner and fulfills most assignment requirements they should be awarded a grade based on their own personal work. If a child does not comply with all the guidelines, but gives an immense amount of effort I believe he or she should be credited. Now, don't think I am saying that we should give free grades to students simply because they "tried," but what if you have a student that can barely compose a sentence while the rest of the class is composing essays, and that one student writes a paragraph for an assignment that really shows he is working?? Don't you think that student should be given credit for working to better his writing? How would it be fair to fail this student simply because he didn't fulfill the exact requirements on the rubric?
On another note, on the opposite end of the spectrum... In high school I "earned" a B in my College English class (while all of my friends got A's). I was extremely upset because I knew that I was going to be an English major and that I definitely wrote as well as or better than most of my peers. However, when talking to my teacher, she told me that I "earned" a B because she knew I wasn't doing my best work. She knew that I was capable of more, and didn't feel that I deserved an A with the work I had done. I was really angry at first because I thought that that was completely unfair, but now, working to become a teacher, I completely understand why she did what she did. She wasn't grading the class as a whole, she was grading us based on our potential and capability. Now, looking back, I thank her for that. I thank her for grading me on my own ability, not compared to how everyone else did. It made me work harder for an A, and when I EARNED an A in English 102 I knew that I deserved it.
Overall, I believe that it is important to give the students a paper outlining what is expected of them, but it is important to also tell them that they will be graded based on their personal work and amount of effort put into it. If we just hand them a paper outlining everything they have to do to get an A than we are setting them up for failure later in life. We are teaching our youth that everyone is on the same scale no matter what. This isn't how life works. You succeed based on your effort and potential... I'm pretty sure most will agree with the fact that everyone's life is different and circumstances are always changing-- everyone works for what they get there is no set success/failure scale in life, so why give our students this success/failure rubric?
Question: Do you think rubrics are beneficial? Why or why not? How do you recommend giving a rubric to students that shows them that they're personal best is what is important?
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I do think that rubrics are beneficial. While I understand your personal issues with them, I believe that they do more good than bad. They are an excellent way to let students know what they are being graded on and what level of work is expected from them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the best way to give a rubric that lets students know that their personal best is an important factor is to include it on the rubric. If you make it known in writing that the students will not receive an A for simply meeting all of the assignment's requirements, and that they must truly put forth what you as the teacher can determine to be their best efforts, the students will likely accept this as a standard part of the grading criteria. This way, you can assign the importance you feel is crucial to place on students' effort without eliminating the benefits rubrics can offer your students.
I'm glad you got a chance to explore rubrics and form an opinion on them. You've expressed yourself very well, and I tend to agree with you to a certain extent. When I was first exposed to rubrics, it was when the intern and participant (and later tutor) rubics came into usage. I found them to be pretty overwhelming and perhaps a little too formal. I later used them in my own classroom but only for extensive projects, such as senior research projects. I just felt that I needed to let the students know at the start of the project what was expected of them, and I needed a tool to allow me to do a more objective assessment on such a large project. That's not to say that I disregared the effort that some students put forth on the project. There were participation points awarded each day that we worked on the project. Those that worked hard got the maximum points. This was in addition to the rubric grade. I also used student rubrics to allow students to evaluate each other on speeches. I felt they needed to be able to see how the assessment process worked.
ReplyDeleteAssessment in the classroom should take many different forms. Rubrics are only one tool, and you certainly don't have to use them if you're not comfortable with them. Tests, quizzes, projects, class questioning and discussion, all kinds of evaluation tools are available.
Taylor, your observations here are very astute. You've described how you would deal with differentiated learning. It is such a pleasure to see you maturing into a fine teacher.