Rubric

After re-reading my last post and the article I mentioned in it I decided to really get to work on a good rubric that I could use for grading my weekly topic assignments.  The weekly topics give students a lot of choice and flexibility which makes it harder on me to grade.  I didn't want to punish the students and remove that flexibility because it was harder for me.  Without further delay click here to see the first draft of my rubric to measure more than "did they cover a standard" or "no spelling errors".  Feedback is of course always welcome!

Facilitating Students to Learn

I recently read an article on my quest for improving my future classroom that I loved.  In the article Thom Markham stated: "Tests reward the right answer, and even brief essays are expected to abide by the perimeters of known knowledge and standardized terms. But open-ended problems result in idiosyncratic solutions, derived from a process of exploration in which students practice evidence-finding, thoughtful exchange, and creative design. During that process, they change and grow as people, not just as test-takers."  The article further discusses how true inquiry needs skills like communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity instead of memorization or teachers that "teach" to a test.  Project based learning and inquiry requires projects that revolve around exploration.  The majority of projects done in classrooms revolve around "academic coverage" instead of exploration, creativity, invention, and critical thinking.  Projects that are purely covering an academic standard may not reach the majority of students and it will lack depth because students will never be able to be truly inquisitive while doing it. 

It is more difficult to measure things like creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking on a rubric rather than something easily gradable  like "5 pages or more in length" and "no spelling errors" but as teachers we should be taking the more difficult route.  Make our students responsible for showing us their creativity and demonstrating how they used critical thinking and collaboration with others.  We, as teachers, will be responsible for showing them it is possible, helping them interact with new knowledge, facilitating the process, keeping an open mind, and letting go of control. Having students engage in meaningful discussion and collaboration with one another where the teacher looks for learning clues like the use of vocabulary in conversation, creative thought on how they show what was learned, the exchange of ideas with peers, and so much more.  Throw that easily gradable rubric out the window and create one that has items that show real knowledge and learning instead of robot-like reciting of information.

Our overall goal should be to give them the freedom to be as good as they can be rather than holding them to a certain academic standard that does not measure their ability to think on their own.  Isn't that the goal?  Teachers should help students become learners and critical thinkers who can function successfully in society on their own.  As a teacher; that is my goal.

If you want to read the article mentioned above you can find it here: http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/03/the-challenges-and-realities-of-inquiry-based-learning/