rubrics Search Results

How to Create a Project Based Learning Lesson

…color and design. Students worked with the teacher that matched their interest, analyzed models from their given style, and ultimately learned how to create a piece of work that showed the silent voices in a given current issue from their research. Students went through the critique process of drafting and also completed an artist statement with their final product—all of which was curated and exhibited for the community. Step 4: Build Your Project Rubrics In keeping with the spirit of UBD, I also create assessment tools with the end in mind, which produces a pretty large project rubric (but never…

Episode 167: Co-Constructing Success Criteria

…in each other’s work and go back to. In the same form, it’ll then help the kids be more able to self-assess themselves because they know what they’re doing, they know what they’re looking for. They’ve seen models of success before they started. They had opportunities to ask questions, and now they have a clear understanding of what the expectations are and how to be successful. Rubrics will likely come up. People who are listening might say, well, don’t rubrics do that? To a certain degree, yes, but rubrics are problematic in a lot of ways and that’s definitely a…

How Accurate Are Your Grades?

…L1 languages. I have spent the last two years working on improving my rubrics so that the criteria are quantified (although this can sometimes be just numbering individual sub-criteria for inclusion in a category), linguistically useful for student English level (we are in a public/private partnership that sends us recruited students of all levels) and, most importantly, provides a strong base for students to really understand where the problem is. When I started this project I thought that the solution was just getting the rubric criteria quantified, but as I worked with the rubrics and the criteria I realized that…

Build it Together: Co-Constructing Success Criteria with Students

…which can be placed in visible locations around the classroom. As the learning cycle progresses, the teacher can refer back to these statements, connecting them to the language of the standards, so everyone is familiar with and fluent in that language at all stages of the assignment. 2. Study and annotate the assignment. At the beginning of a project or learning cycle, give students the prompt or assignment that they are going to be working on; this may also include a rubric (Sackstein prefers to use rubrics that only state the target criteria, like the single-point rubric). Have them read…

Kiddom: Standards-Based Grading Made Wonderful

…the grade processing that seems to be happening in the background is still a traditional setup and not really Standards-Based Grading. While it’s true that Kiddom allows for assignments to be aligned with learning standards and connected to rubrics for grading, in the end each assignment gets a certain number of points and these points are the basis of an overall grade. Standards-Based Grading isn’t just about using rubrics to assess work. The approach includes a rejection of points-based grading as carrying with it all sorts of issues that have gone largely undetected and run antithetically to the mastery-based focus…

4 Laws of Learning (and How to Follow Them)

…rubrics to spell out success criteria. Single-point rubrics work especially well for complex assignments. Provide models of different levels of success, so students get a clear picture of finished products. Formative Assessment: Improving formative assessment leads to learning improvements for all students and reduces gaps between low- and high-achievers (Black & Wiliam, 1998). Make formative assessment truly formative. It’s a measurement tool that shouldn’t count against a student’s grade. Check formative assessments quickly after they are given and use them to make instructional decisions. Conduct formative assessment in different ways: quizzes, exit slips, class polls, and think-pair-shares are all ways…

Words Matter: Language-Affirming Classrooms for Code-Switching Students

…targeted instruction during small group lessons. Finally, progress-based assessment criteria such as checklists and rubrics clarify your expectations for each task and make feedback actionable. It’s especially helpful to co-create those with your class. Not only will they have a better idea of what you’re looking for but they’ll be encouraged by seeing what they already can do. Translanguaging If you’re looking for a bolder way to incorporate students’ existing language abilities into your lessons, translanguaging is a great way to develop literacy skills in multiple languages (España & Yadira Herrera, 2020). That’s the practice of designing activities to allow…

Classroom Materials

…year after year to create graphic organizers, rubrics, and course syllabi. Click here to see all templates. Assignment Rubrics For those smaller, repetitive tasks. Instead of grading every assignment individually, assess overall work habits by scoring work in batches with this holistic rubric. A teacher’s manual is included to explain the process. Click here to view the elementary rubric. Click here to view the secondary/college rubric. Reflecting on Your Practice This category features two tools to reflect on your teaching practice. The Gut-Level Teacher Reflection is a 5-question exercise that helps you tap into your emotions and physical response to pinpoint exactly…

Making Cooperative Learning Work Better

…know better. Chances are very good that neither of these are true. Train students on collaborative skills by working on shorter, easier projects at first, then have students reflect on how well they collaborated. Only have them tackle a bigger project after they have mastered the collaboration skills. If you’re going to teach collaborative skills, you need to identify what the skills are. One great set of resources comes from PBLWorks, where you can download rubrics for assessing collaborative work. Whether you use the rubrics to actually perform assessment or not, they can help you identify the skills needed for…