rubrics Search Results

A Close Look at Competency-Based Learning

…Aurora Institute, which works to promote student-centered learning models. They also point out that this approach is called different things in different places: standards-based, mastery-based, performance-based, or proficiency-based. So this clears up my question of terminology: This is being done by different groups and schools in different places. In schools that belong to the MTC, like Messer’s school, students demonstrate learning through artifacts — evidence of their skills and understanding — that are collected across content areas. These are assessed with rubrics used in every class, rubrics that focus on durable, transferable skills like collaboration, effective communication, and critical thinking. …

Classroom Materials

…and over, 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…

Does Your School Need a Literacy Check-Up?

…in the book, there are also tools for non-ELA classes, as shown in the next example. Click images to open larger view. Click here to make a copy of this tool for your Google Drive. Middle & High School Non-ELA: Writing Instruction This tool is designed to be used in non-ELA classes and combines environment and instruction. This tool makes clear that when assigning writing in any class, the use of exemplars and rubrics is necessary. It also reminds teachers that resources like word walls and reference materials are needed in all classrooms to support content-area learning. This tool would…

How to Set Up Mastery-Based Grading in Your Classroom

…To support this process, a number of educators build rubrics for their mastery checks to ensure the grading process is as efficient as possible and the evidence is clear when a student needs to be reassessed. Many educators build multiple forms of each mastery-check to allow for easy reassessment. This is highly contingent on the content area. For example, in math classes where students are learning about factors, it is quite straightforward to build multiple forms of the same mastery check. Alternatively, in an English class where students are learning about character and theme, it may make more sense to…

Delaying the Grade: How to Get Students to Read Feedback

…you have any questions or if I can help in any way. 🙂 Kristy Louden I struggle with rubrics sometimes as well. Once I started using the Two-point rubric, I became more comfortable with them. The rubric along with this system has really helped me and my kiddos. I like Docs for commenting along the way. I give kids checkpoint deadlines and give them feedback on specific parts of the essay as they go. It’s been helpful. Thanks for sharing! Kristy Louden My kids still get a grade, it’s just delayed so they have to read the feedback in order…

Catch them Learning: A Pathway to Academic Integrity in the Age of AI

…see the important standards, learning goals, content, concepts, and skills. Communicate major assignments and assessments in advance and give students opportunities to plan their time and effort. Align formative tasks to summative goals to ensure students have had the opportunity to learn the content and skills required on projects and tasks. Use rubrics as a shared language of the route that teachers and students can use formatively to navigate the path toward high-quality work rather than as a summative tool to justify grades. For example, if you want students to “support claims with relevant details,” that expectation should be stated…

No More Easy Button: A Suggested Approach to Post-Pandemic Teaching

…can. If we’ve gotten rid of the “fluffy” busywork assignments and are doing fewer, more robust, collaborative, project-based tasks, this shift should happen naturally, because these assignments lend themselves better to conferencing and rubrics rather than one-off grades. More iteration: Speaking of one-off grades, let’s cut way back on those, too. If a student needs improvement in some area, isn’t it better to give them multiple opportunities to improve, rather than stamping them with a single grade and moving on? If we can make room in our plans to allow students to re-do assignments, we’re likely to see more growth….

Finding the Funk: 3 Ways to Add Culturally Responsive Critical Thinking to Your Lessons

…absurdity, evaluate it, or revise it. Making a rule seems natural for patterns in math class. But how often do world language teachers allow students to create a rule for irregular verb conjugations based on those type of patterns? There is nothing stopping third graders from designing their own rubrics for what makes a good paragraph “good” based on their analysis of paragraphs written at various levels of quality. China recently banned children from playing video games during the week and drastically limited their access during the weekends. What might a rule need to look like in the United States…

A Few Creative Ways to Use Student Blogs

…it’s important to define the criteria by which you’ll assess it. I strongly recommend you use a single-point rubric for assessing blogs; share the criteria with students ahead of time or better yet, co-construct the criteria with them. Below are some criteria I think would be important to include in a rubric for student blogs. I’m sure there are many excellent blogging rubrics out there that address some characteristics I haven’t thought of, but this is what I have so far: Purpose and Audience: The overall focus is clearly defined and consistent throughout the blog. Individual blog posts have a…