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Tuesday, August 27, 2013
October 14…Rubrics
How
do you feel about rubrics. Kohn is clearly in the minority, as rubrics have
become a mainstay in schools of education. Will this article change how you use
rubrics in your professional practice?
I do not really know. I mean the rubric can be used to teach students what is needed in a presentation. You can show them what presentation skills they need to work on for the next presentation, since practice makes perfect. I am not sure what article you are talking about because I do not really remember receiving an article concerning Kohn’s view of the rubric, nor could I find one online, but I think rubrics are fine. Hell, even if someone does not like the standard grading rubric, make your own that properly suits you and your students, because classes should have a grading scale to grade the students. But, whatever, if my short paragraph is not related to the topic in question, my bad.
I am not sure we are supposed to be posting about this either, I know something was said about an extra credit blog so I'm posting just in case. I think rubrics can be useful when grading, but I do think they should be provided ahead of time so students are provided clear guidelines of what is expected. I've had negative experiences with rubrics due to the fact the assignment description does not match the rubric guidelines. I've also had positive experiences with rubrics, they have been provided ahead of time and it assisted me in meeting the expectations of the assignment. I think rubrics can be useful and harmful, it all depends on the use of them and the individual creating them. - Rae Clune
I think rubrics are great teacher tools to assess students! I really enjoy having a rubric to go off of when I'm doing a project so I think some students would appreciate it as well. I also like receiving the rubric attached to my graded project so I can see what areas I needed to work on and which ones were on target. I think they are great tools for feedback for students and a great way for teachers to stay organized when assessing students.
From what I've read online with Kohn and rubrics, I admit that Kohn's argument is interesting and does make me want to reconsider rubrics. I do appreciate that rubrics help students understand what points they need to include and allows students to know what is required of them, but at the same time, providing students will full knowledge of minimum requirements seems to reduce critical thinking involved on assignments. I'd probably say that rubrics are not as bad for large projects when used for minimum requirements since projects can be very diversified and personalized, but rubrics may not help promote creative thinking and meaningful reflection when used with smaller assignments such as short essays or other assessments. I'm not exactly sure what a better grading technique would be, but it may involve keeping the purpose the each assessment in mind and differing grading styles and information provided to students based on what you want to evaluate for each assessment.
I have had a love hate with rubrics. Some have been clean and straight forward, others have been overly wordy and confusing. Some have been useful when the teacher did a sub-par job of explaining the project, or if I had worked 24 of the previous 36 hours and zoned out while the teacher spoke. Having done a project on Kohn over the summer, I find myself agreeing with him more than not. In regards to rubrics, I think Kohn has a point with why proponents like them, but as I read I found myself thinking that rubrics might be a good tool for teachers to use but not the greatest for students. Then Kohn said as much, but he said a rubric should be one of several tools. In Physical education we some times use task sheets for self-check and partner assessments, and they are essentially super simple rubrics, a list of cues for the skills they are performing. In this case though, it is for giving the students guidelines for assessing each other, rather than for justifying grades or simplifying tasks. I don't know if I will ever have a complicated rubric, it seems doubtful to me at this point, but I may have some form of rubric as part of my toolbox.
I agree with the love/hate relationship with rubrics. They can be handy, but at times they can be wordy and more confusing than they are worth. As I have learned recently, rubrics do not have to be much, and sometimes the fewer words, the better. Students should know what is expected, but it shouldn't cause most of their worry over the assignment. -Julie Gottfried
I personally think rubrics are great! They make it easier for the student and teacher to be on the same page with their assignments. It definitely helps the student. I have had times where I completely blanked for what I needed to do for a particular project, but luckily a rubric was there to help me! They also help to assess the student's work. Teachers will usually write helpful comments on them, so the students know what they need to work on for the future. I like rubrics and I will probably use them in my classroom. Even though I am going to be in elementary school they will still be helpful for the students and parents.
I feel rubrics help students keep on task and it clearly states what is expected for the students to include in projects, papers and assignments. Sometimes when I am doing my assignments I wish we had a rubric included to make sure I do not forget to include any important aspects of an assignment that could be overlooked. at the same time if the rubric is too specific, it takes the creativity out of the assignment and as a teacher you cannot tell what the student is having trouble understanding or what key points they are getting out of the assignment. I like rubrics that are more of check or not the rubrics that put an actual number to go along with a topic. I feel like Kohn's suggestions of peer review are helpful. Through this you are able to see if your ideas are clearly shown in your assignment and if you are paying attention to the main points.
I think rubrics are important and when used correctly and they can be great learning tools. However, when over used and over complicated they can hinder the creativity and development of the students own thoughts and arguments. When used correctly, a rubric can help a student learn how to outline an assignment in an efficient manner that makes sense to the audience. When kept limited, rubrics can help force the student to develop their thoughts and express them clearly in a way that forces the student to be creative with their research and expression.
My only problem with rubrics come when the rubric is overused and complicated. When the instructor hands out a rubric that is very defined in every aspect of the assignment, it takes away from the creativity of the student- forcing them to make the instructors ideal assignment, vs presenting their own thoughts. As a result, all the student learns is how to put someone else's thoughts on paper in a way they would like it to be presented, and as a result for instructor, they end up grading multiple copies of the same paper (boring!)
My ideal rubric would be one that helps guide the student in formulating an argument and presenting it in a way that makes sense to the reader. It would be limited in words and detail, but enough so that it give a good framework of what a research project (or whatever your doing) should look like; how it should flow, correct use of sources and how to site them, etc. This allows the student to have an idea of the layout of what the final product should look like, while fostering the creativity of the students own thoughts.
I personally love rubrics and think that they are a great tool. Rubrics let students know what is expected by the teacher. I'm not saying that rubrics have to represent exactly what the assignment should look like, but it should give the assignment some structure. Teachers should use rubrics to give the students an idea of what they expect not tell the student exactly what to do. The student needs to be able to let their creative juices flow. So, I believe rubrics are great but only if they are used in a lenient manner. -Eric
I do not really know. I mean the rubric can be used to teach students what is needed in a presentation. You can show them what presentation skills they need to work on for the next presentation, since practice makes perfect. I am not sure what article you are talking about because I do not really remember receiving an article concerning Kohn’s view of the rubric, nor could I find one online, but I think rubrics are fine. Hell, even if someone does not like the standard grading rubric, make your own that properly suits you and your students, because classes should have a grading scale to grade the students. But, whatever, if my short paragraph is not related to the topic in question, my bad.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure we are supposed to be posting about this either, I know something was said about an extra credit blog so I'm posting just in case. I think rubrics can be useful when grading, but I do think they should be provided ahead of time so students are provided clear guidelines of what is expected. I've had negative experiences with rubrics due to the fact the assignment description does not match the rubric guidelines. I've also had positive experiences with rubrics, they have been provided ahead of time and it assisted me in meeting the expectations of the assignment. I think rubrics can be useful and harmful, it all depends on the use of them and the individual creating them. - Rae Clune
ReplyDeleteI think rubrics are great teacher tools to assess students! I really enjoy having a rubric to go off of when I'm doing a project so I think some students would appreciate it as well. I also like receiving the rubric attached to my graded project so I can see what areas I needed to work on and which ones were on target. I think they are great tools for feedback for students and a great way for teachers to stay organized when assessing students.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've read online with Kohn and rubrics, I admit that Kohn's argument is interesting and does make me want to reconsider rubrics. I do appreciate that rubrics help students understand what points they need to include and allows students to know what is required of them, but at the same time, providing students will full knowledge of minimum requirements seems to reduce critical thinking involved on assignments. I'd probably say that rubrics are not as bad for large projects when used for minimum requirements since projects can be very diversified and personalized, but rubrics may not help promote creative thinking and meaningful reflection when used with smaller assignments such as short essays or other assessments. I'm not exactly sure what a better grading technique would be, but it may involve keeping the purpose the each assessment in mind and differing grading styles and information provided to students based on what you want to evaluate for each assessment.
ReplyDeleteI have had a love hate with rubrics. Some have been clean and straight forward, others have been overly wordy and confusing. Some have been useful when the teacher did a sub-par job of explaining the project, or if I had worked 24 of the previous 36 hours and zoned out while the teacher spoke. Having done a project on Kohn over the summer, I find myself agreeing with him more than not. In regards to rubrics, I think Kohn has a point with why proponents like them, but as I read I found myself thinking that rubrics might be a good tool for teachers to use but not the greatest for students. Then Kohn said as much, but he said a rubric should be one of several tools. In Physical education we some times use task sheets for self-check and partner assessments, and they are essentially super simple rubrics, a list of cues for the skills they are performing. In this case though, it is for giving the students guidelines for assessing each other, rather than for justifying grades or simplifying tasks. I don't know if I will ever have a complicated rubric, it seems doubtful to me at this point, but I may have some form of rubric as part of my toolbox.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the love/hate relationship with rubrics. They can be handy, but at times they can be wordy and more confusing than they are worth. As I have learned recently, rubrics do not have to be much, and sometimes the fewer words, the better. Students should know what is expected, but it shouldn't cause most of their worry over the assignment. -Julie Gottfried
DeleteI personally think rubrics are great! They make it easier for the student and teacher to be on the same page with their assignments. It definitely helps the student. I have had times where I completely blanked for what I needed to do for a particular project, but luckily a rubric was there to help me! They also help to assess the student's work. Teachers will usually write helpful comments on them, so the students know what they need to work on for the future. I like rubrics and I will probably use them in my classroom. Even though I am going to be in elementary school they will still be helpful for the students and parents.
ReplyDeleteI feel rubrics help students keep on task and it clearly states what is expected for the students to include in projects, papers and assignments. Sometimes when I am doing my assignments I wish we had a rubric included to make sure I do not forget to include any important aspects of an assignment that could be overlooked. at the same time if the rubric is too specific, it takes the creativity out of the assignment and as a teacher you cannot tell what the student is having trouble understanding or what key points they are getting out of the assignment. I like rubrics that are more of check or not the rubrics that put an actual number to go along with a topic. I feel like Kohn's suggestions of peer review are helpful. Through this you are able to see if your ideas are clearly shown in your assignment and if you are paying attention to the main points.
ReplyDeleteI think rubrics are important and when used correctly and they can be great learning tools. However, when over used and over complicated they can hinder the creativity and development of the students own thoughts and arguments. When used correctly, a rubric can help a student learn how to outline an assignment in an efficient manner that makes sense to the audience. When kept limited, rubrics can help force the student to develop their thoughts and express them clearly in a way that forces the student to be creative with their research and expression.
ReplyDeleteMy only problem with rubrics come when the rubric is overused and complicated. When the instructor hands out a rubric that is very defined in every aspect of the assignment, it takes away from the creativity of the student- forcing them to make the instructors ideal assignment, vs presenting their own thoughts. As a result, all the student learns is how to put someone else's thoughts on paper in a way they would like it to be presented, and as a result for instructor, they end up grading multiple copies of the same paper (boring!)
My ideal rubric would be one that helps guide the student in formulating an argument and presenting it in a way that makes sense to the reader. It would be limited in words and detail, but enough so that it give a good framework of what a research project (or whatever your doing) should look like; how it should flow, correct use of sources and how to site them, etc. This allows the student to have an idea of the layout of what the final product should look like, while fostering the creativity of the students own thoughts.
I personally love rubrics and think that they are a great tool. Rubrics let students know what is expected by the teacher. I'm not saying that rubrics have to represent exactly what the assignment should look like, but it should give the assignment some structure. Teachers should use rubrics to give the students an idea of what they expect not tell the student exactly what to do. The student needs to be able to let their creative juices flow. So, I believe rubrics are great but only if they are used in a lenient manner.
ReplyDelete-Eric