I am intrigued this week with our study of rubrics. For some reason, my mind only works with percentages, so using rubrics with point values always screwed with my mind. Although I don't usually use rubrics, I can appreciate the value for both the student and the teacher. That being said, I am going to make a concerted effort to incorporate rubrics into my curriculum this year, and determine future use based upon the experiences. Whenever I give an assignment, I discuss criteria that will be used to assess student performance, but a rubric would probably streamline the process. In language arts, I have always tried to grade papers using the 6+1 writing traits guide, and I like how it can identify specific areas of weakness. I would love to find a system that limits subjectivity in grading, but I know that will be difficult to find. Even the 6+1 lends itself to subjective grading, but it does provide a vehicle for some objectivity that would be missing without the grading criteria. I will certainly be mindful of the successes and failures of using rubrics for my assignments this year, and I will also seek feedback from my students to see if it helped them tailor their assignments to what was being assessed.
The group work this week is both a positive and negative undertaking. Positive in the fact that we get to write a paper, something that I enjoy creating. Negative in the fact that we are reviewing two products that are foreign to me. Hopefully, through a meeting of the minds, my group will enlighten me about what is unfamiliar, and we will be able to create a paper worthy of merit.
The Pecha Kucha presentation in theory really got me excited. Now that I have test driven this presentation style, I am not sure that I am ready to buy. I certainly don't blame the product, because I like the idea of working within certain constraints. My disappointment is that I wasn't able to create the presentation that I had initially envisioned. The initial plan was to create 20 slides about writing in iambic pentameter, and show the parallel between that form of writing and the form involved in creating a Pecha Kucha presentation. For whatever reason, my ideas led to dead ends, and I decided to scrap the idea. Hopefully I am resilient enough to revisit my initial ideas after I have more experience with this presentation form. I still like the idea of using it to create a week in review for those who are absent or for parents to view. But, as always, my mind tries to weigh the value of the product versus time to create ratio, and I am not sure that the idea would bare fruit. So, in the end, I have been frustrated with this assignment because I was unable to create what I set out to accomplish. But frustration that leads to learning can be good, and my frustration has yielded a fair amount of knowledge concerning a presentation style that I previously knew nothing about.
Yes, I agree with you the value of a rubric is removing some of the subjectivity in assessment. I know, that I have graded some students higher because I like them. An awful thing to say, but true. I not saying that I gave them an A when they should have gotten a D, but they get the benefit of the doubt. On to the Pecha K, like you said, it is somewhat limiting. I think after doing a Prezi, it is also hard to go back to a Power Point-a strict formulatic Power Point-and feel creative. Pecha K is a gimic, in a way, but what it does do is make us think about content-what IS important-and time-don't bore the audience.As for the two products we are to review, I am excited with both of the products and have recently bought one, and plan on buying the other. This is the first time in my life that I have seen an ad on the tv and wanted to go out an buy the product immediately (the Nano), why, because it puts in one package the few digital applications that I can see using on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI think with some thought in the rubrics - you'll find that they can make some of the grading more objective. I also have some great resources on 6+1 rubrics (inservice last year!) and how to accurately convert those raw rubric scores into percentages - let me know if you'd like a copy and I'll dig it up and send it your way.
ReplyDeleteI too am reeling from the difference in styles between the Pecha Kucha and Prezei, but I think that Pecha Kucha will limit how long I am able to drag out certain topics with my students. I'm planning on over viewing the different career choices related to forensic science - there are some 82 listed jobs in one resource I'm using. I think the Pecha Kucha will really help me do a great job at getting to all careers as they are grouped into 14 categories and I won't spend 45 minutes doing it!
I am a huge rubric fan as I think they make the whole process of instruction so much more efficient. I think as you grow more comfortable with using them, you will see the students really do respond so much better. Like we discussed in one of our previous classes, when you know what being required and are able to get feedback on those requirements, it makes everything so much easier. It certainly reduces the amount of stress felt by the students as we can clearly attest to and just as importantly, I think it reduces the stress on the teacher by forcing us to clarify our own views prior to presenting the assignment. I haven't gotten caught up enough to get to the Pecha Kucha assignment yet but from what everyone is saying, I'm certainly not looking forward to it. I'm sure yours is wonderful though because you truly seem to have a gift for making quality presentations as I've been very impressed with all of them so far. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I dislike making rubrics, they make it so much easier to grade! If the students know the standards they will be graded on, then they will have an easier time completing the project. Additionally, it makes it quicker and easier to grade, as it takes away some of subjectivity and makes it more objective. Rubric's objectivity also makes it easier to explain grades to parents!! I have such a hard time grading without one, and I am curious to find out how you really do it!
ReplyDeleteI recently read something that proposed that rubrics could be designed by analyzing student work first. You could put copies of the work into piles based on quality and consider what criterion a future rubric should have based on them. I haven't had an opportunity to try this strategy but I'm going to consider using it in the future.
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