Grading can cumbersome for most teachers, and with an elective class like journalism in which each student does work unique from another, grading can become a nightmare. Institute mentor teacher Alan Weintraut provided some relief from this frustration during a session on grading.I love his approach to the pop quiz he gave us. Right after mentioning that he would be testing us, we students started asking questions about what it would cover, how many questions it would be, who would be grading it, and the like. He pointed out our students have the same questions and craved to know how they will be assessed before they are actually assessed. Such a great reminder! If we as adults who aren't actually being graded for the work we do want to know the details about tests and assignments, surely our students do as well.
The various rubrics provided by him and fellow teacher Becky Gemmell (pictured above) will also be great resources. I liked the contrast of the point-based rubric (that still wasn't nit-picky in how the points were allotted) that Alan provided and the holistic rubric Becky had. I look forward to reviewing them both and making them work for my class.
With more specific rubrics provided at the beginning of the year, I'm hoping my students will clearly know my expectations and be able to better meet them. And with these easy-to-use rubrics, the grading will ultimately be easier for me!
Anna Horton
Highland High School
Gilbert, Ariz.
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I know I keep harping on pedagogy, but again I learned so much about my teaching from this activity.
ReplyDeleteI actually don't use quizzes and tests, because I don't feel they don't provide realistic opportunities for students to demonstrate what they've learned, and for me Alan's activity confirmed that.
I mean, how many of us asked "If we know the rule but we don't know the 7 states, do we get the points?"
By asking us to identify the states he only provided opportunity for students who remembered the states to show they remembered. If he had asked a more open ended question then we would have had more opportunity to demonstrate that more of us learned and understood the rule of AP state abbreviations.
Anna,
ReplyDeleteI have had a challenging time grading my students on their articles. I think the numerous rubrics that were shared in class were very helpful and provided beginners such as myself alot of help.
Eric Gutierrez
Cerritos, Calif.