In his blog post, "Tame the Beast: Tips for Designing and Using Rubrics", Andrew Miller of the Buck
Institute for Education outlines 6 strategies for designing and developing high quality Rubrics. What tips do you have for creating high-quality rubrics? Do you agree with those provided by Mr. Miller? What would you add to this list?
The BIE provides additional guidance on developing quality rubrics here. What resources can you share regarding rubric creation and implementation?
I like his tips. I like his first point about using parallel language. I think it is important for students to see the progression from one column to the next and what is going to help them to score in that area. I also agree that you should show the rubrics to the students. I feel it is important for them to know where they are going and what they could do to make their project the best it can be.
ReplyDeleteInvolving the Public Audience, if they are willing, in the rubric creation is important too. It gives authenticity to student work.
DeleteExcellent point, Chris! You have done such a great job involving your public audience/community connection in your projects. You can attest to how they have improved the projects over time too.
Delete@emily - I also feel it is important for students to see the rubric. Many advocates of the PBL framework feel it is important to involve the students in the rubric creation. Have you ever tried allowing your students to come up with a project rubric? I never attempted this when I was in the classroom but I can see how it could be a very valuable experience.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would add anything to this list. In fact I'm having trouble picking one or two to discuss. I've used rubrics in the past in grad school and undergrad, but I've gotten away from them. "Use them with students" was advice from this article that I would say I didn't do a great job implementing. I would hand out the rubric at the beginning of an assignment then use it to grade them. I would like to revisit and discuss the rubric throughout the assignment. I can see why this would be useful in implementing a PBL unit.-Nicki Utz
ReplyDeleteI also have not used rubrics as much as I should for projects and big problems for my students. And when I do use them, I typically don't hand them out until the end, after I've graded the projects. At that point, I feel that the rubrics don't mean anything to the kids, other than "did I get an A?".
ReplyDeleteA resource that I really like for creating rubrics easily is Rubistar. It's free and you can type into the grid and either save them or print them out. Pretty cool.
@erin and @nicki - have you changed your mind about rubrics since having students create their own? I'm wondering if your thoughts have changed since implementing your PBL?
ReplyDelete