{"id":1661,"date":"2013-04-23T09:53:28","date_gmt":"2013-04-23T13:53:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edtechteacher.org\/blog\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2013-04-23T09:53:28","modified_gmt":"2013-04-23T13:53:28","slug":"blow-the-top-off-your-rubric-from-shawn-mccusker-on-freetech4teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edtechteacher.org\/blow-the-top-off-your-rubric-from-shawn-mccusker-on-freetech4teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Blow the Top Off Your Rubric – from Shawn McCusker on FreeTech4Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was originally published on Free Technology for Teachers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Do you have a rubric for that?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Rubrics, designed to help teachers grade fairly and convey their learning objectives and performance standards to students, can serve a critical role especially with technology-rich projects. Teachers also like them for standardizing grading among teachers teaching the same course. At their best, rubrics firmly establish a minimum standard for learning and product construction. At their worst, rubrics become a recipe that can lead to all students producing the same product. \u00a0In these cases, creativity and the development of unique products become a casualty to tightly constructed standards.<\/p>\n

“If you assign a project and get back 30 of the exact same thing, that’s not a project, that’s a recipe.” – Chris Lehmann<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Especially with 1:1 or BYOD classrooms, where individualized learning should be the norm, this is a huge potential problem. In these classrooms, it is still important to effectively convey the learning objective. However, it is the rare rubric that both provides guidance as well as addresses the task of grading the widely varying assignments generated when students have real freedom to choose what they create.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividualized instruction is a method of instruction<\/a> in which content, instructional technology (such as materials) and pace of learning are based upon the abilities and interests of each individual learner\u201d via Wikipedia<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rubrics can become barriers to creativity and fall short when they provide a stopping point – where, once each component is checked, the assignment is done and learning and creation stop. There is incredible power in letting students pursue their interests and express their creativity. \u00a0The products that result from this pursuit of passion and interest will always stand out when placed next to those created through a sense of duty and obligation.<\/p>\n

Placing a list of \u201chave to\u2019s\u201d at the top of a rubric is like building a wall at the bottom of a slide.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It completely destroys the ride and subverts the joy of the creative process, providing an off-switch. \u00a0The way teachers assess individualized learning needs to be adapted in consideration of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in the creative art of expression and knowledge.\u201d Albert Einstein<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blow the top off of your rubrics<\/em> to encourage students to keep pursuing their learning. \u00a0Leave the basic level standards in place to help students meet the assignment\u2019s objective and support students who need more structure, but then create a rubric with a blatant challenge and ample encouragement for students to push themselves beyond the basic requirements.<\/p>\n

5 Ways to Blow the Top Off of Rubrics:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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  1. One of my favorites is to modify the definition of an \u201cA\u201d to include this language: \u201cA project that in some way redefines the teachers definition of excellence.\u201d \u00a0The video<\/a> below is an example of a student who did just that: she could have submitted a Venn diagram for this project but chose instead to do this RSA style video.
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