FIAE Chapter 4

Chapter 4 was all about creating an effective rubric to assess student work. Rubrics can be used to grade portfolios, presentations, products, and written work. In my experience, rubrics have had a 4 tiered system in which they scored the level of completion. The levels I am used to in my education are: does not meet expectations, partially meets expectations, meets expectations, and exceeds expectations.  I liked this system because it was not a 5 tiered system, and it did not directly translate to A, B, C, D, and F like it said in the chapter. I also did not start to get anxious if I happened to get a “meets expectations” in one of my projects, because that meant I did everything right. It took some of the pressure off. I want to use this rubric format in my classroom.

                Over the summer, when I was a teaching assistant for the Center for Talented Youth for Johns Hopkins University, we had the students self-assess their learning progress. We did this by having them write reflections at the end of every class day, describing the things they learned, things that challenged them, any questions they would like to have answered for the next class that they did not get a chance to ask, and any reflections on the day they have had. My favorite reflection was from a student who talked about what it was like to be academically challenged, and pushed past the quality and content that would have normally gotten him a satisfactory grade. It was so rewarding to read about how he is no longer happy with just doing what he has to to get a “good grade,” and how he really wants to be pushed to achieve mastery.