Exploring Rubrics

       When I think of assessment or even assignments, the first thing that pops into my head is rubrics. Rubrics are "one of the most versatile and effective assessment tools" (Drake, Reid & Kiloton, 2014). These forms of assessment are crucial for a student and their ability to succeed, as it provides guidelines and expectations that the teacher/instructors are looking for, which you should follow in order to achieve a good mark.

      I found this section of the textbook very interesting as I was not aware of the different types of rubrics. I may have seen them within my education, but was never taught about specific types of rubrics, which is why I thought I would share these types of rubrics with you all, as it really interested me. So with saying this, Drake, Reid & Kiloton (2014) state that there are four different types of rubrics, which are: analytic, holistic, generic and task-specific.

     Starting with the first type of rubric, after reading this chapter of the textbook, I learned that an Analytic Rubric focuses on specific, separate criteria, striving to look for more specific expectations for each section within the rubric. I have definitely come across this rubric many times throughout my  schooling years, but I would definitely say that this type of rubric would be used within older grade classrooms, as it has more specific expectations for different sections within the assignment's rubric. Below is an example of an Analytic Rubric, just to refresh everyone on what this type of rubric looks like.

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     The second type of rubric as stated by Drake, et al., (2014), is the holistic rubric. This rubric is used when looking at the "big picture" or the overall quality of work or an assignment. Unlike the analytic rubric, this rubric does not have specific categories, it more has just levels/percentages of your overall assignment/work/presentation, displaying the mark you got overall. I can see this type of rubric being implemented within elementary schools for younger grades. Here is an example of the Holistic Rubric.

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     The third type of rubric is the Generic Rubric. Drake, et al., (2014) describe this rubric as a rubric you use when students are doing a presentation or persuasive essay. This type of rubric usually looks for how a student performs within a given task. I don't know about you, but I have definitely seen this rubric several times throughout elementary school and even high school/university whenever I have had to do an oral presentation with a group. Below is an example of the Generic Rubric.

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       (Sorry this image is very big, but it is the only way you'll be able to clearly see the expectations within this rubric, as the font is very small).

     The last and final rubric used for assessments is the Task-Specific Rubric. It is pretty self-explanatory when this rubric is used- for specific tasks. This rubric is looking at the quality of work based on the specific tasks provided by the teacher/instructor. I feel like this rubric would not be used as often as the rest, and would only be used by certain teachers for certain tasks. Here is an example of this rubric.

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    I decided to do my blog on rubrics as I believe that rubrics are crucial for students and their success. I know that I personally rely heavily on rubrics to get a good idea of what the teacher/instructor is looking for/expecting. Rubrics are very handy especially when you have teachers who may be very vague in explaining the work/assignment guidelines. When thinking about rubrics and which is best for students and their work, I definitely believe that Analytic or Task-Specific rubrics are best for older students (such as ourselves) or those in high school, as they are more specific. Also, these rubrics set out clear guidelines for the students to follow, which helps the students a lot more, especially since school work/assignments get harder the older the grade the students are in, and the expectations become more intense and specific.

   What do you all think? Which type of rubric do you like best?

    As bad as this may sound, I believe that many students bypass rubrics because they are too lazy and believe they know what they are doing and what the teacher expects just based off what the teacher says about the assignment in class. I find this very shocking and unfortunate, as rubrics are there to help you succeed, and many students pass up the opportunity because it's too much effort to "look at the rubric". I know I always have the rubrics right beside me when I do my work, just so I know that I have covered all the expectations and done all I can in order to achieve the best mark I can. 

    Thinking back to high school, most of my classes had very vague and general rubrics. I remember being very frustrated with classes/teachers because I never truly understood what the expectations were and did not find it fair that the teachers did not provide us with this information. I felt as if some teachers did not care about how we did on the assignment, which really affected my motivation towards the work/assignments I was assigned. Because of this experience, it makes me think of how I would set the expectations in my future classroom and how I would want to really emphasize what I (as a teacher) am looking for and how these students can get a level 4 (80%-100% mark). To me this shows that the teacher really cares about their students and their success by providing them with the information and expectations they need to know in order to achieve great marks.

   Have you ever had a bad experience with rubric expectations? What kind of rubric was it?

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    Overall, I truly believe that all students should use rubrics as guidelines when doing their work, to make sure they are on the right track and have covered all the expectations. These forms of assessment are handed to us so we can succeed, so I strongly believe we should take full advantage of these resources.

Thanks for reading! 

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Differentiated Instruction

  

       Within Drake, Reid and Kiloton (2014)'s book, they talk about differentiated instruction within classrooms and it's affects on the students/learners. They define differentiated instruction as a type of instruction where all students are striving to succeed or reach the same goal, but in different, alternative ways (Drake et al., 2014).

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     Drake et al., 2014 provide a chart within their chapter which states how teachers provide differentiated instruction within their classrooms and how it differs from regular instructions given to the students. They state how teachers provide the general instructions to everyone, but then based on the student and their learning style, the teachers adjust the ways students can do their work/assignments which best suits them and helps them fulfill the tasks needed to be completed (Drake et al., 2014). I think this picture (right) perfectly expressed what differentiated instruction is, a whole bunch of different ways of doing something but all leading to the same final result.

    I truly believe this is one of the best ways for children to learn. This allows students to express themselves through their own ways of learning, allowing them to become more creative and it helps them to succeed, using their strengths in something to be applied to whatever task/assignment is assigned.

Image found here

   I chose this picture (above) as I think it really gets the point across about differentiated instruction. Albert Einstein is saying that we are all smart individuals, but you can't judge everyone on how they do things, as everyone is different and will not do things the same way. 

   When I become a teacher I would want to implement this within my classroom as early as possible. The reason behind this is that when I was in elementary school and high school (for the most part) I was not given differentiated instruction for work or assignments. Most of my teachers made everyone do the work the exact same way, which I did not like as some assignments I had to do were not based around my strengths and we had no choice to show our own way to the assignment sadly. Another reason for this is that i've noticed that since coming to university, they do give you a lot of differentiated instruction and now all the students who have never been exposed to that are stuck with what to do. I constantly hear students say, so we have a free choice for this assignment...what can we do? Are we allowed to do this? How does the professor want us to do this? Students are now unprepared with how to deal with differentiated instruction, so I definitely think this needs to be implemented within schools earlier to help the students with their learning and to prepare them for university.

Video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOPe_cJ67No

   Above is a video which is about differentiated instruction and different ways to implement it within classrooms

   Overall, I strongly believe that differentiated instruction is crucial within classrooms and for students' learning. It allows them to be independent, creative and lets them be flexible with how they display their work. I think more teachers need to implement this within their classrooms to help students show their knowledge and learning through different, alternative ways which can be more beneficial for students, as not every student learns the same.

What do you all think?

Thanks for reading :)

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom

     Assessment: Engaging the 21^st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Knowing Your Students

     While reading Drake, Reid and Kolohon (2014)'s chapter, I came across a section within the chapter that discussed about teachers knowing their students and how to know their students, which really intrigued me.

     As I read more in depth about teachers knowing their students, it made me realize just how important it is, and how many different fundamental components there are in order for a teacher to actually "know" their students. I found this really interesting to read and think about, especially as I'm studying to become a future teacher. It made me really think of past experiences I've had with a few teachers and the affects it had on me and my learning.

     I have had only one extraordinary teacher that did fulfill all of the components mentioned through Drake et al., (2014)'s chapter. This teacher showed his compassion for each student and their learning/potential. He dedicated a good amount of time to each student, making sure they understood everything, provided differentiated instruction and ways for us to display what we had learned and was a constant motivator for us to push ourselves. He liked knowing what our interests were and observing how we learned and working off of our strengths and weaknesses with each and every one of us. This type of teacher, who genuinely cared about his students and their learning/success truly inspired me to be just like him when I become a teacher, and proved to me that this type of teacher-student relationship is most beneficial and important for the teacher to learn from the students and the students learn from the teacher and also feel important and respected.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCLjGiOPpi8gCFcs4PgodcbIBcA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ugdsb.on.ca%2Ftevans%2Farticle.aspx%3Fid%3D20056&bvm=bv.103388427,d.cWw&psig=AFQjCNGOHwozxUVK7jt_I0uTdpVGeEZKhw&ust=1443051973400499

     But, with saying that, I have unfortunately had too many teachers in the past who did not seem to care about my peers and I, and you could clearly tell they were just doing their job for the money and benefits (as bad as that sounds)- not to actually help us learn and succeed. They did not care to know anything about us, how we best learned, our strengths and weaknesses or anything that Drake et al., (2014)'s chapter suggested. This made me become not as interested in the class or pushing myself as much, because I felt like the teacher would not have cared if I did a great job or an average job. It definitely put me down.
                                                                                                        https://www.google.ca/url?          sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAcQjRxqFQoTCKbSqpHqi8gCFYN2PgodbjQCTw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F151715081168600258%2F&psig=AFQjCNEB1KSdtIJs5XUAiWqgP96tvGseqw&ust=1443052101232108

    These past experiences really opened my eyes and justified all of the components that Drake et al., (2014) stated in their chapter about how important it is for teachers to know their students, as it all affects the student and their learning/success.



    Reflecting on another article I read, Reed, Banks and Carlisle (2004) also discussed the importance of teachers knowing their students' learning in terms of knowing their best learning style, and having the teacher recognize that the way they teach/learn may not be the same way their students learn. So with saying this, the teachers need to know/learn about their students in order to provide the best learning style for what best suits them, helping them succeed. 


http://www.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://lscomputerlab.weebly.com/uploads/9/8/1/7/9817272/2398983_orig.jpg&imgrefurl=http://lscomputerlab.weebly.com/whats-your-learning-style.html&h=777&w=1100&tbnid=O2saL9nsJSbcjM:&docid=KJJthbDsH3nrgM&ei=TucBVryRAsX3-QGMyIjwDw&tbm=isch&client=safari&ved=0CDMQMygCMAJqFQoTCLzwud3oi8gCFcV7PgodDCQC_g

     Below is a video I found of a student expressing the difference it makes when teachers take the time to actually get to know you and take interest in your interests. 

                                           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEu-eQELPOI

     In conclusion, I truly believe that teachers getting to know their students is crucial for their teacher-student relationship and for the students' learning. Students tend to do better in school and their work when they know their teacher takes an interest and cares about them and their education. And with saying this, the more the teacher learns about the student, whether it be their interests, how they learn, their strengths/weaknesses, etc., the more the student will want to learn, work hard and will succeed.


References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging

           the 21^s Century Learner. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

Reed, J. A., Banks, A. L., & Carlisle, C.S. (2004). Knowing Me, Knowing Who? Getting to Know Your Students'

         Preferred Learning Style. Teaching Elementary Physical Education, 15(4), 25.

Just Listen: Youth Talk About Learning. (Producer). (2011, August 25). Just Listen: Get to Know Your Students.
         Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEu-eQELPOI