Lani one of my mentors in PLP suggested students write their own assessment in order to maximize their motivation.
What if your students collaborated to create their own rubrics for projects?
So, I had my students individually write their rubrics on our latest oral report project. I gave them three areas and asked them to write specific goals. I wanted them to create a rubric that assessed vocabulary and content in the research piece, general grammar usage in the writing, and the oral component (pronunciation and fluency). I gave them a total point value, and asked them to distribute points within the three areas as they thought appropriate.
Some observations...
I have exclusively used rubrics on projects and formal written work; however, a few of my students did not know what a rubric should say. I was surprised that I needed to pull up an old rubric, and show them how I wrote assessment criteria.
Some of my students had no idea what I meant by a general grammar assessment. When I gave examples of verb conjugation and noun adjective agreement, light bulbs went off. I had always taken for granted the use of this term.
Some students spent a lot of time talking to each other about how to stack the rubric so that the lowest grade they could get was a C average (not an A, mind you).
Many students wrote rubrics that were very vague, not unlike I did when I first started using rubrics to assess my students.
Several students made the criteria much more difficult than I would have. “I will only make 2 or 3 grammar mistakes”
One student placed 13 of the 15 points in the oral component, and went on to set up the criteria as “Speaks like a native Spanish speaker.”
Up next...
I plan on having them write a rubric for their next cooperative project. I will give them four general areas and the point value again. I will have them write the rubric before they begin the work, and revise it after they finish the project. I’ll look over the rubrics and ask groups who are vague to tweak their rubrics. Any thoughts or suggestions welcomed since this is very new territory for me.
