Rubrics

Rubrics are tools that teachers use to grade students. Some of the advantages of rubrics are that they help students to know what the teachers expect in the assignments. Rubrics help students recognize their strengths and weaknesses in their assignments. Rubrics are good tools to grade students because students know where the grades come from, and it gives fewer chances for arbitrary grades. For example, if a teacher is going to grade an essay, he or she needs to know what he/she is looking for in this assignment. It is going to be easier and fairer, if he/she has a rubric rather than just look at an essay and give a grade. Because what happens if she/he just graded an essay, but the next essay it is of a better quality than the previous one?

When I understood the purpose of rubrics, I started appreciating them. I understood what the teachers expected in the assignments, which helped me achieve better grades. I spent more time in the areas which really mattered. As a future educator, I am considering in using rubrics to grade my students.

I found this article, What Students Say About Rubrics where students gave their opinions about rubrics. It is interesting to see that students think that rubrics help them to improve in their assignments. However there are some students who say that "They're (rubrics) not always easy to understand." One of the things that I will consider is the grade level of the students. I do agree that sometimes, there are teachers who give students rubrics to follow, but the students do not have idea of what these rubrics are asking them to do. I will take my time to explain my students what I want in an assignment, but also I will transmit the message according to their grade level.

http://www.middleweb.com/CSLB2CubRub.html

Fairness in Assessment

I found this article, Fairness in Assessment, which highlight the issue of whether it is fair to grade students at the same level or should it be considered the cultural background a factor that might affect the performance of the students. This article, talks specifically about students who are non-native English speakers. Well I am a non-native English speaker, and for me one of the hardest parts of learning English was writing because you cannot translate the language. If you do that, then, it is going to be grammatically incorrect and is not going to make sense at all. It is like adapting yourself to writing in a new fashion. I still have some doubts when writing in English and I am always careful with my grammar. I try to do my best to sound as good as possible when I speak and write. Therefore, sometimes it is a double work, the first part it is putting all my ideas together in English, and the second part is trying to correct the grammatically mistakes that I might had done unconsciously because is a new language, a new culture, a new fashion.

So what is the role of the teacher? Should he/she consider that those students who are non-native English speakers are in disadvantage while writing essays? Should the teacher be harder when grading a native English speaker? I feel that these questions are difficult to answer because the teachers need to be fair with all the students. So what are we talking about when we talk about being fair? Also a truth fact that it is mentioned in this article is that most of the time students compare their works and grades. So what happens if two students think that they did a similar work, but they achieved different grades? This happens all the time in schools, so what can we do to explain them this issue about cultural background difference?

http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~smx/PGCHE/fairness.html

What is Assessment?

When I think of assessment, the first thing in my mind is a test. The simple word test makes me nervous because I feel the pressure of performing one hundred percent even though sometimes I don’t perform well. I think that tests do not prove that students know something. From my experience taking tests, I know that tests are not good evaluators. Sometimes I prepare myself for the tests by memorizing the material, word by word without understanding its meaning and then I have no idea of what I “learned.” The purpose of learning is to understand not memorize, but many students do no find other options to pass with good grades, therefore they just memorize information that they will not be able to apply in the future.

I guess that that is one of the reasons why I prefer math, because with math I know I cannot memorize information. Of course you need to memorize the formulas although you need to understand them in other to apply them. On the other hand, English scares me sometimes because is my second language. I remember memorizing vocabulary words for quizzes or tests, but these words meant nothing because if I memorized them it did not mean that I was actually learning them. Many teachers rely on vocabulary quizzes where students write definitions, but this does not necessarily prove that these students know these words.

Assessments remind me of the standardized tests given by the government, which supposedly show how much students know and what they don’t. First of all they are surprise tests. The teacher can teach you anything that might or might not be on the test, but if it is a surprise you have a chance of passing or failing. At the same time, some students do not do well on these tests because they get too anxious. No everyone is good test taker.

There are other ways to evaluate how much students know and is not just by taking tests. They can do projects where they can use their creativity, while at the same time, they are learning new things. Assessments help teachers to know whether students are learning something or not, it is a feedback. Students can have fun while doing assessments. There are creative projects where students can work as individuals or in groups. Assessments do not have to be boring, but they should be methods to encourage students to seek for more knowledge to build their own futures.

Introduction about Myself

Hello everyone!!! My name is Wendy. I am a junior at Saint Peter’s College. I am double majoring in Elementary Education and Biology. Well yes, the Biology is the toughest major of the two because I have to take chemistry. After my experience in the Sophomore Field, I feel that I would like to teach second grade. I loved all the students they were all very cute, and I still miss them! However, I am undecided about whether being an elementary school teacher, or being a middle school teacher. I am considering in taking extra classes to obtain a certification in mathematics.