In the following unit the two main things we learned about was rubrics, how to make them and what exactly does engineering mean in science. I really liked how we are focusing on rubrics because all my life that is how I have been graded but I do not see how they are made and the different types of rubrics there are. The first rubric we talked about was the holistic rubric. “Holistic rubrics are constructs that contain different levels of performance that describe the quality, quantity, or quantity/quality of a task” (Luft, pg. 25). Holistic rubrics are to help the teacher find the appropriate fit for the student’s work. This is usually based off a score of 1-4 or a letter grade which is divided into a broad category and helps the teacher find …show more content…
These rubrics asses the student’s work depending on what the student did. It is more precise because each criteria topic is subdivided and presents what the exact expectations the student needs to do to get that certain grade. In this unit we are learning how to make our own analytical and holistic rubrics which I think is a great idea because we are seeing how it can be hard to put into words what exactly will be graded on our student’s work. Personally, the analytical rubric is the hardest because you have to be precise in your grading and there are different subcategories that depend on what great your students will receive. The other thing we are learning about is what exactly does engineering mean in elementary science classes and how will it help students think more critically. "One way engineering education has been included in the elementary science curriculum is through the use of engineering design tasks as a means to teach science content” (Dakenbring, Capobianco, & Eichinger). It helps the students with more hands-on activities/experiments and has them think more critically in how they design their experiments. The main misconception of teaching engineering in elementary classes is that these problems are “messy” because there can be more than one correct
In her article, “The Case Against GRADES”, Alfie Kohn discusses the grading system and its faults. She opens her argument with information from an older psychological study that proves the negative impact of the current grading system, and she reinforces this with the proof that “no” research has contradicted this statement. Also, she gives many key reasons including: “Motivation”, “Achievement”, “Quantification”, and “Curriculum”. Kohn supports these topics with other reasearch for why the system is failing the students. She asserts that, “… the absence of grading is a necessary condition for promoting deep thinking and a desire to engage in it.” As support, she offers other solutions and then debunks them by proving that they would not solve
I believe that to motivate students to do work, practice work needs to be worth more than 10% of a students’ grade. Ideally, I believe the grading scale should be closer to 75% knowledge, and 25% practice. I believe this would help students want to do their work because practice work is worth much more than 10%. If the students do not do any practice work, they can end up with a C, which in many cases is deemed average. Also, those who do their practice work well can use practice assignments to bring up bad test scores. Due to this, more students will do well on their practice work, therefore leading to better scores in tests because students are trying on practice work and they are doing work. Those on the school board may think that 75/25 would be too much weight on practice work, due to this I also think an 80/20 grading scale would be a good option. Seeing as students would still be getting more credit for their homework. The 90/10 grading system needs to be changed for Emma and for all the students at Austin High School in order to benefit them in the future, in both college and their future
The grade scale furnishes students with superior achievements the opportunities to receive Scholarships. The grade scale allows professors and colleges to average a point value for academic reviewing. The chart below shows the different level of achievement for a grade scale and a pass/fail scale. The grade scale f...
In Holistic Versus Trait-Specific Evaluation, the author claims that the best person to professionally judge a writer's work, is the person writing them self. They can look at their own writing by using what's provided after the reading, they're called "self-talk" rubrics, used as guides for talking to one self about their own writing. The self guide offers statements for talking to one self ,for one's writing. The author argues that students have to learn how to talk to themselves in a way that their professor do, when grading the student's papers. If a student understands what their professor is looking for, then the student will increase their chances at success. The author uses the Olympic games as an excellent example to show how working
In other words, two teachers may give the same assignment two completely different grades based on their own grading style. This puts an incredible amount of stress on a student because they need to complete assignments that will satisfy their current teacher, whose expectations and grading style could be very similar or very different from the student’s previous teacher. Alfie Kohn believes that the influence grades have on a student’s life doesn’t help this situation, and may even make it worse by providing students with a false sense of security about their knowledge. In her article “From Degrading to De-grading”, she states that scores on tests can be largely based on how the test was written and what skills were tested (Kohn 240). Therefore, it is up to teachers to identify what topics students must master in order to be proficient and score well on standardized tests. But when the class is not structured with a consideration for the material used on such tests, students enter the test blind to the skills that they will be expected to know and use. Anyone can memorize a list of facts off a study guide and score well on a multiple choice test the next day, but skills such as analyzing literature and interpreting a handful of graphs containing data from a scientific experiment are skills that require time and hours of instruction to master.
In today’s society we feel the need to be graded in order to learn. The topic of the grading system has sparked three essays, by three different authors, about the pros and cons of the grading system. First, Jerry Farber, professor at University of California at San Diego, wrote A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System (333). Next is Steven Vogel, professor at Denison University, who wrote Grades and Money (337). The last two authors in this compilation are Stephen Goode and Timothy W. Maier. They both are journalists for Insight on the News. While each of these authors have their own point of view on the grading system, all three essays talk about how being graded affects learning.
A systems based treatment plan is necessary when working with this family and a systemic assessment is needed to accomplish this. “A systemic assessment will typically reveal that marital and/or parenting issues are contributing to the presenting problem” (Gehart, p. 37, 2016). The therapist will start by using a genogram. A genogram was used to analyze the Andersen family, as it is a structured way of collecting information about the family. It allows the therapist to gather details and “identifies not only problematic intergenerational patterns, but also alternate ways for relating and handling problems” (Gehart, 2014, p. 237). A genogram is a visual representation of the family and their history that will display
There are various approaches towards a certain problem or strategy. Some approaches could fit in a given situation and not in another. Analytical/planned and emergent approaches have some differences as well as benefits and drawbacks. Analytical approach is that in which the vision, objectives and intentions of a firm are clearly stipulated and made known to the actors or staff as a way of realizing a certain outcome. It requires a clear vision, plans as well as formal controls aimed at enforcing them in a predictable environment. In this approach, external factors such as advancement in technology and change
Assessment plays an integral part of the teaching and learning process by providing teachers with information on students’ developing mathematical capabilities (Booker, Bond, Sparrow, & Swan, 2010; Reys et al., 2012). Assessment is a daily requirement within the primary school context and when properly developed and interpreted can be used positively to encourage students, provide information to direct and modify teaching and learning activities, provide feedback to students about progress and contribute to reporting (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development [DEECD], 2009; Junpeng, 2012; New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, 2011). This essay will examine formative and summative assessment strategies teachers
By nature, most students are brought up in an academic environment motivated to get A’s and B’s on their report cards. Those grades sometimes don’t thoroughly report how much a student has learned or gained knowledge in each topic. Some instructors throw in factors totally unrelated to learning, when the main objective of academic institutions is to learn. In order to clearly demonstrate how much a student has learned in the classroom, schools should change their current grading system and teach students how to learn.
Assessments were not aligned and incongruent with what was happening in the classroom. It was difficult to accurately measure student success (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). One of the greatest contributors to the difficulty of aligning assessments to standards is that the standards are so complex (LaMarca, 2001.) How can a single assessment demonstrate mastery of so much content? Also, some assessments items measure multiple standards. This can be difficult to analyze. Furthermore, some assessment contain content that is neither developmentally appropriate for the intended audience or it may content that is not mentioned in the standards (Polikoff, Porter, & Smithson, 2011). This can be discouraging and frustrating for both students and
Cooperative learning and feedback are also key strategies within this instructional unit. Students will use rubrics, a form of feedback, to observe each other’s performance. Students will then discuss the rubric with the peer observed in order to praise correct techniques demonstrated.
Through assessment students and teachers are able to determine the level of mastery a student has achieved with standards taught. Both formative and summative assessment should be purposeful and targeted to gain the most accurate data to drive further instruction (Ainsworth, 2010). While this syllabus does a good job of identifying the need for both formal and informal assessments, the way in which this is communicated does not provide enough detail for understanding. Simply listing assessment types does not give any insight into how these assessments fit in the learning process of this course. While some of the assessments mentioned could be common assessments chosen by the school or district to gain insight into the effectiveness of instruction, the inclusion of authentic assessments is most beneficial to students and demonstrates learning in a context closer to that of a work environment (Rovai, 2004). Unfortunately, this particular course, according to this syllabus, relies heavily on quizzes and traditional tests and essays to form the bulk of assessment opportunities. While other activities, such as formative assessments, journaling and discussions are mentioned as possible avenues for scoring, they are given a very low percentage of the overall grade. This shows that they are not valued for their ability to show progression and mastery. If this is indeed the case, this puts the students as a
In spite of the importance of assessment in education, few teachers receive proper training on how to design or analyze assessments. Due to this, when teachers are not provided with suitable assessments from their textbooks or instructional resources, teachers construct their own in an unsystematic manner. They create questions and essay prompts comparable to the ones that their teachers used, and they treat them as evaluations to administer when instructional activities are completed predominantly for allocating students' grades. In order to use assessments to improve instruction and student learning, teachers need to change their approach to assessments by making sure that they create sound assessments. To ensure that their assessments are sound they need include five basic indicators that can be used as steps to follow when creating assessments. The first of these indicators and the first step a teacher must take when creating a sound assessme...
As I reflect on my past assessment process, I realized how much my assessments have changed over the years. In my early years, I used tests for informational recall as my assessments. I felt these were appropriate guidelines in which I needed to follow in order to substantiate a student’s grade. Every assignment or tests was given a point value and then based on the amount of points, a grade was given. Every student’s assessment was exactly the same, and the assessments did not contain any subjectivity. I felt confident in giving the grade based on a valid point system. However reflecting back, I see that I did not include any performance-based assessments or individual learning styles in my early assessment. I also did not take into consideration the individual needs of my students. My assessment approach was awful. I am embarrassed that I use to assess students in this manner.