Rubrics

Since returning to college a couple of years ago, I’ve noticed that Rubrics have become a new way of grading different assignments. This was a new thing to me considering I was used to just getting a letter grade for all of my assignments. I now realize that Rubrics are helpful and provide a guide for students to complete the assignments and set criteria for teachers to grade those assignments. Rubrics are especially good for projects, papers, presentations or experiments. 

I think the best way to make a Rubric is to know what you want students to get out of the assignment first. Once you know what the goal is for the end result in learning, then creating the Rubric is easier.  When creating the Rubric, the teacher can use criteria such as resources, semantics, organization of the material, graphic organizers, images, timeliness and many other requirements that a student might need to include in a project, paper, presentation or experiment. Each one of these set criteria is given a point value and the teacher gives points based on the student’s end product. Basically if the student did everything in the assignment that was required, then the teacher gives the maximum amount of points. If the student was lacking in some areas, the teacher gives the student the appropriate points based on the Rubric.

The one thing I like about the Rubric is the guidelines. When a Rubric is involved, there is no question as to what the teacher expects the student to do. If the student wants a perfect score, then the student has to complete all of the requirements in the highest point value column. Grades no longer become subjective to teacher bias or poorly stated expectations.

To share a Rubric, a teacher can use Rubistar to create and save Rubrics that apply to their classroom. I like Rubistar because there are templates on the website that can be altered to fit the assignment and you don’t have to reinvent the “Rubric” wheel. The Rubric I created has to do with a Social Studies report on the Battle of Antietam. Teachers can also share the Rubrics with the class and the parents of the students. By communicating with the students and parents, the teacher expresses her/his expectations about the assignment and there should be no questions about what is expected.

The activity of creating a Rubric online complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number 3, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. The idea of putting expectations and guidelines into a Rubric form demonstrates the teacher’s use of digital technology in order to convey assignment details to the student. When teacher use sites like Rubistar, the teacher is showing the students different ways to grade work that is nontraditional, but beneficial to the student. Rubrics are important in student learning when it comes to following directions, setting goals and meeting expectations.