I have been thinking a bunch about rubrics recently, and as a result I decided I would write a bit about them.
I guess we should start with what a rubric is. For what I am going to be talking about the Merriam-Webster definition is: a guide listing specific criteria for grading or scoring academic papers, projects, or test.
The next thing I should say is that I have never been a good rubric provider as a teacher, and that isn’t a good thing the more I think on it. I have been teaching for 22 years now and over that time I have tried rubrics and then gotten rid of them and then brought them back in different forms. I think that early on in my teaching career I didn’t see the purpose for them, “None of my college teachers provided me with a rubric so why should I provide my students with one” was always my mindset. I remember writing a rubric early on and my students hated it. They felt it was worthless, and so I abandoned it.
Finally a couple/few years ago I took a class on assessment and I had someone explain the usefulness of a rubric. That class also provided useful feedback and comments on how to write a good rubric. I did it for one assignment, and it took a lot of work to design. When I then used it in class for the first time the students said it helped then better understand and “buy into” the assignment. The point of the rubric that I wrote not only showed the student how to earn points in different categories, but it also gave the reason for each section and why I was asking a student to do specific things. That took the rubric from just a list of things that showed students how to earn points on an assignment to giving purpose for doing it.
Now as a parent I have worked with my kids and I have found that rubrics are being used in their classes as well (sometimes) to varying successfulness. “A” has a teacher that produces basic rubric but then doesn’t hold to them. More specifically the teachers adds in extra requirements towards the end of the assignment time that aren’t in the rubric. That irritates me as a teacher (and as a parent). I have told “A” to ignore the added points and to turn in what is laid out in the rubric if she wants to and I would back her if she were to get graded down for things not in the rubric. Thankfully, that hasn’t happened yet. “G” also has rubrics for her writing assignments that I have seen and they are well laid out rubrics. I would say that “G” does a good job following along with them and tries her best to hit all the marks to get the best grade she can. She is still working on the mechanics of the writing, but the big ideas she seems to get. I think that having the rubric is a good thing for her and they way her brain works.
So, what about my classes and where I need to go in the future. I thin kI really need to spend time soon (summer) and design rubrics for my smaller assessments in class (homework assignments mostly) and as I write that I realize that I should be able to do it fairly quickly on a day when I have time and not wait until the summer. Now that I think on it, maybe on top of a written rubric, maybe I should do a video rubric type thing. Something where I explain in detail what I am looking for in a given type of question. I wonder if that would help my online students understand better what I am looking for in a solution to a homework question? Does a video count as a rubric or is that just a visual aid?
Once I get my “homework rubric” for physics written I think I will post it up here. Then you can all critique it.