What's Rubrics Got To Do With It? (hint: everything)

Hey guys,

Recently my class was asked to think about what the difference between a good, and a bad rubric were, meaning, what makes something a quality rubric, and what makes a rubric vague, unclear, and ultimately unhelpful?

To answer this question I want to compare two rubrics, one good, one bad, and explain the differences.

Source:
http://southbayrobot.com/2018/09/socratic-seminar-lesson-plan-template/socratic-seminar-lesson-plan-template-rubric-examples-study-com/

Above is an example of a rubric for a socratic-style class discussion. 

Beginning with the Preparation category, how is not understanding the reading something to dock students on? I am not a strong reader, I understand that, accept it, and make any and all efforts I can in order to get through the material. Should this rubric have been implemented when I was in a class study Shakespeare, I would have failed miserably, as reading is not one of my strong suits. Thus, as I didn't understand the reading, I came to class expecting to take notes on the discussion our class would have over the text, and make note of any key concepts or motifs that I had overlooked due to my inability to dig as deep in the text as my classmates. But, as all students do, I would sometimes zone out in the middle of these discussions, and therefore miss some ideas and notes over the material. Additionally, because I was taking notes and trying to compare the discussion to my (limited) understanding of the text, rarely, if ever, did I speak up and contribute to the class discussion. Thus, for a student like me who's struggling to understand the readings, a rubric like this will, for lack of a better term, tank their grade. At most I would have gotten a "Mastery" in listening if it was a good day, and a "proficient" every other day. Further, I would have not scored very high in both preparation and speaking, as I took class time to try to understand what I had read, versus trying to find the hidden depth as to why the curtains are blue.

A rubric like this does not account for students who have other kinds of intelligences; since this rubric is based upon one's ability to understand the reading, it solely benefits students with a verbal-linguistic  intelligence. 

Source:
https://wisc.pb.unizin.org/teachonlinerubrics/chapter/types-of-rubrics/

Above is an example of, what I consider to be, a quality rubric.

Though this rubric is used to assess writing assignments, I believe that one can clearly see the differences and the improvements that have been made in comparison to the first rubric I provided. Specifically, this rubric takes a more holistic and open-ended look at the assessment of the material. By merely saying that, in the Focus Category, to get a high score that one must clearly state their position and give well-chosen reasons gives the student being assessed under this rubric ample opportunity to earn a high grade. With such vague language, as well as no limits on needing to have X amount of sources, or having X literary devices incorporated into the essay, the focus is more on the message of the paper and the persuasion of the author. Additionally, the language that this rubric uses to describe what is needed to receive a high score is very positive. By phrasing the description in a way that places more emphasis on the reader's ability to understand the argument versus shunning kids for grammar mistakes gives allows students to be relieved of the pressure to pass in a flawless piece of work, versus one that contains a powerful argument. Again, with the focus being on the students ideas versus their execution gives students motivation to put their full effort into an assignment they may not be passionate about. 

More than Face Value: Incorporating Deeper Knowledge into our Units

'Sup guys

Last week my EDU 222 class began a lot different than it normal does. Our instructor had us get into small groups and handed us card from the The Extraordinaires® Design Studio PRO card set each of which had a unique character that we had to interpret to be one of the students in our classroom. Though we could only make assumptions from the design on the front, on the back there were three other pictures that gave deeper insight to the "student."

As a group, we had to make inferences about the students, who they are as students, what their learning style is, and other various factors that give us, as educators, deeper insight into our classroom dynamic. In the beginning, we had to make inferences of one student, known as "Tribal Child" (Mowgli as our group so lovingly referred to him... straight up this kid looked like a carbon copy of Mowgli). Mowgli, we assumed by the picture on the front of the card, that he came from a low-income family and had had little schooling in his life time, which contributed to his distaste for school. Additionally, we made the assumption that he valued family very much, as in the picture he was being taught by an elder how to use a bow-and-arrow, while his younger brother sat close by.

While we made assumptions about Mowgli and who is as a student, eventually we were given three other cards with different characters whom also suppose to be "students" in our classroom, and of whom we also had to make inferences about who they were as students based solely on the front of the card.

Eventually, after we finally overturned the cards, we learned more about each student as an individual that we would not have been able to conclude had we just looked at the front of the card; we learned that one of our students was a father, the second lived in a restrictive household and felt isolated from her school community, and the last one was a very awkward kid who turned out to have a passion for music. Without filling these cards over, we would have had had a full picture of these students.

In the grand scheme, we had to design a GRASPS project in a subject other than our concentrations (we picked economics) that would accommodate the differences between all of the students and allow for them to thrive in their own unique ways. As a group, we decided to create a role-playing version of life, in which students would pick a career that they were interested in pursuing after high school, researching said career and figuring out what they would need to do in order to achieve their career goal, as well as figuring out how to budget based on the income of their career-of-choice.

As a future educator, I feel that this activity is very beneficial as we begin our journey as an educator. As we begin planning units, we need to be aware of the differences amongst our students, as well as their backgrounds as it can influence their ability to understand the material or complete the work their assigned. By being aware of students' background gives us insight as to how we should approach material, whether or not students will be able to complete some assignments (ex. if a student does not have internet at home, they may not be able to complete some assignments requiring internet access), or if they have a home life that prevents them from being able to work on group projects as they do not have access to the transportation need or they have over protective parents that prevent them from going out. By being able to recognize the different backgrounds of your students, you'll better be able to plan a unit that everyone is able to participate in, rather than a unit that students from "picturesque" backgrounds.

TPACK in the Classroom: High School French Class

When I was in high school, there were very few classes that made it a point to integrate technology in a meaningful way that would enhance our learning... except one.

In high school, my French teacher, Mme Duquette, always seemed to have a way to incorporate technology of some sort into what we were learning. Whether it be making movies and having us voice over the visual component, having us record ourselves reading or having a conversation, creating comic strips written in French, to world interactive maps, there was always some way for us as students to reinforce and build on our learning.

Specifically, one of the most crucial moments that I remember as a student in the class, as well as a student teacher in the class, where the various recording that we had to do. Being first taught the words, the phrases, and the syntax, Mme Duquette supplied us with all the resources that we needed in order to properly speak in French. However, the point of the recordings was a way for her to check in on our development, our pronunciation (which was the thing I struggled most with), and to make sure that we understood the complex syntax of the language. In addition to acting as a formative assessment tracking our understanding, Mme Duquette also used the records as an opportunity to individually provide the support that each student needed. Example, since I struggled with pronunciation, Mme Duquette would use records as a chance to correct my mistakes by sending me proper pronunciations of words I struggled with. In a subtle way that allowed me to correct my mistakes without being embarrassed in front of my classmates for my inability to speak, I received the help I needed in a sort of 1:1 manner.

As Mme Duquette incorporated the use of technology into her pedagogy, as she provided many ways for us to use technology in a way that would appease our learning styles as well as our individual needs as students, I feel that I took more out of her class than out of any other class. By the time senior year rolled around, I had gone from a timid Freshman unsure of my capabilities to speak foreign language to a enthusiastic senior who was more confident in her ability to speak French, but who also made note of the various forms of activities used in French class to hopefully one day apply it to my own classroom (fun fact, I was awarded most-improved French Student my at the end of my senior year, but honestly I'm still not great at pronunciation). 

I feel I had a positive experience with the TPACK model in my French class, even though I am not sure that was the intention of my teacher to follow it. Today, I would be interested to see what suggestions Mme Duquette could make to help me to have the same sort of model in my future Math classroom. Given that French and Math are two totally distinct fields, I want to learn how to have such a successful model of teaching and learning within my classroom.

Google Apps in the Mathematics Classroom: A Narrative.

As a future math teacher, I still struggle to see how technology can be integrated into the classroom. However, I feel that the Google Apps Forums and Sheets provide avenues in which students are able to incorporate technology into the classroom.

Imagine...
You are a mathematics teacher who's been working diligently to incorporate technology into your classroom, as you know how educators are able to do so in other classes, and you want to give your students the opportunity to explore technology in all of their core academic classes.
The night before, you created a Google form to poll your students of their hobbies, interests, and favorite things. Upon the arrival of your students, you administer the Google Form that you created. You don't tell your students the purpose of the activity, but rather just tell them to take ten minutes to fill it out at the beginning of the class. As students start finishing, one by one the rows on a Google Sheet that is linked to the form begin filling with information. You are able to see whose favorite sports team is the Patriots, what extracurricular activities your students participate in, and what flavor of ice cream is everyone's favorite.
Though your students don't realize, you are about to teach them about probability, and how to create graphs using the information they have just provided you. Using their answers, you and your students are able to calculate the probability of if they were to choose three people at random, how many students favorite ice cream would be strawberry, the probability someone being involved with jazz band, and the probability of students not being a fan of sports. By using Google Forms, you as the teacher are able to begin the lesson in a fun and engaging way that gives you the opportunity to learn more about your student, but as well as a chance for them to find similarities between themselves and among their peers.
Yet the lesson does not end at the form. Looking at the spreadsheet filled out with your students' answers, you are able to use that information to create graphs to reflect the statistics and the probability of the information. By being able to create charts within the spreadsheet that reflects the data collected, students are able to visualize the information they originally thought nothing of, and are able to manipulate it various way to not only understand the lesson in a hands-on manner but as well as to help students build community within the classroom, as they are able to find students with similar interests and hobbies.

I strongly believe that if you can't visualize math, it is almost impossible to fully understand it. Therefore, I am excited to play more with Google Forms and Google Sheets and integrate them into my unit and lessons to come, as they provide ways for students to see they're learning in action!

Playlist Reflecting My Belief of Technology in Education

Recently, I was assigned to create a playlist of songs reflecting my belief of the role of technology in teaching and learning. The songs I chose are as follows:

Everybody Talks by Neon Trees:
Tech and social media platforms give opportunity for people from all different walks of life to contribute to the global conversation revolving around education. This ability to contribute gives people the opportunity to share anything and everything they consider to be helpful, including tools, advice and resources for fellow educators, and educators specifically in their concentration area. Additionally, social media can act as a network for personal and professional development as an educator within the educational world.

Tape Deck by Jack Johnson:
Technology has multiple roles in the classroom, and because of the endless possibilities that tech in education poses, we as educators should be open to trying new things, being ready and willing to fail, being open to learning from our mistakes all the while holding excitement and optimistic of how we can best reach our students and appeal to their learning styles via the use of technology (i.e, determining what apps we can use to help students develop their understanding of a subject area).

Good People by Jack Johnson
Sometimes it's hard to recognize the role that technology can play in the mathematics classroom, and teachers can be hesitant to try new things or to incorporate new technologies into their practices. But, as tech becomes an integral part of the educational experience, it's important to overcome our fears and biases of technology in mathematics classrooms!

Here's the link to my playlist!

EDU 222 TyPoetry

Hey guys! 

In my EDU 222 Class, we had to compose a poem using Typography, one describing what we believe the role technology should play in teaching and learning, and then a second one describing an important concept from our concentration area (mine is math)! I hope you guys enjoy!

An important concept from my concentration area; It may not be in the curriculum, but understanding that math isn't a race is an important lesson that I think everyone should know! It took me years to understand that. I thought that if I didn't understand the material when it was first being taught, that I was stupid, but that is not the case! Everyone learns at their own speed, and some people may grasp concepts faster than other people do. You are your own person, and you will, with enough practice, eventually understand!

What I believe the role of technology has in teaching and learning; technology has so much to offer in terms of resources and new ways of explanation. Today, there are endless possibilities for what you can learn and what you can use to teach using technology. I am excited to see what the future holds for the education system!

Fall 2018 Practicum Class Norms:

Hey Guys!

Here's the list of Class Norms that my EDU 222 Class establish!