Rubistar

After using rubistar to help me create my own rubric, I've discovered that Rubistar is a wonderful tool to teachers! I can see how it would be a time and energy saver because you wouldn't have to make a rubric from scratch. If you want to change, add or remove the criteria for any of the categories you have that ability. The site is free and gives teachers rubrics based on topics in each academic subject. Using Rubistar, teachers can create their own rubrics or they can search for rubrics created by other teachers.

I used Rubistar to make my rubric entitled, "Oral Presentation Rubric: 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'". The categories I chose to compose my rubric are pitch, speaks clearly, attire, listens to others presentations, preparedness, and collaboration with peers. The rubric is based on a lesson plan I made for Teaching Language Arts, it is a reading lesson. As an activity the students work in groups to act out "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". I like that by using Rubistar I was able to customize the rubric to adjust it to my liking. The rubric was generally more for an oral presentation and not necessarily a play, but with Rubistar I changed the rubric to be based on a performance viewed by the class.

Rubrics

A rubric is "a scoring tool that lists the criteria for a piece of work or 'what counts.'" Rubrics help the student figure out how their project will be evaluated.
(http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=WhatIs&module=Rubistar)
If a student is given a rubric they cannot say that they are not aware of what the assignment asked for.

I think rubrics are helpful in the classroom. After watching the video "Rethinking Rubrics" I came to the conclusion that maybe rubrics were being taken too seriously in that teacher's situation. I don't think a rubric is supposed to limit a student's creativity, it should be a guide or template for the assignment which the students are asked to complete. However, a student should still be encouraged to go above and beyond the outline of the rubric. Rubrics, I feel are more of a tool for teachers to grade the students' work, they can base the students grade on what the students were expected to accomplish.

Learning Targets

A learning target focuses instruction and assessment, and it also focuses students and teacher on the knowledge and skills intended for learning.

A learning target gives the teacher and students something to work toward. Students and the teacher know what they have to achieve to meet the learning target.

In younger grades, a learning target could be as simple as a student completing a picture of a plane when doing a unit on air transportation. In older grades, learning targets can be more complex.

Learning goals or targets are necessary because if the students and the teacher know what they are supposed to accomplish, it is easier to assess the achievement of the students.

There are different kinds of learning targets, mastery learning targets and developmental learning targets.

Mastery learning targets are more assignment specific while developmental learning targets teach students lessons that they can reuse in different situations.

Bloom's Taxonomy is a guide to creating learning targets, they can have different focuses such as knowledge and abilities, feelings and interests, or motor skills.

Fairness in Assessment

"Fairness means that an assessment should 'allow for students of both genders and all backgrounds to do equally well. All students should have equal opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge being assessed.'"
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as5relia.htm

In order for assessment to be considered to be fair, teachers need to ensure that assessments truly math the learning objectives and also ensure that the consequences serve students and their learning; if a student does poorly on an assignment, it is only right that the student understands why they did poorly and how to correct their mistakes for next time.

Fairness in Assessment is based on how reliable and how valid an assessment is. In order for a student's work to be judged, the student needs to know what they are being asked for. Also, students' assignments need to be assessed one by one, it isn't fair to base a student's work on what kind of work they typically hand in or their behavior. Assessment needs to be consistent because if not students will slack off and not reach their full potential.

What is Assessment?

“Assessment is a process for obtaining feedback for making a particular educational decision. Assessment is a broad term meaning a process for obtaining information that is used for making decisions about students’ curricula, programs, and schools.” Assessment is used to evaluate where a student stands in terms of his/her strengths and weaknesses in the classroom.

Two forms of assessment are summative assessment and formative assessment.
Formative assessment is used to measure how much of a subject a student has grasped while still learning the subject. The assessment is for the teacher to know what to do next in terms of the student’s learning. Formative assessment can be based on in class activities and homework among other things.
Summative assessment is used to measure the complete achievement of a student when the learning process is finished. Summative assessment is done using test grades and report cards.

Assessment is important and necessary because it judges a child’s progress. Assessing students can help a teacher create lessons and activities for the students so they can catch up to where they need to be.

Introduction

My name is Kassandra Ayala. I'm majoring in American Studies and Elementary Education. I've wanted to become a teacher since I was about seven years old. I've always loved little kids especially after my sister was born. I'm a work-study in the Education Department. I've had a lot of experience working with children, I volunteered at an after-school program my junior year of high school, my senior year I worked at the same after-school program but in a different school, and this summer that just passed I worked at Kiddie Academy(a preschool/daycare). Working with children is not only something I like to do, but also something I do well. I want to start off as a teacher for either Kindergarten or 5th grade, those grades being my favorite. In the long run I'd like to open my own preschool. I live in Staten Island, NY and chose to attend Saint Peter's because it's close enough to home that I can go home whenever I want but far enough away that I can live on campus.