Chapter 10: Make Assessment Count
Rubrics are very important to be able to understand. I have done so much with rubrics over my college and teaching career that I honestly do not like looking at them anymore. We had to do so many of them through our coursework that just looking at them turned me off of them. With that said, I know it is a must to have. It allows students to know what is expected of them and helps to put their writing on the correct tract. Knowing the six traits of writing is very important to make sure that we have a clear goal set in place and to help us throughout our writing process. I know I would be a better writer today if I had a teacher that encouraged me and made writing fun. This was not the case. I dreaded writing and sometimes still struggle with it. When I have to write a paper for a class or for my job it is hard for me to do. It takes me a long time and I struggle with making sure it flows and has a good structure to it. That is why I am trying really hard to make it easier and more fun for my students’. If they view it as fun and not a chore, they will be more successful writers. Later in the chapter it talked about test anxiety. There is so much to be said about this, but I am only going to touch it briefly. I think it is important for the teacher to not put so much emphasis on the test itself. This stresses the teacher and students out. It is important, but there is a more positive way to go about teaching the necessary materials. Assessing student writing is something that happens daily in my classroom. I have a feeling a lot of teachers do it without even realizing they are assessing it. By just walking around the room and giving pointers to students, this is a form of assessment. As teachers we are always doing this.
We've been using a 6 trait rubric for writing at my school, at least in my grade level, but I think a problem with our rubric is that it's not child and parent friendly. It lists the traits and gives a score, but it doesn't tell what the score means or what the trait includes. For example, it just says conventions and gives a score. I've learned that the majority of parents have NO idea what conventions are! I plan to revise this rubric for next year to make it more child and parent friendly by using explanations of what should be done to demonstrate the traits effectively (ex- "I used capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for specific names of people and places"). I think this will help my students and their parents understand where scores are coming from.
ReplyDeleteYou have such a good point about assessment and how we are often doing it when we don't even realize it! Assessment does not always have to be formal. I realized that I assess my students in writing all the time when I walk around the room and check to see where they're at with their writing and how they're doing. I also found out that when I'm doing that I'm performing roving conferences! I think taking notes about students and their progress while I do this could make it a more formal type of assessment if I want it to be.
I think the feedback students get from us through assessment is very important. Whether the feedback comes from conferences or a rubric, students need to know how they're doing. One chapter talked about the importance of verbally communicating with your students to give them feedback because they really don't spend the time reading your written comments on their paper. I plan to comment on my students' writing more through verbal communication than through writing next year.
Michelle
I agree that test anxiety is an important thing to keep in mind when teaching. Teachers can either contribute to this anxiety or calm it. I think you are right that when students see us stressing about the test we are only hurting them. It is more important to teach students that writing is useful and can be enjoyable than to worry about the test.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of a rubric are that they are in black and white and are made to drive the writer in the right direction. I completely agree that we are constantly assessing our students informally the only disadvantage of this is that often times we see where the imporvement is needed but we do not let the learner in on this piece of information due to time or we just do ot relay the message...I really like to have a rubric but it must be specific. Scoring writing can be so subjective and we can be overly critical in how our learners are developing...and this is what they are doing...DEVELOPING! Rock On!
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