Week Four--Rubric Construction and the Classroom

I. The reading for this week was Chapter 4 (Rubric Construction and the Classroom) from our text Introduction to Rubrics, with highlights from the chapter:

• Five models of how rubric construction can be integrated into classroom teaching, beginning with the rubric you create alone and ending with a model in which the teacher creates the assingment and the students create the rubric, working together in groups.
• Three good reasons for integrating rubric construction into classroom teaching: 1) It prevents misunderstanding and misinterpretations before they affect student work; this makes for happier students and happier graders; 2) It increases student awarness of themselves as "stakeholders" in the educational process, which, in turn results in greater student involvement in the tasks assigned and greater professionalism and creativity; 3) It can actually cut down your workload by letting your students do some of it--that is, create part of their own assessment tool.
• Students can tell us three basic things we need to know in order to make our explanation relevant: 1) They tell us what they already know; 2) They tell us what they don't know; 3) They tell us what misconceptions and misunderstandings they have about the assignment.

II. Fellow cohort, Doug Brtek, led the seminar for GMIT 660--two of his proposed questions:

Question #1:

According to the text, the five rubric models are suggested for a specific audience to be fully effective. Review the characteristics for each model, then consider your experience of using a rubric for a specific class. As an instructor, are the environments you are using rubrics in agreement with the suggestions of the text? Should you consider revising your current methods when involving students in creating a rubric?

Feel free to comment on your exposure to constructing a rubric as a student. As a student, do you agree with these suggested environments? Why or why not? (Feel free to answer either question)

Presentation Model: suited for large, lower-division, undergraduate classes where lecture is the primary forms of delivery.

Feedback Model: suited for smaller, lower-division, undergraduate courses where discussion is part of the normative teaching style.

Pass-the-Hat Model: small to medium size classes(fewer than thirty students) at any level where discussion is part of the teaching method.

Post-it Model: intended for large, complex, end-of-term assignments.

4x4Model: suited for large, content-heavy assignments such as term projects or research papers.

Fellow cohorts responded quite extensively with numerous examples of how we use rubrics in our own experiences in the classroom, and thoughts on the different models presented. Those who are not yet instructors presented great ideas on how they perceived rubric construction for the classroom.

Doug also provided us with some other great resources to glean information from on rubrics and how they affect our teaching and grading experiences in the classroom! Doug did a great job in leading the seminar and keeping the threads going!

Question #2:

I wanted to show another side of rubrics. The text has gone into great lengths about how successful and vital rubrics can be, but this article talks about some things that are still not right with rubrics.
Take a look at the journal entry and see if you agree/disagree with the author's opinion.
http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=9&n=2

Participants shared some lively discussion on how rubrics have to be carefully constructed for different types of students and different types of assignments! Some other good resources on rubrics were also presented!

III. My reflections in relation to the "Reflecting on the Seminar" questions:

1) I did feel very engaged by Doug's questions and provided resources. He did some good research and provided great material for us to reflect on and discuss!

2) I learned a lot more about rubrics, and plan to use these resources as I move along in my teaching career for sure!

3) I will investigate further how I can use the suggested ideas and resources in my teaching!

4) I was surprised how rubrics are such an important part of teaching and how most of us didn't realize their power and potential!

5) I feel that I participated at a graduate level in this seminar; I shared with the cohort what I have attempted with rubrics and how I feel the need to continue using them even more in all classes I will teach! I felt that the seminar was a great learning experience for us all; we all did a great job of sharing and reflecting!

6) The seminar format was a great educational tool for us, and will continue to be throughout the rest of the course!

Week Four--Theories of the Life Course

I. Chapter 4 (Theories of the Life Course) reading from text Learning and Change in the Adult Years with highlights from the chapter:

• Experience, and the ability to reflect upon and learn from that experience, emerges as a key factor in the formation of adult personality and social roles.
• The life course is described in terms of a sequence of stages through which one progresses, at least ideally.
• The identity of adult education as a field of study is largely premised on the identity of the adult.
• Many adult education programs are explicity designed to promote personal change or development, and are geared towards addressing life-span concerns.
• Levinson: Each era has its distinct and unifying character of living. Each transition between eras thus requires a basic change in the character of one's life.
• Gilligan: Terms like separateness, autonomy, and independence are essentially male values and females value relationships and responsibilities, empathy and attachment, and interdependence rather than independence.
• Caffarella and Olson: Interpersonal relationships are extremely important to women's self-concept.

II. Fellow cohort, Kelly Findley and I led a student-directed seminar on this week's topic--here are a couple of questions Kelly proposed and my overall view of how the discussions went:

Question #1:

Gilligan (page 74) states that terms like separateness, autonomy, and independence are essentially male values and relationships and responsibilities, empathy and attachment, and interdependence are female values. Do you agree or disagree with Gilligan’s assessment? Has the advancement of women in leadership roles in what was once considered a “man’s world” changed the descriptive terms used to express women and men values?

This question resulted in a record number of replies, I think! There was plenty of good discussion on the topic, one that with difference between genders being the focus, was understandably controversial.

Question #2:

The text contained a number of theories that depict adult development by using stages and phases to show progression from child to adulthood. Some of these dealt with only male or female subjects while others integrated the two genders. Among the most notable models were: 1) Levinson’s theory regarding the four eras of the life cycle (page 71); 2) Caffarella & Olson’s study of women based on Levinson’s model (page 75); 3) Maslow’s theory of self-actualization (page 85); and 4) Erikson’s theory composed of 8 psychosocial stages (page 88). In your opinion, which approach seems to give the best explanation of adult development and why?

There was a lot of good sharing here, also! Cohorts shared their views on the four theories, which led to lively discussion!

Kelly and I also provided some good internet resources on the topic, which also sparked some good discussion!

III. In response to the reflection questions on the seminar provided in "Leading a Seminar" document provided by our instructor:

• Kelly and I chose good resources and questions to present to the seminar participants! We had a lot of fun planning and leading the seminar!
• I am quite comfortable in a leadership role with my peers. I have gained a lot of confidence in this area over the past year or so, with most of the thanks going to this online program!
• I think the participants enjoyed the discussions on the material we supplied for the seminar and we all learned quite a bit!
• I think the seminar has been an excellent educational tool, and especially on this topic!