The Rubric

Our last post was a basic Formative Assessment Piece for a Spoken Word Workshop for 5th Graders. We are pushing the idea that the language and processes of assessment should be a standard part of the professional Teaching Artists toolkit. (For some, it's already de rigueur.)

The Assessment piece we are working around is basic, because the goal right now is simply to break down an effective way to do this kind of stuff.

So, what's the next step? We asked the hive-mind for feedback and one cool response is reprinted below. I really dig it, because it's clear and it aligns with our value system, which requires that we honor students by asking them to take some responsibilty for their own learning.

So step 1 in the assessment project you set up for the 5th graders is to make a rubric, preferably with them, and share it with the class. This lets the kids know what the expectations are, how they can meet them, and how they can surpass them. You can record asking the kids questions on their comprehension of this rubric at the start, record peer to peer critique the kids give each other using this rubric in the middle, and then measure student performance against the rubric at the end. That’s a basic and quick structure in which you establish data, measure its process, and record its outcomes.

Thank you dear reader.

In our next post, I'll ask you to take a look at an assessment piece that will come later in the workshop. This one should build on past work, and students should be aware of the criteria for success. I'll also do some musing on the difference between being able to parrot the right answer, and actually understanding something in a way that is enduring and useful.

Also: Bryan Ferry - More Than This