Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment
If you are a teacher you are definitely familiar with the two terms above. Assessment refers to “any method used to understand the current knowledge a student possesses; it can range from a teacher's subjective judgment based on a single observation of a student's performance to a state-mandated standardized test” (Shelly, Gunter, and Gunter). When most people think of assessment, they automatically think of a test, standardized test, or other form of written testing assessment. This is the more traditional form of assessment. With traditional assessment, the teacher is creating a type of assessment tool that will be given to the students. On the other hand, authentic assessment means the students creates something that the teacher will then use as a tool for evaluation. For example, having students create a final project, a digital story, or science fair project. These type of activities allow students to have more control of what grade they get, show what they can do, and provides for a real-life assessment. Another example is a student created portfolio. In the past, I have used this for student evaluation rather than giving a test. This way, students are allowed to show me what they can do outside of just a written test.
For my curriculum page and final project, I am having my students create a digital story about an influential American. Since this project has several components to it, the best way to evaluate students is through a rubric. What I love about rubrics is that students can essentially choose their grade. It shows students what they must complete in order to get an A, B, C, D, or F. Rubrics also “spell out” for students what they are expected to do. Personally, I think it also makes it clear to students why they received a grade so there are no questions about it. During my internship, I had my students work on a very extensive project that took about a month and a half to complete. At the beginning we not only went over all the directions and expectations, but we went over the rubric I had created. It seemed to clear up a lot of questions the students had. It also worked great because the students used it as a check list.
For my influential American’s project I chose to create a rubric that would assess my students in multiple areas of the assignment. Not only are they going to be assessed on the content of the project, but also the planning and creation of the project. When doing something like a digital story, there is a huge range of things to evaluate your students on. I chose to evaluate my students on grammar, purpose, voice, duration, research/citations, and storyboard. I felt for my class these would be the best areas to assess my 4th grade ESOL students. I used RubiStar to create my rubric. Through RubiStar, you can create your own rubric or you can use the templates that they offer. I used some of the information from one rubric that they had created, but edited it to fit my needs.
If I were to do something different, I would have modified/added a few more areas to the rubric. I found it difficult to make the wording of it easy for my students to understand. Also, on RubiStar, you cannot add information outside of the rubric boxes. When I downloaded it, I was able to add to the bottom a grading scale and the maximum number of points available for the students. For next time, I may try to just make my own on Excel or use another free site.
Here is another link to my rubric: http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&module=Rubistar&rubric_id=2042936&
I really liked how your rubric came out; I liked how you started from the best score to the lowest score. I did it the opposite, the only thing I didn’t understand was the scoring, 6,4,2,0? If you add up all the sixes you get a forty-two, I thought it had to add up to 100? Anyhow I still feel like you did a great job with your rubric, you said you used a template and it helped you as a guide. I did the same thing with IRubric, it was helpful and easy, all I had to do was to add my own information. I am excited to see your whole project when its all said and done, it is most similar to mine and cant wait to see it completed
ReplyDelete"It also worked great because the students used it as a check list."
ReplyDeleteDid you spell this out to your students? Even my high schoolers seem to miss this fairly simple strategy. Those students who follow the rubric tend to do well. Those that don't generally end up confused when they get their project grade.
I liked what you did with your rubric. I thought you were especially thorough on your Storyboard section. I considered adding that to my own rubric then decided not to in the end. Since my students were creating a Prezi, it didn't seem necessary.
Thanks for your post!
After looking at your rubric I was impressed with how thorough you were. I was confused on what grade level and the weight for each component within the rubric would be. I used the iRubric which allowed me to add that as a component. As I have looked through some other rubrics it seems that RubiStar didn’t give that option. For me it was easier to use the iRubric because it allowed for me to quickly click the box and an auto cummulator that produced a grade percentage.
ReplyDeleteI liked the way that you presented the project, gave reasons why it was important and explained how it was to be used for the future project for our class. This allowed the audience to get a broad picture without having to read all of your blogs. It was also useful that you included why it was important for rubric to be used. I think that your rubric and plan for the student project mix well together.
Additionally I like how you were specific in that your project was for ESOL and forth grade. This helped me to understand better what the reasoning behind some of the categories were. Your rubric also seemed universal, as in you could use it multiple times on different projects throughout the year to show growth. I think except for showing the weight of each category it will be great for your final project.