Module 5a

This module helped me think about student-centered assessment in the following ways…

                As I was working through the Module Five online, I went in order of the pages so I worked with Rubistar before I read the material in the Intel E-Reader.  I realized after reading the material I would definitely need to tweak the rubric I had created.  I had neglected to include in the rubric a standard that directly addressed my Curriculum Framing Questions and a standard that gave students credit for following instructions and including characters from their novel in their news story.

                When I was teaching, I would take my objectives for a unit and create a test or assessment based on my objectives I wished to accomplish.  This would be my first step.  Since the test or assessment was done at the beginning of creating my unit, I would know exactly what I would need to include in my lesson plans to meet my objectives.  As I was creating my student sample, I had an idea of what would be in my rubric but I wished I had created the rubric first.  If I had created the rubric first, I would have asked my students to include a picture or graphic in the student sample.  I feel this would have met 21^st century skills component in my project.

                In my student sample, I wanted for them to include references for their news articles.  I know that this is not typical in a newspaper but for an English teacher, it is extremely important that students learn to cite sources.  I should also include this in my rubric.  As I was reading through the module, I did become concerned that I may have too many traits in my rubric.  When doing student-centered assessment, it is important to really determine the goal for the product.  What do you want the students to know after creating their project?  A rubric should ultimately determine their success in meeting that goal.  For me, I would need to know that they can answer my Curriculum Framing Questions, cite sources, and be able to do research either using a primary or secondary source.  I feel also it is important to be specific about each trait so that it is easy to assign a score.  Through this module, I really felt strongly that I wished I had worked backwards and designed the rubric before producing my student sample.  I think I would have felt more confident about my student sample being judged in my unit.