Interactive learning quests, book reviews, lesson plans, teacher tools and technology tips for teachers.
Rubrics Made Easy
Why don’t teachers like to make rubrics? Because it’s difficult and time consuming. But that all changes with this tool!
Wow! I am pumped! I just returned from the Google Summit in Lethbridge and couldn’t be more excited about the multitude of new tools available with Google for Education. At the summit I presented a session highlighting new way to use Google sheets to lighten your work load when it comes to making rubrics for any classroom activity! Intrigued? Read on!
In my role as Assessment Coach for our school division, it’s my job to help teachers implement best practices when it comes to assessment. To this end I’ve been using doing a lot of research and having great conversations with teachers about how to involve kids in their own assessment. Can our students be involved in the process of collecting, organizing and presenting their evidence of learning. Better yet, can they be responsible for it? Yes. Yes. YES!
How? First of all we have to let them know what their learning goals are. This is where outcome or standards based assessment shines. When we share with our students the targets we want them to hit it gives them confidence to streamline their efforts toward those goals. Clearly identifying those goals and communicating them to your students is the first step to success.
One way to accomplish such a lofty goal is to break open the rubrics! (And yes, it is just one of our goals, but an important one.) Well built rubrics use specific language that allow students to see clearly defined expectations of work quality and depth of understanding. Rubrics are useful, however, not as an after thought for marking student work. Instead rubrics must be used at the beginning of the learning process as a means to involve the students in identifying their learning goals and being invested in the assessment process. When used in this way, rubrics provide the road map for learning success.
The challenge? Designing well built rubrics is downright difficult! Time and time again, teachers express to me how difficult it is to come up with the right wording for their rubric. It’s a time consuming process that must be repeated and tailored to each new activity, project, unit or lesson. My question is… why keep re-inventing the wheel? What if we could have a bank of rubric descriptors that we could use for a variety of different purposes. What if we could use that descriptor bank in a myriad of combinations to populate and make a custom rubric for each unit or all the performance based activities within a unit. Yes… what if? That was my thinking when I decided to make interactive rubrics.
These rubrics are: (use slides)
Interested? Here’s how the interactive rubrics work. Watch this:
Can you see the possibilities? Could this same process be applied to make other useful tools for assessment in the classroom? Absolutely!
The response from teachers throughout our school division—to this time-saving tool— has been phenomenal. They love it! It’s so good that we can’t keep it to ourselves. I’ want to pass these helpful tools on to my subscribers. If you are interested then subscribe here to my newsletter and I’ll send you a very special access to a pre-built science rubrics for any grade 1 – 9 ( Disclaimer: They are built for the Alberta Curriculum, but I suspect that with some minor tweaking in the wording they can fit your curriculum, too. They are totally editable but not edible.) You’ll also get access to a prebuilt blank rubric, and step by step video instructions on how to use them to make your own interactive rubrics for any subject.
As always, those who sign up will find these language posters included. 
It’s my goal to empower all of you with the tools you need to make it easy to implement best practice assessment in the classroom. I’m here to help anytime. Just email me at sharon@questteaching.com
Best,
Sharon
P.S. I’d love to hear how you use these rubrics in your classroom. Respond in the comments below or drop me a line!
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How do we go about this?For example, math teachers could make math word problems for several grades. Social studies teachers could make a map of Australia and have students locate the places where certain peoples live, or work. Learners then answer questions to a short reading. Science for primary could have a station where small stuffed animals are hanging from a fake tree. A young learner could hold a koala as he or she listens to a recording or video about this marsupial. Then, he or she chooses a paper object, such as eucalyptus leaves, that relates to the koala.
Best,
Lynn
If your school has taken on this academic and mental health school adventure, please tell me of your experience. What worked out, what didn’t? If you have any questions, let me know! Contact Lynn
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References
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MAKING THE GRADE will be a regular feature on my blog, highlighting the “take away” ideas from current books, research and readings with the common theme of achieving best practice assessment in our classrooms. Let’s get started with this week’s highlights from the book:
A FRESH LOOK AT GRADING AND REPORTING IN HIGH SCHOOLS
by Sandra Herbst and Anne Davies
Take Away Ideas:
4 Steps to Setting Up for Successful Assessment Practices in your Classroom
Before we teach any unit or lesson, we must first plan for success. These four steps that will go a long way to ensuring that your students are set up success in the learning process!
1. Determine the learning destination: organize outcomes into “big idea” categories.
We need to start any learning journey in our classroom by sharing the “big ideas” with our students. Begin with the end in mind. We have to show them the target we want them to hit so they can hit it! Including our students in the process right from the start means they are expected to be and supported as active learners. What does this look like? First we must start with the expect learning outcomes. If you teach younger grades, you will have predetermined these big ideas and have them ready in “kid friendly” language to share with your students. If you teach older grades and time permitting, you can involve your students in the process of organizing them in to bigger topics for the unit, project or lesson. What are the “big ideas” that you want them to understand after participating in these lessons/activities. Making the destination clear from the get go means your students can figure out a way to get there. Going through this process will also help you see how you can group outcomes to teach together.
2. Research the expected quality levels, create rubrics and gather exemplars to share with students. (Freebie: Link to poster of common descriptor language here. As prompted, request permission.)
Second, we need to communicate the expected quality levels with our students at their grade level. This means that prior to the unit, project or lesson, exemplars clearly showing different levels of achievement are shared with students. This is not a passive activity in which students are just “shown” examples of work. Let them explore them, have them work in groups to identify and sort what makes one level superior to another. Have students really dive in and find the qualities that differentiates and demonstrate critical thinking and good work from great work. Use consistent language when creating rubric indicators students clearly know what the expectations are. RUBRICS can help with this if they are crafted to describe what a student can do and what they need to do to move their learning to the next level. However, creating good rubrics is not easy. To help you out with that, I’ve made a FREE poster download for my subscribers. This poster outlines words that you can use at each level. If you’d like your copy and future free teaching resources, then just sign up!
3. Plan how you will collect reliable (repeatable) and valid (measures what you want it to) evidence of learning.
(Conversations, Observations, Products)
At this stage it is time to decide and communicate to students how they will be expected to show evidence of their learning. Best practice means that to have valid and reliable evidence we must triangulate or collect the evidence from a variety of sources. Our students do not all learn the same, nor should they have to show us evidence of their learning in the same way. We have to plan for that. After all, isn’t the point of assessment and evaluation to really know what they have learned so we can help them to reach their learning goals? As educators, then, we must ask ourselves which products (tests, projects, assignments, etc), interviews/conversations (teacher -student, student-student, etc.), and observations do I need to have so I can make a “no doubt” professional judgement about a student’s level of achievement? This may involve planning several forms of formative assessments throughout a unit of study, gathering data that will inform our direction of assistance with each student, helping them celebrate their learning and address their needs throughout the process. Again, it is best to involve our students in the process of this decision making. Can they actively participate in deciding how to show you that they have learned the outcomes? (More ideas about ways to show evidence of learning in the FREE poster download).
4. Early in the course, collect a baseline of evidence so you and the student can see the progress and evidence of learning later.
Gathering early evidence of learning is vital to establishing a baseline of achievement. This will establish a helpful reference for both student and teacher to “see” the learning that takes place throughout the course or unit of study. Think of this process as much the same as why a doctor takes your blood pressure and heart rate for your medical records. He or she then has it for referral to monitor your health over time. Having the baseline provides evidence as to whether your health is improving, staying status quo, or declining. In the education process, this baseline can inform our programming choices for a student and help them witness their successes while addressing their needs.
Finally, I can’t stress enough, that the authors of this book make the assertion that best practice assessment is only achieved when evidence is gathered over time and from a variety of sources. Assessment is a process that provides data driven instructional practice, whereas evaluation is the final professional judgement of the process. When approached in this manner, the research clearly shows that higher student learning results. The research of Sandra Herbst and Anne Davies, then, should inspire all of us to evaluate and improve our assessment practices for the good of our students.
Best,
Sharon
Teacher, Author, Assessment Coach, HSD
References:
Herbst-Luedtke, Sandra, and Anne Davies. A Fresh Look at Grading and Reporting in High Schools. Courtenay, BC: Connect21earning., 2014. Print.
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Here is a small little classroom with children’s desks all in rows. The teacher’s desk sits prominently in the front of the classroom and lectures might be given at a podium. Most of the student’s daily work is done here, while being seated in this relatively small space. Does this sound something like your classroom? Probably not, as this is a description of The Oldest Wooden School House in Saint Augustine, Florida, which dates back to the early 18th century. This was the daily life of colonial school children. So, what is wrong with that?
Solutions
Regards,
Lynn @ TiePlay Educational Resources
TiePlay Educational Resources LLC
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Using Multi-Media to Inspire Learning
Hi Y’all!
Last time, I discussed (in an example) that many kids were having difficulty understanding the concept of cause and effect in my class. Then, I found some topics from my curriculum that I could use to create centers. Now, I am going to use those topics to find or create multi- media centers that correlate to my fictitious XYZ curriculum.
Science: Pollution
A Breathe of Fresh Air
New York State Conservationist for Kids magazine
Create a Poster
Print out the pages and place the magazine at a center. In pairs, students read the magazine articles. Each learner finds some reasons for air pollution as well as and pollution’s impact on the Earth. Then, the partners can create a poster together (like the one on page 5) showing good ozone, bad ozone, factories, power plants, fires, trucks and buses.
Social Studies: The Silk Road
The Silk Road Lesson Plan
Provided by the Art Institute of Chicago Department of Museum Education
Travel Journal
The Silk Road Lesson Plan by the Art Institute of Chicago Department of Museum Education has some great ideas. I loved the idea of a travel journal. I thought having your learners create a travel journal would be another great center.
Learner pretend to travel the Silk Road either as a merchant or a missionary. They can describe and draw their insights and some cases of cause and effect on the trade route. Completed travel journals can be placed on a table or hung on a wall for others to read.
Language Arts: Expository Text on Natural Disasters
Flooding
http://www.watersafetykids.co.uk/pdfs/flooding.pdf
Facts about Hurricanes
http://www.azpbs.org/mastersofdisaster/pdf/Hurricanes/HurricanesLevel2.pdf
Facts about Tornadoes
http://www.azpbs.org/mastersofdisaster/pdf/Tornadoes/TornadoesLevel3.pdf
Gather different natural disaster text at a center, such as the above print outs. Learners can choose one topic for a report. Have individual students pretend they are a newscaster or meteorologist explaining the cause of a faux or real natural disaster, such as a flood happening now, and its effects. Students can create a recording, video, scrap book of photos or PowerPoint in this activity to show to other class members.
Mathematics: Money Problems Involving Interest
Practical Money Skills
As an intervention, view the following videos and discuss cause and effect.
Cause and Effect Review Lesson for Elementary Students!
If you have any questions or comments about literacy, I’d love, love, love to hear from you!
For more ideas, freebies and resources, check out Lynn’s blog and stores.
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Cooperative learning can be so much fun for students and teachers. But, what is cooperative learning, and can it be successful in teaching objectives in the classroom?
Cooperative learning is team work and students working together to complete an assignment. Each team member is expected to do his or her share of the work. Group work in the classroom is known to develop better learning and colleague skills.Students also become better prepared for the work world.
Yes, studies indicate that cooperative learning can be very effective. But, there are methods that teachers should follow in order to develop the maximum student achievement.
Cooperative learning involves may types of skill sets.Group interaction, accountability, social skills, and positive interdependence abilities are encouraged. The teacher is able to see how group members
interact.The instructor is also able to talk to the group or individuals about any difficulties that they are having with the material.
Learners of all ages enjoy cooperative learning. How about your class? For more resources, and a list of cooperative learning how-to’s read on!
For task cards, a form of cooperative learning, visit my store at
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Tieplay-Educational-Resources-Llc
by Lynn Horn
Tie-Play Educational Resources
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A healthy school climate is needed for most students to achieve academic success. What is a healthy school climate? A healthy school climate is where all school employees are friendly, kind and considerate. A healthy school climate is where community members feel welcomed into the school. A healthy school climate is where students believe that they are an important member of their class, and are able to contribute in their own way. And more.
Okay, but why should school employees not act indifferently, like in other professions? The fact is education is not a business. The way persons interact within a school district is known to greatly affect students’ academic achievement, emotional well-being and even physical condition (Blum, 2007). When school district professionals are warm, caring, and encourage student triumphs, students are very likely to do well. On the other hand, negative attitudes are known to gravely impact effective teaching and learning, which often results in an overall low staff and student morale (Blum, 2007).
Students need to feel socially united and be of the opinion that they can achieve the academic standards set forth for them (Blum, 2007). Yet a great school environment not only also focuses on the well-being of the whole child but also the community and staff members. An educational system is important for all community members and therefore, should unite the population and encompass equal opportunity for all. In other words, a successful school is one big and happy family.
- School buildings and grounds are well maintained and with help of the community
- Teachers are released from non-teaching tasks (hall duty, bus duty, lunch monitoring, recess, etc.)
- Reward teachers for innovated teaching skills
- Materials for teachers are evenly distributed
- Involve parents in skill building workshops
- School rules involve kindness, respect for others and personal property, discourage leaving others out and all can contribute to the school rule creation process
- Provide support for students that need academic, social and guidance assistance
- Speak to students about their future
- Allow students to try an assignment over again if they have not succeeded
- Expect students to do their work and be responsible
- Older students are expected to help younger students to achieve skills in a buddy system
- Reward student for academic achievement, talents, and contributions such as kindness and progress
- Maintain fair school rules and consequences that apply to everyone
- Staff members avoid teacher cliques, exclusionary behaviors and instead model appropriate kind behaviors toward others and students
- Collect materials that interest students and provide hands-on and real life projects.
- Inclusive behaviors involve all staff and community in various school functions in some way
16 = Awesome school!
14 = Getting there, but needs some work
12 = Really, really, really needs work
Below 12 = Needs a new agenda!
References:
Blum, R.. (2007). Best practice: Building blocks for enhancing a school environment. Retrieved from http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/military-child-initiative/resources/Best_Practices_monograph.pdf
Imagery supplied by Thinkstock.com
Blog: http://www.tieplayeducationalresourcellc.com/
Written by Lynn @Tieplay Educational Resources, LLC, on May 1st, 2016.
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What are you doing in your art class this week?
I wanted a project that would help reinforce the concept of symmetry with my students. I thought Mandala art would be the perfect project and with the coloring-book craze right now, Mandala is all the rage! Now you can have your class do it with this easy template. I can’t wait to try it out with my class.
“Mandala” is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle” or “completion”. It is often recognized to represent wholeness.Which shapes and colors will you use to express your whole self? The best thing about creating your own Mandala art is that you can choose any shapes and colors you want. Make one or more than one, but the important thing is to have fun!
Here’s how you can have your students create their very own Mandala art in class using this template that I made for you. Good luck! Come back and send me some pictures of your class creations. I’ll post them on the site. It’s fun to share!
Here are the steps:
1. Cut out along the black square lines.
2. Fold in half along the center vertical line and then open and refold along the center horizontal line.
3. Now fold along each straight diagonal line and unfold again.
4. Starting from center make a design in only one “pie-shaped” piece of the circle.
5. Now repeat that same pattern in every other section either by folding the paper and tracing over the original design,
or use a Mirra board along each dotted line and try to duplicate the original design in each section.
6. Once your finished drawing, add colors. Remember to color each section with the same color scheme. Look at the examples
to help you.
Now how do you get the template? Easy. If you are a subscriber to my newsletter, then you get my fabulous freebies. It’s totally free and I promise not to share your email with anyone else. I respect your privacy and I hate spam, too, so I won’t do that to you. The best part about signing up is that you’ll also get all the FUTURE FREEBIES that will come to your inbox with the Quest Teaching Newsletter! I can’t wait to hear from you!