2.2 Research-Based Learner-Centered Strategies
Candidates model and facilitate the use of research-based, learner-centered strategies addressing the diversity of all students. (PSC 2.2/ISTE 2b)
Artifact: Blog Post Rubric
Reflection:
The artifact that I chose for standard 2.2 is a classroom blogging rubric that I designed as part of ITEC 7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom. For that class, the majority of the work was completed independently and on an individual basis. For the blogging rubric in particular, I envisioned a classroom blogging component that I have begun using as part of my technology education classes. In the process of developing the rubric, I examined online blogs to develop my own list of requirements, and I searched for and reviewed other blog post rubrics implemented by other educators. When I had completed a list of my own requirements for a student blog, I developed descriptions of the various levels of proficiency that my students would reach with different levels of achievement.
The blog post rubric was developed with the idea that all students would be able to complete the process regardless of their individual educational needs or their ability levels. The rubric is designed to allow students to nurture a weakness in one area while building upon strength in another area. The blogging assignment itself is designed to allow students to explore areas in the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, and math. Allowing students to explore an interest on their own allows for built in differentiation by choice. In this manner, students who may not be interested in the current focus of the class can be engaged in learning about an area of their interest.
While the creation of a blog post is the main object of the rubric, students are also required to read the blogs of their classmates and make thoughtful and constructive comments. This requirement of the assignment and the guidance provided by the rubric aids the students in possibly discovering other topics that might be of interest. It also leads the students to use offline social skills and to work to build their skills in internet literacy and online citizenship.
In the process of developing the blog post rubric, the main lesson that I learned was about the variety of assessment methods used by other educators. In the past I have been an opponent of the overuse of rubrics because I felt that they steered students too much. Rather than use a rubric, I typically preferred a checklist. However, when I began teaching middle school, I realized that students will often include the items on a checklist but not create good quality versions of those items. In those cases, students can do lower quality work and still receive full credit. Instead, the use of a rubric rewards students who create good quality works and penalizes students who turn in low quality work. In the future I would do more to consider the requirements for each level of the rubric and add additional descriptions of the work required to achieve each level. I would also work to create sample blog posts that would give students guidance about what work at each level looks like.
This artifact will affect both student experience and overall student achievement. The student classroom experience will be the first and most visible impact of this artifact. Completion of the blogging assignment and the use of the rubric to guide and assess blog posts is an activity that many students will not have experienced in the past. The process of exploring a personal interest and creating a blog post that communicates that exploration should create more student engagement than many other activities. Additionally, the blog requirements that are spelled out in the rubric dovetail with writing requirements used elsewhere in the school and require students to provide a claim, reasons to back up that claim and examples to explain those reasons. This in turn leads to an increase in student achievement based on an increased ability to make a claim and back it up with reasons and examples.
The artifact that I chose for standard 2.2 is a classroom blogging rubric that I designed as part of ITEC 7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom. For that class, the majority of the work was completed independently and on an individual basis. For the blogging rubric in particular, I envisioned a classroom blogging component that I have begun using as part of my technology education classes. In the process of developing the rubric, I examined online blogs to develop my own list of requirements, and I searched for and reviewed other blog post rubrics implemented by other educators. When I had completed a list of my own requirements for a student blog, I developed descriptions of the various levels of proficiency that my students would reach with different levels of achievement.
The blog post rubric was developed with the idea that all students would be able to complete the process regardless of their individual educational needs or their ability levels. The rubric is designed to allow students to nurture a weakness in one area while building upon strength in another area. The blogging assignment itself is designed to allow students to explore areas in the STEM fields, science, technology, engineering, and math. Allowing students to explore an interest on their own allows for built in differentiation by choice. In this manner, students who may not be interested in the current focus of the class can be engaged in learning about an area of their interest.
While the creation of a blog post is the main object of the rubric, students are also required to read the blogs of their classmates and make thoughtful and constructive comments. This requirement of the assignment and the guidance provided by the rubric aids the students in possibly discovering other topics that might be of interest. It also leads the students to use offline social skills and to work to build their skills in internet literacy and online citizenship.
In the process of developing the blog post rubric, the main lesson that I learned was about the variety of assessment methods used by other educators. In the past I have been an opponent of the overuse of rubrics because I felt that they steered students too much. Rather than use a rubric, I typically preferred a checklist. However, when I began teaching middle school, I realized that students will often include the items on a checklist but not create good quality versions of those items. In those cases, students can do lower quality work and still receive full credit. Instead, the use of a rubric rewards students who create good quality works and penalizes students who turn in low quality work. In the future I would do more to consider the requirements for each level of the rubric and add additional descriptions of the work required to achieve each level. I would also work to create sample blog posts that would give students guidance about what work at each level looks like.
This artifact will affect both student experience and overall student achievement. The student classroom experience will be the first and most visible impact of this artifact. Completion of the blogging assignment and the use of the rubric to guide and assess blog posts is an activity that many students will not have experienced in the past. The process of exploring a personal interest and creating a blog post that communicates that exploration should create more student engagement than many other activities. Additionally, the blog requirements that are spelled out in the rubric dovetail with writing requirements used elsewhere in the school and require students to provide a claim, reasons to back up that claim and examples to explain those reasons. This in turn leads to an increase in student achievement based on an increased ability to make a claim and back it up with reasons and examples.