Rubric+Lesson+Summary+and+Reflection

Summary: For this example, I will be focusing on the Quick Write at the beginning of the lesson.
The students, upon entering the class, will begin writing to a prompt. The rubric will be prominently displayed on the wall to guide their writing. After 10 minutes, today's lesson will begin and we will be studying two laws governing the behavior of gases in regard to temperature, pressure and volume.

Reflection:
As students entered the room, most quickly took their seats and began the quick write assignment. This routine had been established in the first week of school. Today, however, I posted a rubric showing the students how I would grade their quick write. Once all students were seated, I stopped the class and got their attention. I explained that the rubric was useful for the teacher and the students to lay out the expectations of the assignment. I pointed to the highest grade point level on the rubric and stated that the description was a list of an exemplary quick write characteristics.

Students seemed to respond well to the new rubric and began working. There were no questions. After 10 minutes, the students were asked to save their documents and to stop writing. We proceeded with the rest of the lesson (as outlined on the previous page).

I was pleased with the implementation of the new quick write rubric. As I stated before, the writing routine had been established, but the expectations of the actual writing, while communicated verbally, were not available for quick reference by the students. I felt that this enhanced the rigor of the thinking by the students and the writing I received. Students seemed to be writing the entire time instead of giving up early with little to show for the effort. I feel that having the rubric takes all the guesswork out of grading the writing pieces. It allows me to be more impartial and fair in my grading.

This type of assessment is much more authentic than a standardized test. However, it is more time consuming to grade. While a standardized test may be scanned, the writing must be individually read and graded. I feel that the realistic application of the carefully chosen prompts help students see the every day necessity of knowing science.