Transcript Grading Efficiently…How Can Rubrics Help?

Grading
Efficiently…How Can
Rubrics Help?
Presenter: Tine Reimers
Director, CETaL
[email protected]
Reflections
 What
takes the most time when you’re
grading?
 What
are your greatest frustrations with
grading essays?
 What
are grades?
Grades are…
…ways to show how students have
achieved your course goals.
Since you grade assignments, this begs the
question:
How are assignments related to course goals?
Note: For any grading scheme to make sense, we
need to start with course goals.
Analytic Rubrics
 Used
to make individual judgments about
unique and independent dimensions or
components of a work.

Example: When you want to grade separately
content and writing mechanics
Building an Analytic Rubric:
“Primary Trait Analysis”



What is the most important goal of your
assignment—what should the students learn
and be able to do and show?
Does this goal have components or
dimensions that can be shown
independently? What are they?
Are the secondary goals? What are they?
What are their components?
Critical Thinking in a Writing Environment:
Grading and Assessing
Traits:
Critical Thinking (after Wolcott & Lynch)
1. Identifying
2. Exploring
3. Prioritizing
4. Revisioning
3
2
1
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Writing
5. Consistent focus on topic or issue
6. Claims founded upon evidence
7. Language appropriate for audience
8. Appropriate writing mechanics
9. Scholarly bibliographic support
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Scoring:
27-23
22-16
15- 9
Exceeds expectations
Meets expectations
Does not meet expectations
Critical Thinking in a Writing Environment:
Levels of Performance
Exploring [primary trait 2]
3 Probes alternatives and presents primary and secondary evidence in
support.
2 Recognizes alternatives and acknowledges existence of evidence in
support.
1 Does not recognize that alternatives may exist; ignores conflicting
evidence.
Critical Thinking in a Writing Environment:
Grading and Assessing
Traits:
Critical Thinking (after Wolcott & Lynch)
1. Identifying
2. Exploring
3. Prioritizing
4. Revisioning
3
2
1
_x_
___
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___
_x_
_x_
___
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___
___
_x_
___
___
_x_
_x_
___
___
_x_
___
___
___
Writing
5. Consistent focus on topic or issue
_x_
6. Claims founded upon evidence
___
7. Language appropriate for audience
___
8. Appropriate writing mechanics
___
9. Scholarly bibliographic support
_x_
Score = 19
Scoring:
27-23
Exceeds expectations
22-16
Meets expectations
15- 9
Does not meet expectations
Critical Thinking in a Writing Environment:
Assessing the whole class performance: 30 students
Traits:
Critical Thinking (after Wolcott & Lynch)
1. Identifying
2. Exploring
3. Prioritizing
4. Revisioning
Writing
5. Consistent focus on topic or issue
6. Claims founded upon evidence
7. Language appropriate for audience
8. Appropriate writing mechanics
9. Scholarly bibliographic support
[Mean score = 19.2
3
2
1
12
11
8
3
13
15
16
12
5
4
6
15
22
14
16
4
6
5
12
9
15
16
3
4
5
11
8
or 2.1 / 3  2.8 / 4]
QUESTION: What part(s) of the curriculum
deserves special attention?
Construct an effective 3or 4-point rubric for some
aspect of writing or
thinking.
Pay special attention to
the level identified as
“acceptable.”
Holistic Rubrics
 Used
when broader judgments of work
quality are desired, or when independent
dimensions/components are difficult to
identify.
GRE Standards for evaluating analytical writing
(holistic approach)
SCORE 5.5-6.0 (scale 0-6)
Sustains insightful, in-depth analysis of
complex ideas; develops and supports main
points with logically compelling reasons
and/or highly persuasive examples; is well
focused and well organized; skillfully uses
sentence variety and precise vocabulary to
convey meaning effectively…
GRE Standards for evaluating analytical writing
(holistic approach)
SCORE 2.5-3.0
Displays some competence in analytical
writing skills, although the writing is
flawed in at least one of the following
ways: limited analysis or
development, weak organization;
weak control of sentence structure or
language usage, with errors that often
result in vagueness or lack of clarity.
Think of an assignment from your
class
 How
does it relate to your course goals?
 Create
a rubric to describe an excellent,a
satisfactory and an unsatisfactory
performance. (Holistic or analytic is ok)
Be prepared to share your assignment and
rubric.
Staged Writing & Thinking...
...takes students from one cognitive
level to the next through incremental,
not additive assignments.
e.g., Description/Narration
Analysis
Comparison/Contrast
Integration
3 popular beliefs
(that frustrate teachers and students alike!)
1.
Instructors should write a lot in the margins
and between lines.
2.
Instructors ought to know and use a lot of
grammatical rules and terms to comment
effectively.
3.
Most effective responses to student writing are
instructor-written comments on the final copy
of a paper.
Banish those beliefs!
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Respond to the paper as a whole
Use comment codes or minimal marking
If you MUST work on grammar, pick one
troublesome spot per draft.
Have multiple drafts—students don’t
read final comments.
Tell your students what you’re doing!
Questions?
Tine Reimers
[email protected]