Do you remember when you were given a writing assignment in
Language Arts class or any sort of project during middle school or high school?
I do too. They weren’t the best, but it made me understand what I missed.
I read an article titled, “The Trouble with Rubrics,” by
Alfie Kohn. In his article, Kohn talks about his perspective on rubrics in the
classroom. He starts by talking about assessments and how rubrics are an
alternative. I agree that rubrics are an alternative, but they shouldn’t be
used all the time because then students grow used to getting one every time
there’s an assessment of some sort. However Kohn said that rubrics give more
details about a grade than just seeing just a letter. I do agree that rubrics
do that, but I don’t believe that we should rely on them heavily.
Kohn said that it’s actually a better idea to not give the
actual rubric to a student who is so enveloped with grades. It’s troublesome
and the student loses focus on what’s important. I agree that students
shouldn’t be given the rubric because so much authentic work is lost for the
sake of getting a good grade. Though I have this idea in my head that if you do
give students a rubric, you should go over it so they understand what’s to be
expected then put it away and move on. If you put an emphasis on the grade,
then you’ll worry them. If you show that it can guide them to what you’re
looking for, perhaps they won’t be so worried in the end.
A way that I would utilize a rubric is that I wouldn’t.
Student musicians are at different levels that it can be difficult to decide
where they fit on a rubric. You would almost have to tailor a rubric to fit
everyone’s specific needs. That’s where a rubric wouldn’t be the best way to
assess someone on a performance. I would suggest having a student record a
short performance on a piece of music the band is performing then send the file
to you via email. From there you could assess appropriately. It really depends
on what the teacher would like to assess, but I wouldn’t assess something that
couldn’t receive feedback. Fortunately, everything in music can receive
feedback!
Your recording system is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I've heard so many times that recording yourself as you practice is a great tool to use! It shows you immediately where you can improve and grow! So why not implement it on our students? I recently saw it in action at a Professional Development day in Berlin. The teachers used the iPad to utilize the whole recording idea!
DeleteKai-Dee I totally agree with your idea that if we have a rubric, we should go over it with our students to make sure they understand what we are looking for. I threw a rubric into my post. Check it out and let me know what you think. I have found a few people that have used something like it with great success.
ReplyDeleteAs you said, "You would almost have to tailor a rubric to fit everyone’s specific needs." It kind of works in that way because the grading scale is based on the expectation of what level an individual is expected to be on vs. where they actually are.