Learning about grading and project assessments in my cooperating teacher’s classroom.

During this 4 teaching experience I was given the opportunity to help grade some of the 6^th grades past assignments with my cooperating teacher. What I learned from my cooperating teacher is how important the rubric is in his classroom. It is essentially what backs up his projects and defines why they are important. It shows parents what the students are learning and it also allows students to clearly see where they have missed the mark.

I thought that the layout of my cooperating teachers rubrics were interesting and I had never really seen one like it before but I though they were affective. In the rubric the top portion was a set of 5 questions worth 2 points each about the subject they were learning. For his he had fill in the blank questions that included a word bank to aid students. The next section was divided into 4 parts each worth ten points. The first was grading effort. Which was basically a place to grade whether they participated in class or not.  The next section was for craft. Which essentially asked if the student kept their work neat.  The 3^rd section was for content, which essentially graded whether the student included the needed elements in their work. The final part was called stretch. What this section did was grade whether the student went above and beyond.  As we graded the 6^th grades work I could definitely see how this dignified what they were doing. I also think that by including participation and questions this really makes a student realize that they need to pay attention and take part in class. It’s almost like a little reminder every time they come in.

Then after we were all done grading I was given the opportunity to help him put the scores into skyward.  He showed me how I look for the classes and one I get there I basically just need to type in the score in the proper section. This actually seemed fairly simple considering it is similar to putting things into an excel program. The only dilemma that came into play was he forgot to tell me that I needed to save everything before it times out or all will be lost. So, unfortunately the work I did for him wasn’t as helpful as intended. But an important lesson was learned as always. Remember to save!