Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Journal #6- The Trouble with Rubrics

Kohn, Alfie. (2006). The Trouble with rubrics. 95(4),

In this article we are given the argument about if a rubric is a good or bad system to use. The argument is that when a student is given a grade on a project, they only know that their paper or project was “B” material. Does anyone besides that teacher really know what “B” work is? This is a standard that the teacher has, that is different for every teacher. If you are given a rubric, you know the specific guidelines to follow. You know why you did either good or bad based on the information present on the handout. Alfie Kohn states this; “I’d been looking for an alternative to grades because research shows three reliable effects when students are graded: They tend to think less deeply, avoid taking risks, and lose interest in the learning itself.”
This also allows for teachers to give students a certain amount of points for the topic they feel deserves those particular points. That teacher may not think spelling and grammar matters as much as the content of the paper, so they make the grammar and spelling worth a maximum of 5 points and the content worth 10. This gives the students the chance to see that the content of the paper is the most important. Linda Mabry published an article citing “compliance with the rubric tended to yield higher scores but produced ‘vacuous’ writing.”[3]
I never really thought about what Kohn had researched on rubrics. I never really thought how much better a student might actually do if they were given specific guidelines to follow. When I look at how we were given a rubric to follow for our PowerPoint presentation, we were able to know exactly what we needed in order to receive the grade we desired. When you are given a letter grade, a lot of the time the teacher will not write why you received the grade you were given. I agree with rubrics, and that they should really be considered when grading your students.

Why do you think a majority of teachers do not use rubrics?
Sometimes I think it is the easy way out for teachers. It takes a lot more time and energy for a teacher to make a rubric then it does to slap down a letter grade.

Why do you think students react to letter grades the way that Kohn described?
I think much like teachers students want to get the assignment done so they will do as little as possible to do so. When you are given a rubric you have guidelines to follow in order to receive the grade you want. Letter grades are based off of what the teacher thinks is the best paper, project, ect. and goes from there where a rubric has a criteria you have to meet.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Copyright-"Fair Use Harbor" (NETS IV)

Fair Use Harbor
This document was created collaboratively using Google Docs to discussing copyright laws in regards to teachers and students to follow. Fair Use Harbor is a tool that takes us through copyright laws and regulations. This follows NETS 4.

Inspiration- (NETS I,III,IV,V,VI)

This flow chart was created using Inspiration.For each of the 5 NETS, there are 2 corresponding artifacts we accomplished in class that meets NETS 1,3,4,5 and 6.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

PowerPoint Rubric- (NETS I,V)


This was a collaborative rubric that was created for us to use as guidelines for our PowerPoint. This allowed for use to understand why we got the grades we did. The rubric used NETS 1 and 5.

NETS PowerPoint Presentation - (NETS I,II,III,IV,V,VI)

Look what I made! This is a PowerPoint presentation on NETS for students grades PK-2. My powerpoint lays out my ideas on ways students in grades Pre-K to 2 can meet the student NETS Standards from ISTE. This meets NETS !<@<#<$<% and 6.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Journal #4- Resources Abound for Setting Up Internet Safety Programs

Hansen, Jennifer. (September/October 2009)."Resources Abound for Setting Up Internet Safety Programs", volume 37 (2009-2010) (No. 2). Retrieved from http://http://http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=September_October_No_2_3&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4381&ContentID=24184&DirectListComboInd=D

As we know these days there is a lot more out there on the internet then ever before. Especially when we start to work with younger students, we as teachers need to make sure that our students are safe on-line. This article is great because it gives you a few different ways that you can keep your students safe on the internet. Talking to parents was a key point on here. If we get our parents involved we will be able to get them to talk to our children more about the dangers of the internet. Another was getting local enforcers to come in and talk about what they have seen happen out there. The younger our children are learning about the safety of the internet the more likely they will be safe. When we start to get into the middle school age we see that students are using the computers more. This is why it is important to have safety blocks at the schools. Now with Facebook and all those other types of sites there are boundaries schools and parents need to limit their young children to.

Why do some schools not monitor the internet?
I think some schools don’t realize how important it is to monitor the internet. There are a lot of dangerous sites that children can connect to that students as young as even middle school should not be exposed to.

Do you think there should be more parents talking to their children about the hazards of the internet?
Yes. I think a lot of parents think it is the teachers job to teach their children everything and it is not. Hopefully the teachers are giving them an idea of what not to expose themselves to, but it is really the parents job to do this.

Journal #3- "Walk, Fly, or Teleport to Learning "

Yoder, Maureen. (September/October 2009)."Walk, Fly, or Teleport to Learning
", volume 37 (2009-2010) (No. 2). Retrieved from http://http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=September_October_No_2_3&Template=/MembersOnly.cfm&NavMenuID=4381&ContentID=24200&DirectListComboInd=D


After reading this article it gave me a new insight to what is actually out there for our kids these days. The only times I really hear about children going on the computer to play games is when they are playing those War Craft games. When I saw how the Global Kids site gave children the chance to educate themselves and how many students have actually visited the site, it gave me hope. I think sites like these are great. I know a lot of parents would rather have sites that teach their children Math or English, but I think what Global Kids is doing is opening up more opportunities for learning. They are giving kids the chance to learn more about Hurricane Katrina and other interesting historical issues. They virtually put together a game that allows for students to help the virtual Hurricane Katrina survivors find homes, and help them to survive. Another really fun program that a summer school class did in 2008 was set up a virtual camp called “I Dig Tanzania.” The students were able to take their jeeps through virtual Tanzania and learn about the politics, culture and some scientific research. It’s interesting activities like these that make students want to learn.

Do you think more schools will use these types of sites?
I think more teachers are going to see these sites and briefly use them so students know they are actually out there. I think it would be a good idea because not only is it showing the students what other fun games are out there, but the parents as well.

Do you think sites like this should be free?
Yes and no. I think for teachers maybe there should be a price because you are able to get so many activities and materials that it should be worth something. For the students I think it should be free. There are lots of parents out there who would not want to or can’t spend the money on programs like these. We need healthy educated programs so students can realize there are programs like these that are just as fun as War Craft.