I use rubrics to grade the final products in project-based units. Nearly every unit I teach involves a project of some sort, so I use rubrics extensively. Rubistar is a good source for creating a rubric very quickly. Since it uses the Excel format it is easy to download. I do not use paper in grading by rubric, I complete the electronic rubric and e mail it to the students as an attachment. I have an e mail address for each class for students to submit their work. This gives me their e mail address to send their rubric. I also have links on the class website that allows students to have copies of all the rubrics used to assess their work.

Making A Poster : Poster Rubric
Teacher Name: Mr. Sharpe
Student Name:     ________________________________________
CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content - Accuracy	At least 7 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.	5-6 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.	3-4 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.	Less than 3 accurate facts are displayed on the poster.
Attractiveness	The poster is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness.	The poster is attractive in terms of design, layout and neatness.	The poster is acceptably attractive though it may be a bit messy.	The poster is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive.
Title	Title can be read from 6 ft. away and is quite creative.	Title can be read from 6 ft. away and describes content well.	Title can be read from 4 ft. away and describes the content well.	The title is too small and/or does not describe the content of the poster well.
Required Elements	The poster includes all required elements as well as additional information.	All required elements are included on the poster.	All but 1 of the required elements are included on the poster.	Several required elements were missing.
Date Created: Mar 31, 2012 01:04 pm (UTC)

Flipped Classroom

I am not in favor of the flipped classroom because of the technology involved. Students at home will not be any more likely to watch videos of a lecture at home than at school. Many of our students do not have access at home to the technology needed to flip the classroom. Students will communicate with each other, but not about school. Those students with resources will benefit, but most will not because 60% of our students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Students might benefit from the use of social media like Facebook or Twitter because of their popularity currently. Communication between members of student teams could be enhanced and absences would present less of a problem.