School projects...ARRRRGH!

[Charles Wallace]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

Most teachers distribute a rubric that tells students how they will be graded. While the aesthetics may be part of the grade it is unlikely that the entire grade is based on what the project looks like.

I currently teach high school and I distribute a rubric for every project that I assign. My projects are rarely art projects, but they are writing assignments that are open ended (no one right answer, but need to have a certain structure) .

There are always some students who leave the rubric in my classroom and do the project WITHOUT the rubric. Most of the time they get a low grade on the project. I have no doubt that most of them tell their parents that I "didn't like" their project but that is rarely the case.

In my electronic music class I assigned a project that required the kids to name their file a certain way and save the file to their folder on the music lab network. One boy did not read the rubric and lost all the points for that part of the assignment (it was 10/100 points). I got a call from his mother explaining that since her son did the assignment he should not lose those points because he didn't read THAT STUPID PAPER ANYWAY. I am sure that you will find a way to make that my fault but the fact is that older kids often disregard the rules teachers set up and then blame their low grades on the teacher. It seems you buy into that line of thinking.

I do feel for you, and indeed, given that I teach freshmen, I encounter this issue on (literally) a daily basis. My response is that if a student fails to make a good-faith effort -- successful or unsuccessful -- to follow each of the directions I've asked for (and I am happy to explain why the directions are relevant), I return the paper with a paper copy of the missing directions circled. Until s/he revises it for a higher grade, s/he receives a "0" and I make a note in the gradebook of the fact that s/he chose not to follow the verbal and printed directions explained to her or him -- a note visible to parents when they open their children's grades online. Believe me, I understand. It is supremely frustrating. My policy of "I won't take the time to grade it until you've taken the time to try to do it correctly" has saved me much grief, however. Please feel free to use it if it works for you.

If it was I to whom you referred about "buy[ing] into that line of thinking," let me assure you that the specific line of thinking into which I buy is this (among other things):
* Not all assessments are of equal value.
* The time one spends performing the assessment must be overwhelmingly and primarily spent on developing skills, mastering content, reviewing knowledge, synthesizing information, and coming up with complex understandings of complex issues. An assessment which (for example) took 3 hours, most of which was spent shopping and gluing is not, in my opinion, a valid assessment.
* A rubric must primarily and overwhelmingly value the content learned and demonstrated, not the aesthetic value of the piece. By "primarily and overwhelmingly," I think something on the order of 75-80%. Aesthetic criteria should be a lagniappe only, in my opinion -- a 5-10% category at most, unless, of course, we're talking about an art project.

I hope that helps clarify.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by Charles Wallace

If it was I to whom you referred about "buy[ing] into that line of thinking," let me assure you that the specific line of thinking into which I buy is this (among other things):

No-I was referring to the OP.

Originally Posted by Charles Wallace

* Not all assessments are of equal value.

Agreed. That's why different assignments are worth different amounts of points in my classes.

Originally Posted by Charles Wallace

* The time one spends performing the assessment must be overwhelmingly and primarily spent on developing skills, mastering content, reviewing knowledge, synthesizing information, and coming up with complex understandings of complex issues. An assessment which (for example) took 3 hours, most of which was spent shopping and gluing is not, in my opinion, a valid assessment.

Agreed. I am both a parent and a teacher so I share the frustration of both sides of this issue.

Originally Posted by Charles Wallace

* A rubric must primarily and overwhelmingly value the content learned and demonstrated, not the aesthetic value of the piece. By "primarily and overwhelmingly," I think something on the order of 75-80%. Aesthetic criteria should be a lagniappe only, in my opinion -- a 5-10% category at most, unless, of course, we're talking about an art project.

That was my point to the OP in the first place. Aesthetics may be part of the grade, but if the rubric is well designed it will not be the entire grade, or even a large part of the grade. I would agree with the 5-10% figure as a top end for assessing a project.

[psr13]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

Most teachers distribute a rubric that tells students how they will be graded. While the aesthetics may be part of the grade it is unlikely that the entire grade is based on what the project looks like.

I currently teach high school and I distribute a rubric for every project that I assign. My projects are rarely art projects, but they are writing assignments that are open ended (no one right answer, but need to have a certain structure) .

There are always some students who leave the rubric in my classroom and do the project WITHOUT the rubric. Most of the time they get a low grade on the project. I have no doubt that most of them tell their parents that I "didn't like" their project but that is rarely the case.

In my electronic music class I assigned a project that required the kids to name their file a certain way and save the file to their folder on the music lab network. One boy did not read the rubric and lost all the points for that part of the assignment (it was 10/100 points). I got a call from his mother explaining that since her son did the assignment he should not lose those points because he didn't read THAT STUPID PAPER ANYWAY. I am sure that you will find a way to make that my fault but the fact is that older kids often disregard the rules teachers set up and then blame their low grades on the teacher. It seems you buy into that line of thinking.

We never got rubrics in high school except for the odd writing assignment.

[Momma_bear]

Originally Posted by psr13

We never got rubrics in high school except for the odd writing assignment.

WOW! I like my students to know in advance what the criteria for their grade is based on. Even my participation grades in chorus are broken down for students:

They get 10 points per day for participation:

2-Being in their seat ready to sing 2 minutes after the bell rings
2-Attempting each sight singing exercise
2-Not talking during transitions
2-Good posture while singing
2-Engagement in all classroom activities.

[psr13]

In my 8th grade honors science class we had to make a graph. I lost points for not coloring in the background. We weren't told we had to do that. They weren't a lot of points, and I still got an A, but honestly.

[LauraC]

Originally Posted by marylee54

I am sooooooo sick of the busy-work projects the school sends home for the parents to do. My kids are now in middle school, we still get baby projects, color, cut, draw, glue, geez!

Ok, that stuff was ok in pre-school, kindergarten, maybe up to 3rd rafde. But please, come on, enough with the projects! All we learn is misery! Now we're supposed to make an Indian village, 3-D. What will they learn by that? Tonight I went to Walmart and spent $50 plus for materials, please, don't tell me I didn't need to spend so much, we could just use "stuff around the house". Perhaps we might have had some old stuff around the house, but you do run out. Plus the time I spent doing all that fiddle faddle. As I cleaned up all the mess, I realize why they don't do it in class---they don't want to clean up the mess!:

What's this "we" stuff? Isn't it your kid's assignment?