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Reflection 7/18/12 I was kicking myself a little when I first started creating this rubric. I was really irritated by my target choice, but as I started working through it I am glad that this is what I'm working on. Synthesizing information from different sources manifests itself in things we do all the time in class -things I should have a rubric for, but don't. I ask my kids to record their thinking all the time, but do not have a rubric for it. I assess it, but don't have a tool for my students to assess themselves or use as a goal. Not that it's easy, but I'm really glad I'm doing it. What has been really helpful is looking at the continua we've created as our report card. In the continua we have outlined the behaviors that we think are important. In the rubric I am just trying to figure out what that looks like when we record our thinking. I am, as always having a hard time figuring out levels. I know what a 4 looks like, but I'm having a hard time articulating a 2 or a 3. The other question I have is whether my 4 should be above and beyond or what I expect?

Reflection 7/16/12 Here is something I wrote for my PBL class which I think answers this question: Day 12 My rubric pendulum has swung a lot. Currently it is on a positive swing. I have had times where I got frustrated by the crafting of rubrics. It takes so much class time! For my kids and my patience level I think the most valuable part is figuring out the criteria or what the ideal looks like. This is very valuable for students, but I don't think having them come up with the other levels of what that looks like is worth the class time. I have also gotten frustrated by the seemingly arbitrary differences between what's a 3 and what's a 4. I admit to having stuck quite a few "consistently" or "independently" onto descriptors just to make them worthy of being one box ahead. I was thrilled to look at the rubrics today that said, "In addition to meeting the proficient standards, the learner..." Brilliant! I get stuck because I am trying to figure out the different degrees of the same behavior. That doesn't always neatly split up into four degrees. Sometimes doing better means that yes, you are doing the behaviors in the "proficient" box as good as you can do them, but what makes this work better is that you've done more than what's in that "proficient box" and I don't have to make up some crazy new way of saying the same thing as I said in the "proficient box" just to make it sound a little better.
 * What is your position with regards to using rubrics to assess student learning in your classroom? Identify your strengths and limitations.

Reflection 7/12/12 Performance Tasks? How do they help the teacher? student? To me, the benefits are one in the same. Authentic performance tasks help engage students in the work that the teacher is asking them to do. I think the student engagement is a really important point, which helps both students and teachers. The other really important point for me is that authentic performance tasks ask students to use higher thinking skills. An authentic task asks students to use the new knowledge that they've gathered. I suppose that could make it harder on the teacher to assess for knowledge, but it makes it actually possible to assess for reasoning skills. To me, the challenge is always authenticity, especially with third and fourth graders. I know that it's possible because I've done it, and I've seen it done. I have come to the realization that not every unit is as well suited for a truly authentic assessment. Sometimes it is just a time issue and sometimes it is because of the topic. With some topics (geology) I struggled with how to have my students, who are little, take action in some way. To me, a truly authentic task should be meaningful for students, but also their community. Within that definition, it isn't always possible, but I'm ok with that.

Reflection 7/11/12 I feel much clearer about my blueprint today. I FINALLY feel like I get the learning goals. I got that when I looked at my classmate's learning target. It actually was clear what

Reflection 7/10/12 Target Match I am pretty clear on this except for Personal Communication. I understand it to be a reflection piece, but when reading the matrix I feel like they might be talking about a different thing. I will just think of it as self reflection and be ok with it. I do think that it is interesting that I have a lot of knowledge learning targets, but I rarely ask my student to do selected response or extended response, even though those are the ideal assessment methods for those skills. I think that's because the learning targets that I value are reasoning, understanding, or skill targets. Those are sometimes harder to articulate, but I recognize that I need to, especially if I am trying to build assessment for them.

Reflection 7/9/12 I like the blueprint template that I decided on. I think it makes sense to have it match up with what we're developing for our school-wide curriculum frameworks. I also think it makes a lot of sense to include the essential questions, but that means I will have to come up with them. I'm not exactly sure I'm ready for that, but without it/them I probably wouldn't do a very good job on everything else. That is how I am used to thinking about units. I have been avoiding solidifying my learning goals, which I should probably get over quickly if I'm going to be able to do the rest of my blueprint. I have standards and benchmarks that I pulled from the state standards, but they aren't exactly right for us. I need to revise them. That will be my goal for tonight.

Reflection 7/5/12 How much a part of academic success is a strong, basic understanding of facts, concepts, and generalizations? I think that this is a big part of //traditional// academic success. I'm not sure if it is still the basis for academic success. I am having a hard time answering this. I think the part that is stumping me is the generalization part. Is that the same as synthesizing? If it isn't then, no, it shouldn't be the most important part of academic success. I think it is more important to be able question, evaluate, and analyze facts.

Reflection 7/3/12 Why do I think that students have been left out of the decision making process? I don't know. I have always felt, and I come from a school, that feels that students' input is central to the assessment process. Maybe this comes from a distrust of a student's ability to accurately self assess themselves. I think this actually speaks to a bigger issue of a teacher's role in the classroom. I don't feel like my role as a teacher is as the keeper of knowledge, especially when it comes to student's learning. I am pretty sure they know more about their learning than I do.

Group Reflection 7/2/12 Good/Not so Good assessment experience from my educational experience. I think the assessment piece that was the worst for me was taking the GRE for getting into Grad echo the first time. Including all my standardized testing I felt the least amount of control over that test. Even for the SAT's I felt well prepared. I knew what to expect and understood what they were looking for, I did not feel that for the GRE. I remember (and it was a while ago) thinking that there were so many ways that you could answer the questions. I just remember a feeling of helplessness that that test had so much control over my future and I wasn't prepared for it -even though I tried really hard to prepare for it. I have had a number of good experiences with assessment, I'm not sure what would stick out as the best so I'll go recent. I feel like my teaching evaluations are helpful. At the beginning of the year I set my goals, which my principal reviews. She comes in to observe me then gives me feedback. At the end of the semester I have a meeting with her to discuss my goals and progress. I feel like this works for me.

My project for 717 is a virtual field trip of O`ahu's geological sites. Students will work in small groups to research their location and create a keynote which will be shared outside of our community. Since I teach third and fourth grade and this unit will happen at the beginning of the year a lot of the research work will be structured and done as a class before students split into small groups to work on their individual area. Scaffolding/benchmark activities will be a labeled diagram with accompanying text of how the students think our island was created. This will be revised as our study continues. Students will also be doing a mini-share of an "aha!" moment from their research. I teach third and fourth grade multi-age which means that I have my students for their third and fourth grade years. I have approximately 20 kids in my class, with roughly equal amounts of boys and girls and third graders and fourth graders. My school's curriculum is inquiry driven in the areas of social studies and science. I honestly have no idea what I am wondering about yet. As far as in my classroom I tend to get frustrated with rubrics and how to keep them relevant. After listening to Phil I think I am being way too narrow in how I'm thinking of assessment. I have never done any action researching in my classroom and I want to make sure that when I start the year I can begin to collect data. I'm not sure that was very helpful, sorry.