Using Rubrics to Check for Undersrtanding

So since we go back to work a week from today, I have just now started thinking about school. I have had quite the busy summer! Officer Hofficer had shoulder surgery on our last day of school, I had my tonsils removed, we have made three trips to Kansas to see Officer Hofficer’s family, I finished up my Masters Program and a made trip to Frog Street SPLASH. And on top of that, my Daddy has been battling Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma since last Labor Day and he is getting ready to go in for Stem Cell Transplant. So needless to say, as much as I love my job and as much as I LOVE kindergarten, it has not been at the forefront of my mind.
Using Rubrics to Check for Understanding in Kindergarten

The state of Oklahoma started a new evaluation system about three years ago, and we adopted the Marzano model. One of elements is having the students evaluate their learning on a rubric. When I was first told about this I thought , how in the world am I going to do this with Kindergarteners?! A four point rubric?! That is crazy!

The first few years we did a thumbs up/thumbs down type of evaluation. But we were told last year we had to do a true rubric. So this year was a real trying year.

I created a rubric for most phonics standards.  I would focus on one major standard of the lesson. Not only would I use it to evaluate my students, but it was what I had used as the Target Goal for the lesson.
Using Rubrics to Check for Understanding in Kindergarten
This is from my evaluation I had in March. I had some ticket holders. That had a finger glued onto it. A one standing for the lowest form of understanding and the 4 for the highest form of understanding. (I also switched out the colors, red is now a 1 and blue is a 4).  So the next day when I am teaching a lesson on ending sounds, I just have to pull the rubric cards out of the pockets and put in new ones. I had them in a folder on my easel so I could easily change them out.

So after I am done teaching a lesson. I ask my kids to repeat the I Can Statement. Then we go over the rubric. They give me a 1-4 and show me on their fingers. The kids who do a 1/2 stay with me on the carpet so I can reteach and the ones that give me a 3/4 go to their spots to either do centers or their workpage.

At first I thought that they would all give me a 3/4 to be able to go work. But after about the 5th time, they started being honest. And really, it is okay if they give me a 3/4 and they are really a 1/2. They will go try to work on their own, and then come back to the carpet to get help.

I made a whole set of these rubrics. There are two options. The first one listed with the black and white that you print on colored cardstock. A second option is the full color. They are ready to be hung in your room. Since sounding our words is such an important skill, this will be a staple on my classroom wall.

Using Rubrics to Check for Understanding in Kindergarten

These are the skills that are covered:
Sounding Out Words
Beginning Sounds
Middle Sounds
Ending Sounds
Segment Words
Identify letter by Name
Identify letter by Sound
Rhyming Words
Syllables

Here is the unit that you can now find on TpT. 

Using Rubrics to Check for Understanding in Kindergarten


Thanks for stopping by! I am off to finish my back to school shopping so I am SOMEWHAT prepared for next Monday!









No comments

Post a Comment