Monday, November 23, 2009
Do Rubrics Stifle Creativity?
This video provides opinions from different parents and teachers on the use of rubrics in their classrooms. I thought this video was interesting because rubrics have become a controversial issue between teachers and students as well. Throughout these interviews, teachers have expressed that rubrics no only help organize writing, but they lay out expectations. Many of us have heard that we need to set our expectations with our students right from the beginning. I believe that this statement is valid. Besides expectations, the another professor states that rubrics help grading to be less subjective and more objective. This way students know what is expected of them. The grading is done fairly and they know what the teacher was looking for before they turned in their paper. Another huge point brought up as that rubrics stifle creativity in writing. Sometimes I do believe this to be true, but I also realize that it depends on the teacher. There are some teachers who reiterate using voice and uniqueness in writing. That is what should be done in classrooms. Even though we give rubrics as guidelines, we should not forget that we want our students to bring out their own voice in their writing. These expectations that we are setting can only make our students more successful in writing and not hold them back. Do you think that creativity has been lost in classrooms today? How can we continue to make writing more objective? Are rubrics the answer? Would you use them in your classroom? Do you think it is a good idea to involve your students in the expectation process but having them help you make the rubric?
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I thought this video brought up many good points and ways in which a rubric can be utilized. Rubrics can be used in a variety of ways and I do feel that it is important to use the rubric in a way where it promotes writing development as opposed to hindering it. I do not think that creativity has been completely lost in the classrooms. However, I would not place the blame on writing rubrics. Instead I feel standardized testing has taken away creativity and teachers today are teaching to the test. The test promotes a writing prompt that is dull and not relatable to each student. As well, the student is given a short amount of time to write down an answer that is written for a grade. Thought, creativity, revision, and voice are all jeopardized in this situation, and this is not the writing that education should promote. However, rubrics can do the same thing to students by not allowing the students room to grow and play within the rubric. Students should be given the chance to write each day and to exercise their voice, creativity, and independence within their writing. I believe a general rubric should be available for all students to keep in mind as they write, but I do favor the students having individual personalized rubrics to refer to if needed while writing. A rubric should serve as a reminder not a requirement.
ReplyDeleteA lot of creativity in classrooms today has been stifled because of the focus on content standards, not because of the use of rubrics. I completely understand the implications for needing to meet certain standards but when these standards are constantly being the tool that drives a students education, the freedom of learning is lost. I think that in many ways rubrics can act as a guide to help students along when they may experience difficulties coming up with what they should write next. One thing that Routman always emphasizes is making rubrics "child-friendly". This makes it so that rubrics are more understandable and applicable to the writing that individual classrooms are doing. I do not think that there is one rubric that can be used for every assignment and classroom, but I do however think that giving children expectations allows them to adequately complete their assignments. Rubrics give a certain fairness to the grading of writing that cannot be seen through other criteria.
ReplyDeleteRubrics my goodness where to start.I think that they are an important and do serve a purpose in a classroom. They are good ways to help students understand what is required of them for the assignment and it helps the teacher know what to look for when grading student work. On the contrary i do believe that it can halter or slow a students creative edge. I agree with you Courtney that in todays teaching world it is all about standards and tests and passes those test each year with improvement.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be good to have your students help you come up with a rubric at the begining of they year that has what they need to to get good grades on writing assignments. And along the course of the year as a class you can make changes to the class rubric as you learn more and more about the writing process!
BY: WILLIAM BURNS
"Do rubrics stifle creativity?" is a very question and I like this video because it tries to show how valuable rubrics can be. The first guy emphasizes that it is impossible to teach every style of writing out there. Also it is difficult to evalute students without guidelines. The third lady made a good point when she talked about how she would get papers back and they weren't really meeting her expectations. Rubrics are helpful in setting expectations and guidelines to follow. I agree with the first lady who was interviewed that rubrics should be grade appropriate. And the last guy made a good point that rubrics show students how well they are doing. I really think effective rubrics are simple, and grade appropriate, have good guidelines. I also remember reading in Routman a good idea when it comes to rubrics is that it is okay to maybe come up with a rubric with the class. That way they know what to expect and they kind of have a say in what they think the guidelines are. I have done this in three of my classes at Chapman and I like it. It might be more challenging in younger classes, but students can always surprise you. I think rubrics are a good idea, but not for every writing assignment, just really the bigger ones.
ReplyDeleteI have a very mixed feeling about rubrics. I think they are a great starting off point and are useful in some situations, but I do believe that often they stifle creativity. Students are so sure that they write, or do work to the rubric, they leave out information that they believe is important or something that they thought of. They can believe that if they aren’t being graded on it, why include it, and some even believe that it's not important if it's not included in the rubric. I believe if you use rubrics, they should be individualized or not the only source for the grading scale. The content should be the focus!
ReplyDeleteI agree with using rubrics in the classroom, but with some guidelines. I also agree with Stephenette when saying that even though we may use rubrics, we still want students to bring their own voice and uniqueness to writing. I do that that much of the creativity of writing has been lost in classrooms today. This is in large part due to standardized testing. So many teachers are concerned with preparing their students to write well enough to do score well on standardized tests that they end up making writing formulaic instead of artistic. When we are concerned with writing well enough to score well on a standardized test, the art and creativity of writing is lost. I do think, though, it is still important to include rubrics in the classroom, though they do not have to be used for every writing assignment. Allowing students to be a part of the assessment process can also be influential. By allowing students to decide on and be a part of the decision process concerning the expectations, they will be more dedicated to their own writing because they have decided what is important in writing, not just the teacher.
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