Accountability & Rubrics

EDUC 350

This week in 350 we learned about laws that keep us accountable to every student as teachers. One huge law that governs accountability within the school is IDEA. This is Individual with Disabilities in Education Act. This directly deals with students with disabilities, and how to include them within the classroom. We focused on the LRE during class, which is the least restrictive environment. There are 4 settings for LRE. Step one is inclusion, step two is resource, step three is self-contained, and step four is separate setting. Step one is the least to the most restrictive. Inclusion is when the student is still involved in daily activities. Then separate setting is when the student is in a completely different school that is specialized in handling children with disabilities. This directly deals with NCTCS 2- Teachers adapt their teaching for the benefit of students with special needs. Teachers need to make sure that they are meeting the student's needs. That is the biggest thing that I took away from this week. No matter the circumstances or no matter the situation, we as teachers have to strive to meet our student's needs. I think that is so insanely important within our future classroom. 

EDUC 410 

This week in EDUC 410 we discussed how to use rubrics effectively within our classroom. We have to make sure that we are giving our students rubrics so they can effectively know what is being required of them. This also gives the student specific guidelines to follow while doing the project, assignment, or homework. Without a rubric, the student would not have clear guidance and not have concrete evidence of what they were doing wrong. Also, using a rubric allows for the teacher to have less bias while grading. It allows the teacher to double check how they are grading the assignment to make sure that the grading is being consistent throughout all of the assignments/homework. 

I found an article that discusses how when using rubrics teachers need to focus on what was actually taught. Rather than putting things in your rubric that was never taught or learned to the classroom. This article also states that rubrics help with students being able to know what the desired performance is on a specific project or assignment. I believe that both of these are important when dealing with making and assigning rubrics. 

http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/112001/chapters/What-Are-Rubrics-and-Why-Are-They-Important¢.aspx

Future Classroom

It is so important within my future classroom to understand the law when it comes to having disabled students. I have to make sure that every single one of my student's needs are being met. No matter what disability, they need to have their needs met. I also want to make sure that I am using clear rubrics for assignments, projects, and any sort of homework. This way my students are aware of what is expected of them and what they are going to be graded on. I also want to make sure that my rubrics still have room for creativity. That my students still have the abiliity to put themselves inthe project and get excited about it.