I’ve often used rubrics for grading applications in an elementary algebra class. I think that the students have been somewhat oblivious to what I’m doing. They look at the score, not the rubric. If they get enough points to pass, they’re usually satisfied.
This semester I am experimenting with whether emphasizing objectives and rubrics can result in better communication of the “clear and high standards” that I set for my students. I’m including objectives and a rubric for each turn-in assignment. To grade the first assignment, I printed out a half page sheet that included the assigned problems, the rubric, and room for comments. Then, I graded every problem on every homework, made a comment about their presentation, and showed how I used the rubric to get their final grade. With 75 students, this was a big job.
The mathematics generally looks good. I was pleased to see that most students were using = signs appropriately as they simplified numerical expressions. I emphasized this during class, both in the examples I did and in the practice problems they did in pairs at their desks. Most of them are doing well in following the order of operations. Not surprisingly, there are a significant number of students who made mistakes in fraction arithmetic.
Aside from the mathematics, however, these students need to improve the visual quality of their homework. Despite the directions, I had crumpled papers, spiral edges, loose sheets without staples, and messy work. I used to not care about this kind of thing. However, I now think that this lack of care in presentation is connected to and can continually reinforce negative attitudes about learning math and the low expectations students often have for their work in math classes.
If I want neat work, I can’t just say “be neat” or “do your work in columns.” I have to model and explain what that means. I wrote comments on that first homework assignment. And, first thing in class today, I showed examples of exemplary work on this assignment. I showed examples of work that included the correct answers but just wasn’t presented very well. I urged students to present their work with pride. It is an accomplishment to do arithmetic and algebra well.
This was also my first opportunity to be very clear and blunt about academic dishonesty. I showed some exercises where a student used a calculator when the directions explicitly said not to (academic dishonesty) and exercises where students copied the answer from the back of the book even though their work did not support that answer (plagiarism). Students are often shocked to learn that copying answers from the back of the book is academic dishonesty. They have done it for so long that it seems like normal behavior.
Dev Math Diary 