Touchstone #3: I peel back the curtain and make my performance expectations clear.

Rubric Example

On the right is a rubric included in a repl.it assignment. While this may not look like the general table often seen of analytic rubrics, it was important to include the rubric in a place where students were more likely to see it. It could have been included with Google Classroom's Rubric (currently in beta), but now students have to be operating in two places at once. Turns out, students are perfectly capable of reading a rubric line by line.

This rubric was created in support of the if statement assignment food truck option in support of the CSTA 2-AP-12 standard discussed on the last touchstone page. It was designed to include if statements, but also to bolster support of writing methods, something many of the students needed additional practice doing. All of the other rubric options also included method requirements for this reason.

Often times rubrics will be neatly organized into something like a 4 x 4 table, however I've noticed my colleagues struggle sometimes to included meaningful performance measurements for all table items. For this reason, I decided to ignore my own tendencies for even distribution and just include performance expectations that made sense. This particular assignment was only worth 8 points, however most assignments average around 10 points so this assignment is still in the ballpark, so-to-speak. The students haven't reacted negatively to the change and it's easier for me to rely on the rubric when very specific actions have or have not been taken. As a result, my expectations are not only clear, but measurable.