Rubric Design Process

Process:

1. Look at Models- show examples of good and not-so good work
2. List Criteria-make list of what counts in quality work
3. Articulate gradations of quality- describe worst and best quality and fill in middle sections based on knowledge of common problems
4. Practice on models- use rubric to evaluate models given to them
5. Use self- and peer- assessment
6. Revise- let students revise their own work
   Use teacher assessment- use the same rubric as students to assess the work yourself

Creating Rubric:

Make sure the rubric is longitudinal so that the assessment tool can be used to show a students progression ( Ex: same rubric for mid-term and final evaluation)

Make sure that the students sign off on rubric before it is used (holding themselve accountable)

Demonstrating the different levels of work

When scoring, the highest score is the best and the lowest score is the worst.

What makes a good rubric:

Clarity of criteria
Distinction between Levels
Reliability of Scoring
Clarity of Expectations/Guidance to Learners
Support of Metacognition (Awareness of Learning)
Engagement of Learners in Rubric Development/Use for peer and/or self-evaluation

Chapter One

Chapter One Blog

Orthography-Student’s growing knowledge of spelling

The braid of literacy:

When purposeful reading, writing, listening, and speaking take place, vocabulary is learned along the way

More words are acquired when they are explicitly examined to discover the orthographic relationships among them and how these relationships represent sounds, patterns, and meanings

Exploration of orthographic knowledge can lead to the lengthening and strengthening of the literacy braid

Purpose of word study:

Develop general knowledge (examine words to discover generalizations about English)

Increase specific knowledge (the spelling and meaning of individual words)

Three Layers of English Orthography:

Alphabetic layer-first layer of info; realize relationships between letters and sounds

Pattern layer-overlays the alphabetic layer; Ex. CVCe-cape (1^st vowel long)

Meaning layer-learn groups of letters can represent meaning directly (i.e. prefixes, suffixes, Greek roots, Latin roots)

*Word Study is Developmental*because:

Need to build new knowledge to expand learning

Students need to have comprehension of certain concepts before they can learn new skills

Word study instruction must match the needs of the child

1 of the easiest ways to know what students need is to look at the way they spell words

Then target a specific students’ “zone of proximal development” and plan word study instruction that this student is conceptually ready to master

Tracking Spelling Progress:

Conduct regular spelling assessments (3 times a year)

Student’s Orthographic knowledge is defined by three functional levels:

1. Independent or easy level -(what students do correctly)

2. Instructional level-where instruction is most helpful (what students use but confuse)

3. Frustration level -where spelling concepts are too difficult (what is absent in students’ spelling)

Spelling and Reading Stages, Grade Levels, and Corresponding Instructional Chapters:

Stages of Spelling Development

Stage I: Emergent Spelling

• Mostly prephonetic
• Student not yet reading, no exposure to formal reading
• 0-5 years (toddlers + preschoolers + Kindergarteners)
• Random marks to actual letters
• Early
• Scribbles/ drawings
• Tell stories while they draw
• Letters undecipherable form drawing
• Middle
• Pretend writing-separate from picture (still no relationship)
• Usually linear
• Begin to pay attention to sounds in word (own names)
• End
• Writing include most salient sounds in words
• Ex: Jasmine –JMOE
• letters represent sounds in a systematic way
• Learn words can be segmented into sequences of sound, left to right
• memorizing words (cat, Mom, love)

Stage II: Letter-Name Alphabetic Spelling

· Kindergarten, First, Second

· Formally taught to read

· 5-8 years old

· Names of the letters as cues to the sound they want to represent

Early

o Apply alphabetic concept mainly to consonants

o First sound and last sound Ex: When-YN

o Semiphonetic

o Find matches between letters and spoken word by how sound is made by mouth

Middle

o Spells many high frequency words (will, love have, you)

o Consistent use of vowels differs from early letter name

o Long vowels represented, short vowels omitted

o Segment sounds in consonant blend and begin to represent blend correctly Ex: grat for great.

o Phonetic

Late

o Consistently represent most regular short vowel sounds, digraphs and consonant blends

o Full phonetic segmentation

o Preconsonantal nasals (m,n) usually omitted at this stage

o Use but confuse silent log vowel such as silent e in spelling of rain

Stage III: Within Word Pattern Spelling

Characteristics of this stage:

• students can -- read and spell many words correctly due to automaticity (automatic knowledge of letter sounds & short-vowel patterns)
• -- study words by letter and sound simultaneously
  
• students can -- correctly spell most one syllable, short-vowel words, consonant blends, diagraphs, & preconsonantal nasals
  
• typical age: 7-10 years old
• transition from alphabetic layer to meaning layer of English orthography through patterns
• large focus on use of homophones
  

--> Most difficult within word spelling pattern: ambiguous vowels; e.g. "ou" sound in "mouth, cough, through, tough"

Stage IV: Syllables and Affixes Spelling

Characteristics and principles of this stage:

• age: upper elementary & middle school (9-14 years old)
  
• inflected ending - "stopped"
• syllable juncture patterns
  
• unaccented final syllables provide difficulty; e.g. "mountain" or "little"
• study affixes = suffixes & prefixes

Stage V: Derivational Relations Spelling

• typical age: middle, high school, and college
• "derivational relations" -- when students examine how words share common derivations and related base words and roots
• students in this stage spell most words correctly

Frequent errors:

• with reduced vowel --> schwa sound; e.g. "competition"
• absorbed prefixes - the convention of changing the last consonant of a prefix to the first consonant of the root word; e.g. "immobile" = (in + mobile)-- "n" changes to "m" to make "immobile" instead of "inmobile"

"Knowing that the word competition is derivationally related to the word complete will help these students spell the derived form correctly

Synchrony- Reading, writing and spelling behaviors that relate to different stages of literacy development.

Five Reading and Writing Stages:

Emergent Reader:

· Also known as the pre-reader stage

· Write with scribbles, letterlike forms, and random letters that have no phonetic relationship to the words they believe they are writing

· “Read” familiar books from memory by using picture cues

· Lack understanding of alphabetic principle

· Selective cues- select non-alphabetic visual cues to remember words

· Letter Attachment

· Attach ownership to the first letter in their name and things that begin with that letter

Beginning Reader:

· Begin to use systematic letter sounds and use them to identify words by phonetic cues

· More complete knowledge of letter sounds

· Confuse vowels in words they write and read

· Store sight words

· Use entire letter string to decode words

· Whisper when reading silently to vocalize the letter sound

· Benefit from rereading predictable text

· Five little monkey Jumping on the bed

· Reads aloud, not silently yet

· Word by word finger point reading

Transitional Readers:

· Focus on vowels and what follows

· First, they learn rimes, a vowel followed by constants within a syllable.

· Approaching fluency in reading and writing

· Some expression in oral reading

· More organized writing

· Use of paragraph formatting

Intermediate and AdvancedSolve abstract problems

· Reflect metacognitively on experiences

· Their minds are free to think as rapidly as they can read

· Use reading as a vehicle of new information of texts

· Vocabulary grows with reading experience

· Their writing displays complex analysis and interpretation

· Reading is accurate and fast (orally and silently)

· Develop different writing styles: persuasive essays, editorials, poetry, and fantasy

· Students who have received supplemental spelling instruction perform better on reading tasks including reading orally and silent reading comprehension

· Spelling is a consistent predictor of reading achievement

Word Study- using a student’s growing knowledge of words to sort out relationships among the linguistic sources

· Orthographic knowledge plays a central role in comprehensive language art instruction.

· Word knowledge is made up of understanding of phonics, word recognition, spelling, vocabulary, and grammar of words and is acquired through reading, writing and implicit instruction by the teacher

· Word study is better than rote memory because it encourages active exploration and examination of word features that are within a child’s literacy development stage.

CLICK ON THE ABOVE DOCUMENTS TO VIEW LARGER