Rubistar M&Ms

In the research class I teach, I use a Justified-Renzulli Rubric. Here is an example of my original rubric in action. This is grading guideline that allows a student to go over-and-above the call of duty, and then getting credit for the effort. Another Gifted Resource Teacher came up with the Justified part of it, and I added the Renzulli part. We use this kind of rubric for all the PRISMS classes in the county.

For this assignment, I went to Rubistar to set up an account for making rubrics. I was pleasantly surprised that there were several categories of rubrics to choose from, making the building of a grading matrix fairly easy. I still made changes to accommodate specific needs but overall, it was a snap.

Gourd M&Ms!  The choice of gourdheads everywhere!

My first Rubistar rubric was for the PRISMS paper, the second rubric for the PRISM Showcase display, and the third one for the PRISMS Showcase presentation. It was like popping M&Ms! I had to make myself stop.

Using Jing to capture them and uploading them to Screencast provided another URL got me this: Writing the Paper, Building the Display, and Showcase Presentation but I didn't want an instance where students and parents could see that my magnificent rubric brilliance was actually commercially based (since the Rubistar or the Jing masthead is clearly displayed).

Finally, I saved them to my computer as a PNG image which I could then upload Google Docs which gave another URL to access them: Writing the Paper, Building the Display, and Showcase Presentation.

Saving them in an Excel format on the thumbdrive I use for all the PRISMS documents was handy. Not only do I have access to them online from whatever computer I happen to be at from school to school if I have access to Google Docs, but I can have them instantly from my personal device when I don't have access to them online. Logging into Rubistar allows for printing access but, again, that presupposes the computer I am at permits access.

So, where does that leave me Technology Standard-wise?  This certainly falls into the #3 and 4: the sharing of rubrics with students for lessons and assessments, and then sharing them with colleagues for professional collaborations.