I <3 Rubrics...

As a future educator, I consider myself to be a more liberal teacher in comparision to a traditional one. I believe that school should not only be about facts from textbooks, but should also be about life lessons that can be applied outside of the classroom. Tests and quizzes should only account for one small part of a student's grade. So without a set format and percentage of correct or incorrect (such as a test), how can we teachers assess a student's progress? Rubrics allow teachers to grade their students outside of traditional "right" or "wrong" and give more leway toward other areas of concentration, such as neatness, teamwork, creativity, etc. Another aspect of rubrics is that it allows the student to understand what the teacher is looking for and what he/she will be graded on. It creates a much more fair system that allows the students to see the strengths and weaknesses of their asssignment. All in all, I love the benefits that come with rubrics which is why I will be using them in my classroom assessments.