Assessment, Teamwork and Essential Student Learnings

Module Eight

Part 1: Rubric for the Research Cycle

Rationale:

Using a rubric for the research cycle will provide assessment information for the teacher and feedback for the teams as well as for individual students. It should be applied to individual and group performance throughout the process, not just at the end.

Exploration:

Use the rubric provided on the next page to rate how well your team did on your city research investigation. As you talk about each one ask: How well did we do on each step?

Discussion:

How could you use this rubric with students? To see how Lowell Elementary has adapted the rubric for a more student oriented approach.

Part 2: Teamwork

Rationale:

Teamwork is necessary for students to engage in behavior that makes for successful problem solving. If a team does not have the skills to work together then work cannot be accomplished in a manner that involves the whole team. Using the 7 essential skills for teamwork to teach and assess teamwork behavior gives the teams and the teacher behaviors to teach and work towards.

Exploration:

Think of examples of how your team used each one of the following Essential Skills during your research investigation of "Which City?" - Module 6

Discussion:

With your team come up with 2 ways that you would teach students these skills.

See the list that Birchwood Elementary uses to teach their students how to work together.

Part 3: The District Essential Learnings

Rationale:

Everything we teach in the classroom needs to support the District Essential Learnings. These provide the guidelines by which we teach. The research cycle lends itself to many areas of the essential learnings.

Exploration:

Read over the essential learnings. With your team decide which of the essential learnings are supported when using the Research Cycle.

Bellingham School District Essential Student Learnings

    Our students will be...
      knowledgeable individuals
      quality producers
      effective communicators
      competent thinkers
      effective collaborators
      responsible citizens
      life long learners

Discussion:

Discuss with the whole group how the research cycle will change the way you teach research investigations in the classroom. Record your thoughts in your word processing file.

Return to Literacy Module List

Return to Bellingham Schools Home Page
Copyright Notice: These lessons may be copied by non-profit, public learning institutions only for use with their own staff. All other purposes are expressly prohibited without explicit permission. .
Revised 4/1/99