C&T 803 Differentiating Curriculum and Instruction

Project Rubric



Name: Amanda Williams

Describe your RAFT:

Role: curriculum developer, secondary teacher

Audience: other teachers

Format: website toolbox

Topic: using technology to differentiate learning activities


Creating your rubric
An important aspect of your project is applying concepts and skills
related to assessing learning from a differentiated perspective. You will
be developing a rubric that you will use to self-assess your work. The
following activity (adapted from the work of Stevens and Levi, included
on our course Blackboard site) is designed to help you develop your
rubric.

Step 1 Preliminary thinking.

Please answer the following questions:
1. How will this assignment show what you have learned about
differentiation?

This assignment will summarize my understanding of DI and show that I
am able to apply it to teaching situations. It should demonstrate that I am
able to identify opportunities for differentiation in a variety of ways to
enhance learning of a variety of students.

2. What differentiated instruction skills did your project require?

It required the ability to recognize and plan for student differences. I had
to effectively be able to use and understand the technology and how it
would be used by students at different levels. I had to evaluate the tools
for their usefulness in teaching and learning.




3. What differentiated instruction knowledge did your project require?

I had to know which elements of instruction could be adjusted along the
Equalizers, how technology could enhance lessons, and the potential for
lessons to be changed and expanded into differentiated lessons. I also
needed to know appropriate activities for the targeted age group that
could provide interesting and developmentally challenging scenarios for
learners of all types.




Step 2. Transforming preliminary thoughts into evaluation descriptors.
Now examine your answers. Your responses to Item 1 are the descriptors
for Project Goals. Item 2 responses are the descriptors for Knowledge,
and Item 3 responses are the descriptors for Skills. Write the descriptor
in the box to the right of the pertinent dimension. See the
complete/thorough and meaningful rows for examples of descriptors.


Step 3. Assigning value.
The project is worth 150 points. To distribute the points across
dimensions, think about which dimension of the project is most
important. It should be worth the most points. Then assign points to the
next most important dimension, etc. until you have assigned points for
all project dimensions. There is NO single correct point distribution!


Step 4. Evaluating your project.
In the third column of the rubric, share your self-assessment for each
project dimension. This should include points AND comments about why
you assigned that particular number of points for that dimension.

Project
Dimension
Description and possible
points (150 maximum)
Self assessment and
comments for RCF
Goals:




Description:
1. The project includes a
bank of tools that could be
used in a variety of learning
environments that have
access to computers and
other technology.
40 - I chose technology that
would be easy to access via
the internet. I tried to
explain how the
assignments might be given
for different content areas
and only included those




2. The tools as they are
presented would clearly be
useful to teachers of many
content areas in grades 5-12.
Possible Points: 40
that are appropriate for 5-
12 grade. (I ranked this
highest because I set my
own goals for this project
and that gave me the most
direction about what to
accomplish with it. I know
how I intended for it to be
used so that comes through
in my work.)
Knowledge:




Description:
1. Tools and strategies listed
are supported with clear
explanation of how they
could be used to
differentiate.
2. Consideration is given to
differentiating by content,
process, and product.
3. The project demonstrates
a firm grasp of how
instruction can and should
be made approachable to
diverse learners.
Possible Points: 35
33 - I could have included
more examples of how to
use the tools, but I think
there are a fair number of
instructional scenarios for
each tool listed. I organized
the tools by content,
process, or product but
sometimes the tools are not
easily categorized into just
one method.

(this is 35 points because
the knowledge I
demonstrate about DI
should be assessed in this
culminating project, to
show what I take away from
our lessons on DI)
Skills:




Description:
1. Tools and strategies
chosen include a description
of how to assess student
learning.
2. Possible uses for the
technology have been
explained along with detailed
explanations of how the tool
creates a differentiated
assignment or lesson.
Possible Points: 35
32 how to assess for
student learning is the part
of the assignment I
struggled with the most. I
know that I am still
developing this skill and
hope that I offered plenty of
options for each tech tool
regarding how to assess or
how to guide the students
into differentiated lessons.
(this is worth 35 because
again, this project is meant
to show the skills ive
developed in this class for
using DI in lesson planning
and in talking about
education and learners.)

Complete
and
Thorough:




Description:
1. The project is usable in its
current format.
2. Implementation steps are
described clearly.
3. Resources are described.
4. Student materials are
described and/or included.
5. Another class member
could use the project.
Possible Points: 20
18 - It is usable but I might
need to reformat how I
present the information to
make it easier for teachers.
The tools are not presented
in a lesson plan format
exactly, but I offer enough
description that the
teachers who use it could
get creative and
incorporate the tools into
lessons they already have.
(i felt that this criterion
deserved less emphasis
because an incomplete
project could not
accomplish all of my goals
for criteria 1, 2, & 3)


Meaningful:





Description:
1. The project is an
exemplary demonstration of
D.I.
2. It is obvious that the
project represents
consideration of crucial
concepts about
differentiation.
Possible Points: 20
18 - I am glad I chose to
mention the content,
process, product. I went
into a little bit of detail
about UDL, but could maybe
explain more for teachers
who are not familiar with
the concepts.
(as above, meaningfulness
to me was a big part of my
initial goals in this project,
so I felt that it was already
assessed to some degree in
my grade for goals. This
section is specifically
relating back to my role as a
student of DI)