While in teacher's college, I had an instructor who swore by checklists. In all assignments for that course, we were given a checklist to complete prior to submission of our project. I found that this not only made expectations clear to students, but also allowed us to self assess and reflect on our work before submission.
I have been using checklists in place of rubrics in my classes since my first year of teaching. I have found that students respond well to this type of assessment and evaluation. It also allows for me to stay focused when grading papers, by narrowing down the criteria for grading based on the desired learning outcomes. Often, I start designing an assigment by making the checklist and working backwards from that point. The checklist itself is developed directly from course expectations.
Click here to view some of the assignments where I have used checklists to help students be successful.
x
