Making a Virtue of Necessity Using Assessment Rubrics in the Classroom

The Virtues of Rubrics Make program objectives transparent to students Inform instructional decision-making

History Program Objectives 1. Historical Knowledge Explain the historical development and significance of important events, institutions, and ideas in United States and world history Understand the diversity of human experience in other cultures and eras Recognize different approaches to and methods of historical study [Historiography]

History Program Objectives Historical Reasoning and Research Think critically about the past and its social, political, and ethical significance Locate, explain, evaluate, and utilize information from and about the past Propose and evaluate interpretations of events, artifacts, documents, and images [Interpretation]

History Program Objectives Communication Perceptive reading Effective expression Literate use and consumption of Web-based materials

HIST 2000 - Historical Methods Introduces students to historical inquiry, interpretation, and writing

Major Writing Assignment: “Opening Up the Textbook” Task: Assess a high school or college history textbook’s coverage of a subject of your choice, research the subject, and write a historical narrative grounded in primary sources and informed by historical scholarship that complicates and enriches the textbook’s coverage. Process: Annotated Bibliography (interpretive exercise) Comparative Book Review (historiographical exercise) Historical Narrative

Percentage of students performing at an acceptable or exemplary level   Comprehensively follows assignment directions. Selection of secondary sources indicates attention to relevance to the topic and an effort to identify important works in the field. Books are published by a university or other reputable scholarly press; articles are from peer-reviewed journals. Selection of primary sources indicates attention to relevance to the topic an an effort to identify items essential to understanding the topic. Annotations comprehensively follow Rampolla's guidelines (3b-2). Annotations comprehsensively follow the 5 Cs for sourcing, describing, contextualizing, and corroborating primary sources. Complete bibliographic information is provided for all sources and properly formatted using the Chicago style (see Rampolla 7c). Writing is free of sentence-level errors, formatting errors, and stylistic problems. Student 1 3 4 1 Student 2 Student 3 2 Student 4 Student 5 Student 6 Student 7 Student 8 Student 9 Student 10 Student 11 Student 12 Student 13 Student 14 Student 15 Student 16 Student 17 Student 18 Percentage of students performing at an acceptable or exemplary level 83.33% 100.00% 61.11% 66.67% 22.22% 27.78% 88.89%

Five Cs of Primary Source Analysis An alliterative guide for describing, contextualizing, and corroborating primary sources CITATION: What is this source? Who created it, when, and why? For whom (audience)? CONTENT: Describe in detail what you read, see, or hear. You should consider this at two levels: surface appearance (literal meaning), and subtext (implied meanings). CONTEXT— BIOGRAPHICAL & HISTORICAL: What do you know about the author’s life, values, presumptions, and perspective? What do you know about the time period and place? How might these details shape the meaning of the source? CORROBORATION: What do you already know about this topic? Link the source to other things that you already know or have learned about. Is this source credible? CONCLUSIONS: Based on the evidence and reasoning, what can you conclude about the source’s meaning? Consider both what the source reveals about its author, and what we can learn from it about the subject (whether because of, or in spite of, the author’s intentions).

Map of Chicago, 1916.