Sunday, September 17, 2006

A Little Cheese with that Whine?

Participants in my writing workshops have heard me get on my soapbox about the value and power of a good rubric. (In fact – I rarely limit this to my writing workshops, this is how strongly I feel on the topic!) I firmly believe that we need to provide students with explicit criteria for their success in order to give them a fair shot in education. To that point – I have often shared a rubric on whining that I have internalized when working with teachers and students!!

Via A Year of Reading I found this great companion piece to the rubric which would also make a great listening/note-taking exercise for students. NPR recently held an interview on “The Joys and Perils of Whining at Work’ with Renee Montagne. This 3 ½ minute snippet is great for students to use with 2 column notes (Step Up to Writing strategy). I also envision students writing their own “whines” (voice!), writing their own rules for “Whining in the Classroom” (voice, organization, ideas), or making their own “Joys and Perils of (BLANK) in school podcast (ideas, voice, integration of technology!!)

I am still playing with how I might use this myself but the ideas are certainly flowing – look for it in a workshop soon!




Image from The New Zealand Herald, "Work, the horror of it all."

2 comments:

Mary Lee said...

Wow! You found a great classroom application for that piece on whining that I heard on NPR! Bravo!

Hey, I don't want to throw a wrench in your rubric gears, but have you read Maja Wilson's RETHINKING RUBRICS (Heinemann)? It has rocked my thinking about rubrics in writing...

Unknown said...

Mary Lee!
I love it when someone pushes my thinking!! I have checked out the first chapter of the book online and between the author's voice (WOW!) and the conversation around the phrase "best practice" I am hooked!

While I disagree with her perceptions of the 6 Traits rubric (obviously) have had similar negative experiences with rubrics. However, I find that their value lies in the fact that it allows us to give students explicit criteria to help improve their writing. By explicit - I mean clear, communicated criteria that is backed up with loads and loads of examples. Too often, we keep our expectations and the means to improve writing a teacher secret!! (Although I must admit that I do not share my dating rubric with anyone except my friends after yet another horrendous first date!!)

I've added the book to my Amazon wish-list- which will become reality with my next paycheck. Thanks for the resource and don't be a stranger!