The purpose of my Get HyPE column is to raise and discuss topics that will excite and inspire the physical education community. My goal is to encourage you to think about or try something new every month. The name of the column also has a secondary meaning. It includes the name my students call me, “G-H,” and the abbreviation for physical education, “PE.”
What’s keeping me going these days? Rubrics. I’m obsessed with them. I can’t stop thinking about them. I can’t stop designing them. They’re pushing my teaching practice, they’re helping me authentically assess my students’ learning, and they help me focus on exactly what I want my students to learn each day. Recently, my friends on Twitter have asked me where I get my rubrics. For the most part, I design them myself using four easy steps.
My teaching environment doesn’t allow me to look too far ahead when it comes to planning. I share my teaching spaces with three other physical educators, and we rotate through the spaces on a seven or ten day cycle. Sometimes my plans work flawlessly and sometimes they change unexpectedly. Take today for example: While my school’s field was being re-seeded I planned to have my 6th grade students play a Spikeball ladder tournament on the grass next to the school. Right when I finished explaining what we were doing I heard, “Sputter, Sputter, SPRAY.” The sprinkler system turned on! Change of plans. Move the Spikeball games to the sidewalk. The balls kept rolling into the street. Change of plans. Move the Spikeball games back to part of the grass that wasn’t soaked. The sprinklers turned on again. Change of plans. But what? With nowhere else to go, I moved my students to the wet grass and completely modified the rules. They were safe, had a great time playing, and at the end of class we had an amazing discussion about how we can control where the ball goes by changing the force and angles of our hands and striking implements.
Step One for creating a rubric in #PhysEd is: Plan and design your units one at a time, week-by-week.
Step Two: Choose one or two things you want your students to know, understand, and be able to do by the end of the unit.
How do you determine what you’re going to teach? I’ve been creating my own success criteria this year, pulling outcomes from the SHAPE America Grade-Level Outcomes for K-12 Physical Education, the New Colorado P-12 Academic Standards for Physical Education, and The AusVELS Curriculum from Victoria, Australia. I’m a firm believer that you need to choose the physical education outcomes that will work for you and your students. There are parts of the SHAPE America GLOs that I really like, the Colorado standards include inquiry questions that I use all the time, and the AusVELS give me a glimpse into how I can design my lessons to include student-centered learning intentions.
Step Three: Determine how many levels your rubrics will have and what they will be called.
I use four levels on all my rubrics. They are: Exceptional, Proficient, Making Progress, and Not Yet. To make my rubrics kid-friendly, which I also believe is parent-friendly, I change the language to Wow!, Got It!, Getting There!, and either I do not know this yet, I do not understand this yet, or I cannot do this yet.
Step Four: Write your performance descriptors.
In my opinion, this step is the most challenging and time-consuming. The outcome I’m assessing is always the Proficient (Got It!) descriptor. I write each performance descriptor in kid-friendly language, too.
Here is a glimpse into the unit my 6th grade students are completing this week:
Step One–Plan the Unit
Day 1:
- What are we learning today? How to strike an object with an implement
- Why are we learning it? Striking with an implement is a fundamental skill used in a variety of games like pickleball, tennis, badminton, and table tennis
- How will I know I learned it? When I can consistently strike a pickleball over the net with a paddle
- Define strike, object, implement, and fundamental skill
- Pickleball games
Day 2:
- Introduce pickleball rules
- Pickleball doubles matches
Day 3:
- Define consistently, strike, and implement
- Pickleball doubles matches
Day 4:
- Pickleball doubles matches
- Exit Ticket: Why is it important to learn fundamental skills before advanced skills?
Day 5:
- Pickleball doubles matches
- Summative assessment (teacher observation)
Day 6:
- Pickleball doubles matches
- Summative assessment (teacher observation)
Day 7:
- Review Spikeball rules and expectations
- Spikeball on side field
Day 8:
- Spikeball ladder tournament on side field
- Class discussion “How do we control where we want the ball to go?”
Day 9:
- Spikeball ladder tournament on field
- Summative assessment
Step Two–Choose the Outcome(s)
- Strike an object consistently, using an implement
- Illustrate how the intended direction of an object (ball) is affected by the angle of the implement (pickleball paddle) or body part (hand) at the time of contact
Step Three and Four–Create the Rubrics
Striking an Object with an Implement Rubric
Wow! = I can consistently and accurately strike an object with an implement.
Got It! = I can consistently strike an object with an implement.
Getting There! = Sometimes I can strike an object with an implement.
Not Yet! = I cannot strike an object with an implement, yet.
I can draw and label how striking a pickleball (with a paddle) and a Spikeball (with my hand) at different angles affects how the ball travels.
Wow! = I can demonstrate my knowledge by drawing and labeling 4 or more examples.
Got It! = I can demonstrate my knowledge by drawing and labeling 3 examples.
Getting There! = I can demonstrate my knowledge by drawing and labeling 1 or 2 examples.
Not Yet! = I cannot demonstrate my knowledge, yet.
Okay, it’s time to Get HyPE.
My challenge to you is to try using these four steps to create an outcomes-based unit and a kid-friendly rubric. Please feel free to share your rubrics and unit plans with me on Twitter @GHSaysRockChalk, using the hashtag #GetHyPE.
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Contact: pheamerica20@gmail.com
