But how do you know you've become awesome if you have no way of knowing what awesome looks like? Or where you are in relation to it?
That is why I like to spend considerable amount of time discussing the 'criteria for awesome'. What does 'awesome' look like as a reading response, a summary, a connection to text, a math response, a personal narrative, an essay, an oral presentation, etc. etc? What criteria determines 'awesomeness'?
You may have heard of Levels, such as Level 3 (expected). I like to look at Level 3 and 4 as examples of awesome. I like to have students look at samples of work at all levels (some I create, others I take from previous years, and other are current examples created by students) and have students determine along with me...what defines AWESOME in this situation? How, for instance, is this piece of writing more awesome than this one? What specifically do they do? Let's list it specifically! This list of criteria can then become the base for future student work.
Thus, the path to awesomeness is a clear road. Everyone knows what to aim for, what to do, and, through my guidance, how to get there. Teachers sometimes use the phrase 'bump it up'--I like to say this, too. "How do I bump up and move closer to awesome?" This is something we will be talking about.
Each student also has a Feedback Journal...a book where specific feedback related to tasks is written down. Based on that, students can create individual goals for progress. Students also keep portfolios to track work over time. Reflection is an important part of the process: "how did I do and how can I do better?"
Students can become quite adept at the process of evaluation and can also then use their 'critical eye' to judge their own work (self assess) and the work of others (peer assess).
Criteria for major assignments are posted here on this blog and always in the classroom. Students also receive a copy. I strongly encourage students to use the listed criteria to guide progress!
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