Work Ethic Rubric

Are you using a menu or workshop format in your math block? Working levels are designed to help raise students' awareness of their own behavior, to make expectations more explicit, and to give focus to discussions about what it means to work hard.

Students of all ages must be given opportunities to discuss questions like,

"What does it look like to work hard?"

"What does it look like to be responsible? What will we see? What will we hear?"

"How will we know when we're working hard?"

A working levels rubric gives students more information about what is expected and the information they need to improve.

Work Ethic Rubric

(from Working Levels by Kathy McGrath)

Level 4

• Productive
• Respectful
• Collaborates with Others
• Craftsmanship

Level 3

• Productive
• Respectful

Level 2

• Works when Reminded

Level 1

• Not Working

Level 0

• Interfering with Other's Work

Characteristics of an Effective/Ineffective Classroom

During last week's Core Reading class, my table was asked to offer the characteristics of an ineffective classroom. We did ... a serviceable job...  But as I drove home and reflected upon the day, I realized that we had missed a golden opportunity. It is one thing to put together a "horrorshow" list of characteristics. Elements like: "No engagement;" "lack of management," "the teacher doesn't care," and "teacher lacks content knowledge" quickly come to mind. The problem, though, with a list like this is that very few teachers are going to say, "Yep - that's me. I know nothing about the subject I'm teaching." Or "My classroom would be effective if only I could bring myself to care." Typically, we might see that list and think, "Hmmm, they sure aren't talking about me!"