A Scoring Rubric for Teaching Statements: A Tool for Inquiry into Graduate Student Writing about Teaching and Learning

• Published in: Journal on excellence in college teaching Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 73 - 96
• Main Authors: Kearns, Katherine Dowell, Sullivan, Carol Subino, O'Loughlin, Valerie Dean, Braun, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Miami University 2010
• Subjects: Educational Philosophy; Graduate Students; Position Papers; Scoring Rubrics; Student Evaluation; Teaching Methods; Writing (Composition); Writing Evaluation
• ISSN: 1052-4800

The authors created a valid and reliable teaching statement scoring rubric to investigate and document the progression of graduate student instructors as scholarly teachers. Using the rubric, they detected significant positive changes between students' draft and final teaching statements, particularly in criteria related to describing teaching methods and student assessment methods and in explaining those methods with respect to learning goals. However, student writing about teaching assessment methods remained unchanged. Unlike self-assessment writing tools, this rubric can be useful for faculty mentors and instructional consultants who wish to quantify the scholarly progression of writers and modify mentoring practice accordingly. (Contains 6 tables and 2 figures.)