Special educators have developed a number of techniques that can apply to all students. "Teach the End First" is one that develops a teaching lesson well in a child's mind. In working with students of limited ability, teaching the end step first, then the next to the end, and so forth, seems to work well. An example of this is teaching these students how to change a tire. The child is taught how to put the wheel cover on first and the lug nuts next. Then her or she is taught how to settle the good tire on the rim and work it on, etc. An expert patiently teaches each step in reverse order. Eventually, the child learns the whole procedure and can do the whole process from beginning to end in the right order.
This plan works successfully for regular students, too. An example is the use of the "Teach the End First" technique in a regular classroom for a research assignment. The teacher would announce the research project, discuss what its objective is, and why the class members are being assigned this project. Then, the teacher would explain how the project is to be evaluated and graded. This would be a time to show fine examples of previously completed projects, perhaps passing them around for children to see. Observing excellent completed work stimulates students to be creative, because seeing an actual project helps them to gain insights on how to do their own tasks. Looking at high quality projects inspires students to do as well or better on their own assignments, too.
The next step would be to clearly explain when the research projects are due and how to turn them in. Make sure each child writes the due date in his or her assignment book or notebook. Then state the rules for choosing subjects, format, length, etc. You would discuss where to find resources and find out what availability students have to the media center or a library or computer encyclopedia or the Internet. You would want to explain how to verify resource information. Many teachers would provide this information in a fact handout sheet. The due date can be repeated on this paper, too.
Then a topic or topics for the project would be discussed more fully. Students could brainstorm ideas to help formulate the topic. They should find it easier to choose topics by having so much information already. It is comfortable for a child to focus on an idea for a project once it is more real in his or her mind. The student will undoubtedly be thinking about his or her commitment throughout the teacher's presentation.
Students may be ready with more meaningful questions after, being led step by step through the assignment by teaching the end first. High quality projects should be the result.
Teaching the end first also relates to using rubrics. Some teachers use rubrics to detail requirements for an essay. Others consider a rubric as a set of rules for an assignment. As one wrote, "It can cover every aspect of an assignment, from the length of paragraphs to the placement of topic sentences to the numbers of supporting points."4 In some cases a rubric is a grading guide, telling students they will get an A or a 4 for certain criteria and lower grades for fewer points of content.
Some school systems and teachers believe the rubrics provide very precise standards which will clearly help students do excellent work. However, other educators think the rubrics reduce creativity. Teachers may also find the rubrics tie them to scorekeeping and limit their freedom to correct as they wish. Rubrics can also make student work slower to correct for a teacher)
Example of a Scoring Rubric
Scoring Rubric
4 = Task response is clearly developed, complete, accurate, with complete sentences for warm-up
3 = Task response is clear, fairly complete and accurate, with complete sentences for warm-up
2 = Task response is partially developed, but explanation may be muddled
1 = Task response is attempted, but may be incomplete
0 = Non-scorable response (NSR)
Also check out Teaching Sites and Common Classroom Problems
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