INTRODUCING RUBRICS to Physical Education Teacher Candidates

I arrive early to my Evaluation of Physical Education course on a crisp October New York City morning, excited to introduce my students to rubrics. "Who has ever gone out on a blind date?" A few tentative hands go up. "OK, what do you look for in a date? What are the things that matter most to you?" More hands, less tentative. "What's the first thing?" Someone calls out, "Looks!" "Of course, it's what we see and react to first. So that's important. We can't ignore how a person looks and how we react. What else do you look for?" Even more hands. By now, everyone is looking up, smiling, and contributing: Does he or she smell? A sense of humor; that's important to me. A good listener. "OK, now let's make a list of what we consider important and let's see if we can rank different levels of appearance. What does a date who scores an 'A' on appearance look like? What about a 'B' on appearance?" I have them hooked: they are alive, energized, engaged, and they all have something to say. We continue having fun filling in all the boxes to complete our "blind date" rubric.