Criteria for Excellence in Listening

Criteria for Excellence remain the same across Division levels
In each Division students strive for understanding progressively more complex concepts and skills
with progressively more initiative, autonomy, and awareness.

A Holistic Rubric for Division 1 (7th and 8th grade level work)
appears  following the Criteria for Excellence.
Division 2 and Division 3 rubrics are created for each assignment using the Criteria for Excellence as guidelines.

Comprehension

• You identify the form of what you hear.
• You listen in a way that suits the material (taking notes, asking questions, engaging in dialogue).
• You recognize the organizational elements of what you hear.
• You infer meaning from context.
• You can summarize or restate the main ideas of what you hear.

Interpretation

• You generate questions about what you hear.
• You identify the speaker’s purpose and point of view.
• You distinguish fact from opinion.
• You analyze the positions taken in what you hear and the evidence offered in their support.
• You compare and contrast different things you hear.
• You make connections within and among things you hear.
• You make connections between what you hear and your own experience.
• You identify the historical and social context of what you hear.
• You evaluate the strategies and elements of the speaker’s craft.
• You take a point of view about what you hear and support it with evidence.

Process

• You show attentiveness to the speaker through eye contact and body language.
• You listen without interrupting the speaker or talking to others.
• You identify and seek help with problems you have in listening.
• You discuss what you hear with other listeners.
• You take notes when appropriate.

 

HOLISTIC RUBRIC FOR LISTENING, DIVISION 1

Just Beginning

• You have not yet listened carefully to the material or decided on a listening strategy to approach it.
• You do not pay attention, and you create distractions.
• You do not respond in a manner appropriate to the form and content of what you hear.
• You have not yet found a way to understand the language and main ideas of what you hear, or to identify how it is organized.
• You have not yet identified the purpose and strategies of what you hear, or used examples to evaluate how well it works.
• You have not yet generated questions and a point of view about what you hear.
• You do not yet connect what you hear to other things, to your own experience, or to its historical and social context.

Approaches Division 1 Standards

• You need to approach the material you are hearing with more effective listening strategies.
• You listen without full attention, and you sometimes create distractions.
• You sometimes do not respond in a manner appropriate to the form and content of what you hear.
• You understand some of the language and main ideas of what you hear, and can partly identify how it is organized.
• You show limited awareness of the purpose and strategies of what you hear and you have not come up with good examples to evaluate their effectiveness.
• You have difficulty using what you hear to generate questions and a point of view about it.
• You have difficulty connecting what you hear to other things, to your own experience, or to its historical and social context.

Meets Division 1 Standards ("Yes, and . . . " or "Yes, but . . .")

• You know what kind of material you are hearing and choose listening strategies that work for it.
• You listen attentively, without creating distractions.
• You respond in a manner appropriate to the form and content of what you hear.
• You show few errors in understanding the language and main ideas of what you hear, and can generally identify how it is organized.
• You show awareness of the purpose and strategies of what you hear and can use examples to evaluate their effectiveness.
• You draw on what you hear to generate questions and a point of view about it.
• You connect what you hear to other things, to your own experience, or to its historical and social context.

Exceeds Division 1 Standards ("Yes!")

• You know what kind of material you are hearing and use a variety of effective listening strategies that work for it.
• You pay close attention, without creating distractions.
• You respond in an especially thoughtful manner to the form and content of what you hear.
• You show a sophisticated understanding of the language and main ideas of what you hear, and of how it is organized.
• You show a sophisticated understanding of the purpose and strategies of what you hear and can use a variety of examples to evaluate their effectiveness.
• You draw on what you hear to generate insightful questions and to develop a complex or original point of view supported with rich and accurate details.
• You connect what you hear in original or varied ways to other things, to your own experience, or to its historical and social context.

Division 2 and Division 3 rubrics are created for each assignment using the Criteria for Excellence as guidelines.