Simple Self-Assessment Rubric for Tall Tower Teamwork Activity Created in Seconds
See how a real middle school teacher used Alayna AI to create a simple, student-friendly self-check rubric for Tall Tower challenge - promotes reflection, teamwork & growth mindset in minutes.
The Need for Quick, Meaningful Self-Assessment in Group Activities
Erik, Middle School Teacher, ran the classic Tall Tower (marshmallow & spaghetti) challenge as a teamwork and reflection activity in his middle school history class. He wanted a very simple, student-friendly self-check rubric that assessed collaboration, effort, and reflection - without spending time designing one from scratch.
His prompt was straightforward:
“Make a very simple marking self-check rubric for the Tall Tower Teamwork and Reflection Self-Check activity”
In seconds, Alayna delivered this ready-to-print rubric + pedagogical notes (100 % verbatim - no changes made):
Exact Alayna Output
Tall Tower Teamwork and Reflection Self-Check Rubric
Hi Erik! I'd be happy to help you with that. Building towers is such a classic, high-energy activity for students, and having a simple way for them to check in on their own progress is a great way to wrap up the lesson.
Since you're looking for something very simple, I’ve designed this rubric to be student-friendly and quick to complete.
🏗️ Tall Tower Teamwork & Reflection: Self-Check
Name: _________________________________
Date: __________________________________
Instructions: Look at each category below and circle the level that best describes how you and your team did today.
💭 My Reflection
1. One thing our team did really well was:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. If we built this tower again, one thing I would change is:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. On a scale of 1–10, how proud am I of our tower?
Score: ______/10
Tips for using this in class:
- Peer Discussion: Before they fill this out, give them 2 minutes to talk as a group about what they think they did well.
- Visuals: If you are working with younger students, you can replace the stars with emojis (☹️, 😐, 😊).
- Presentation: If you want to turn this data into a slideshow to show the class their collective "growth" or photos of their towers, remember you can use the Alayna AI Slides Generator for Google Slides! You can find it on the Google Workspace Marketplace and use it right inside your slides.
Let me know if you need any adjustments to the criteria, Hrishi!
How This Rubric Became Erik’s Favorite Tool for Teamwork & Reflection Activities
- Promotes Honest Self-Reflection: The "Self-Check" format uses a student-friendly rubric that guides middle schoolers to circle their own performance levels. This design fosters genuine self-awareness and accountability, allowing students to take ownership of their role in the team’s success.
- Actionable Open-Ended Reflection: The dedicated sections for "one thing our team did well" and "one thing I would change" transform a simple score into a growth mindset exercise. Students don't just see a grade; they identify concrete, actionable steps for their next engineering challenge.
- Quantifiable Pride & Engagement: By including a "1–10 Pride Scale," the rubric captures the emotional side of learning. This quick metric is a high-interest way for students to express their satisfaction with their work, providing Erik with instant data on classroom morale and student confidence.
- Ready in Seconds with Zero Design Hassle: Erik can simply copy this clean, structured text into a document or his LMS. The instructions and reflection boxes are already formatted for clarity, eliminating the time-consuming task of creating a layout from scratch after a high-energy STEM activity.
- Universal Application for STEM & Teamwork: While designed for the "Tall Tower" challenge, this flexible structure works perfectly for bridge-building, egg-drops, or any group project. Erik can reuse this master template all year by simply swapping the title to fit his current lesson.
- Seamless Technical & Visual Integration: Erik can use Alayna’s AI Slides Generator to turn student reflection data or photos of the towers into a "Class Success" slideshow. This allows him to celebrate the collective growth of the class, reinforcing the pedagogical foundations of collaboration and goal setting.Ready to empower your students with honest reflection and goal setting in every group activity?
Copy Erik’s prompt into Alayna’s AI Teaching Assistant (Chat) and generate your own customized rubric instantly.
Tags: #SelfAssessment #Rubric #Teamwork #Reflection #MiddleSchool #GroupWork #GrowthMindset #AIteachingAssistant #Chat
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