Rubrics minimize the time and effort needed for evaluating and
grading student writing. However, they work properly only if you
put in some work to fit them to your class and your overall writing
assessment strategy.
If you just pull one off the Internet, you are wasting your time
and your students’ time.
Grading guide with fancy name
In the middle ages, copyists put initial red letters on a manuscript
chapter. Educators, who love red ink, picked up the name of these
red letters and applied it to the tables and guides they use to
grade papers.
Unlike the medieval decorations, which added beauty and joy to
their setting, the educational versions attempt to drain all the
subjectivity and quirkiness from grading. While they do help teachers
grade papers somewhat evenhandedly, they are not really objective.
They also don’t eliminate the need to write personal comments.
You still need to respond to the student in a one-to-one way.
Assign points to writing components
Create
your rubrics for the year as part of your annual goal-setting.
Identify what you consider competent writing in a specific
class and assign point values to its components.
Isn’t competent writing the same everywhere?
Yes — and no.
We might be able to agree in general terms on what is acceptable
writing — like correct spelling, for example — but the
writing standards that apply when writing a chemistry lab report
don’t apply to a newspaper editorial or a limerick.
More important, the standard by which you judge the competence
of a seventh grader are not likely to be the same as those you use
when evaluating the work of high school seniors.
You may be able to adapt someone else’s evaluation form
to your situation, but it’s unlikely that you can use it
for your writing assessments without changes. adjustments. It's
better to make your
own rubrics, and not at all difficult using your word processor's
tables function.
Using a grading guide should also keep you from correcting student
papers. Correcting is the students’ work, not yours.
You may point out between one and three significant errors
in the student’s writing, but you should not correct or edit
their work.
Finally, a rubric should keep you honest. Most of us try not
to be influenced too much by the names on the papers. I find,
though, that when I’m tired, every body’s grade drops.
I rely on my evaluation guides to keep me from grading my students
harshly just because I feel crabby.
Take a look at a rubric
I created for one of my classes..
created 19-Mar-2008; updated 20-Dec-2008
