As teachers, we strive to make our students independent learners. Rubrics are designed to put the student in charge of his work and outcome.
A rubric is a scoring tool. It is often written and developed by a teacher or developed by the teacher and student working together. A rubric is a checklist of expected outcomes from an assignment. Rubrics can be made for all subject areas.
For a simple example, a rubric might be developed by a parent and child that says:
Child makes bed everyday for a week. _________
Child takes out the trash twice a week. ___________
Child feeds dog every morning. _________
Child sweeps kitchen floor once a week. ____________
If all 4 things above are completed, child gets to go to the movies.
If only 3 things above are completed, child gets to stay up late.
If only 2 things above are completed, child does not receive any special privileges.
If only 1 thing above is completed, child is banned from computer and phone for the weekend.
If none of the above is completed, child is grounded for the weekend.
At the end of the week, a parent and child can look over the rubric and check to see if all the child's chores were accomplished for the week. Both the parent and child know what was expected and know of the consequences.
Rubrics are a set of standards expected. In the classroom, rubrics make it easy for students to know what they need to accomplish to receive a particular grade. For example, when writing a simple book report, the student and teacher might together develop the following rubric:
Title and author listed 10 points
Brief summary 25 points
Description of 2 characters 25 points
Paragraph about favorite part of book 25 points
Paragraph stating why you would or would
not recommend this book to a friend 15 points
Total points possible - 100
Student points earned - ________
Writing has always been viewed as hard to grade because it is too subjective. Rubrics help teachers and students better understand the grading process. Rubrics make grading fair and accurate.
When designing rubrics for writing assignments, teachers and students focus on content and mechanical criteria. Some possible content criteria are:
1.Opening sentence is original and catches the reader's attention
2. Topic sentence is stated in first paragraph
3. First paragraph has at least 4 sentences
4. At least 2 describing words are used in first paragraph
5. Transition words are used at the start of each new paragraph
6. Not more than two sentences start with the word 'The' in each paragraph
7. Story has a complete beginning, middle and end
8. Student completed an organizer before writing rough draft
9. Story contains at least 2 adverbs
10. A character description is included
11. The setting is described
12. The story has a summative ending sentence
Criteria that measure mechanics of writing include:
1.Each sentence starts with a capital letter
2.Each sentence has correct ending punctuation
3.All words are spelled correctly
4.There are no run-on sentences
5. Each sentence has correct subject and verb agreement
Rubrics teach students important criteria that writing should contain. Rubrics help to teach writing. When a student turns in a paper to be graded, he knows it is not a subjective grade but rather a grade based upon criteria. The student has control over the grade. He can reread his paper and self-check for each item.
Teachers need to use rubrics as a way to teach writing. Allow students to develop their own rubrics. Guide students to understand what each criteria means and to know when it is appropriate and necessary to be used in different types of writing.
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