Welcome to Monday, writers. I hope that you are feeling refreshed from that extra hour of sleep you were able to get this weekend!
Today I’d like to talk about rubrics.
What is a rubric? Well, thanks to Wikipedia I can share with you a clear explanation:
A rubric is a scoring tool for subjective assessments. It is a set of criteria and standards linked to learning objectives that is used to assess a student's performance on papers, projects, essays, and other assignments. Rubrics allow for standardized evaluation according to specified criteria, making grading simpler and more transparent.
The rubric is an attempt to delineate consistent assessment criteria. It allows teachers and students alike to assess criteria which are complex and subjective and also provide ground for self-evaluation, reflection and peer review. It is aimed at accurate and fair assessment, fostering understanding and indicating the way to proceed with subsequent learning/teaching.
You may have had professors that actually gave you the rubrics that they planned to use when grading your papers. They may have even suggested that as you review your work you analyze your writing with the help of the rubric, making sure that you have included all of the requirements.
But what if your professor doesn’t distribute a rubric? I say, when it comes time to edit your work:
Today I’d like to talk about rubrics.
What is a rubric? Well, thanks to Wikipedia I can share with you a clear explanation:
A rubric is a scoring tool for subjective assessments. It is a set of criteria and standards linked to learning objectives that is used to assess a student's performance on papers, projects, essays, and other assignments. Rubrics allow for standardized evaluation according to specified criteria, making grading simpler and more transparent.
The rubric is an attempt to delineate consistent assessment criteria. It allows teachers and students alike to assess criteria which are complex and subjective and also provide ground for self-evaluation, reflection and peer review. It is aimed at accurate and fair assessment, fostering understanding and indicating the way to proceed with subsequent learning/teaching.
You may have had professors that actually gave you the rubrics that they planned to use when grading your papers. They may have even suggested that as you review your work you analyze your writing with the help of the rubric, making sure that you have included all of the requirements.
But what if your professor doesn’t distribute a rubric? I say, when it comes time to edit your work:
BRING YOUR OWN!
That’s right – make a simple rubric using the criteria that your professor gave in the instructions for the paper. This way you can still have a useful tool to assist you when reviewing your work, even though you were not provided with one.
When making your own rubric, you’ll need to “translate” the instructions into criteria for you to look for as you review your work. For example, if the instructions state that you need to present a clear thesis, then “thesis clearly stated” should be one of your criteria. If there is a requirement that you use two sources to support your thesis, make sure that is also included. If the instructions ask that you compare the present topic to a personal experience, have a space for that. Also, if there are logistical requirements, make sure you also include those (i.e., length of paper, page numbers).
*= complete
0= needs strengthening
- = absent from the writing
Thesis clearly stated _____
First support _____
Second support _____
Personal experience_____
3 pages_____
Page numbers on all pages____
As you review your work, score each criterion appropriately with a *, 0, or -.
If you are writing a paper in a discipline that has clear organizational or style requirements, you may want to add those criteria to your rubric. For example, if you were writing in the sciences, your rubric may look more like this:
*= complete
0= needs strengthening
- = absent from the writing
Introduction_____
Methods_____
Data analysis_____
Findings_____
Discussion_____
Again you would score each criterion with a *, 0, or -.
One last bit of advice…if you create a rubric for a specific assignment, show your professor! Make sure that you have correctly recognized all of the requirements and confirm that you haven’t missed any. Not only can you use a homemade rubric to “communicate” with your writing, but you can use it as a tool to clearly communicate with your professor.
Any questions? Any suggestions? I look forward to your comments!
P.S. If there are any professors reading this, I highly recommend distributing rubrics to your students. This way, you encourage your students to more completely review their work - and ultimately your review of their papers will be made easier because they will have successfully edited with the guidance of the rubrics. If you don’t like rubrics, then maybe just distributing a list of grading criteria would be a nice compromise.
1 comment:
I never thought of making a rubric for myself-- I mean, I know what I want, but writing it down is a great idea.
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