Riveting Rubric Writing

Eight years ago I began teaching in an alternative school in a rural county in upstate South Carolina. Our school serves students from all over the county. They are referred to us for various reasons. Some students have failed a grade or two, sometimes three. I’ve had several students who stayed out all night huntin’, fishin’ and campin’, and then came to school with a pocket knife and got expelled. Others have emotional difficulties, many times a result of some great loss they have suffered, usually the death of a parent or sibling. A number of students are sent to our school for either having drugs at school or coming to school high. And usually one or two have been out on “maternity leave.” They range in abilities from slow learners to highly gifted, and many in between.
Although my students vary widely when it comes to interests, backgrounds and abilities, they usually have a few common traits. Most of them are highly unmotivated and have a history of truancy. No matter what the ability level, the result is that they all have gaps in their learning. This can be overwhelming, for both the teacher and the student, when it comes to their writing. I used to feel overwhelmed. I’d get a paper and I’d think, “Where do I begin? Legible hand writing? Capitalization rules? Past Participle? Organization? Content? Voice and style? Not only were these basic parts of writing lacking, but depending on where their gaps were, it varied from student to student. On top of all that, how was I supposed to encourage a kid whose paper seemed so hopeless that it caused me to consider early retirement in exchange for a career in shoe sales?
Then, a few years ago our curriculum coordinator gave every teacher in our school seven colorful posters, each representing one of the 6 + 1 traits of writing. I gladly hung the posters on a section of barren wall and in accordance with it, I dutifully displayed the crisp, unopened 6 + 1 Traits of Writing book on my desk, and that’s where it remained for about two years. It wasn’t until I was in graduate school that I actually paid any attention to the book or the posters…I had been far too busy trying to figure out how to get my students to write better to read another book. I was taking a class on assessment, and we learned how to make these riveting rubrics. I had used many and varied rubrics in the past, but they had always served more as a tool for me than for the students. I tried out this new type of rubric in my class (see Oral Presentation Rubric), and not only did my students love it, but they seemed to internalize it more, thus improving the quality of their presentations. The rubric solved my problem of addressing numerous and varied issues that my students have, while at the same time identifying and praising what they did well. It also gave students a clear picture (that they could understand) of what was good, mediocre and bad about each aspect of their presentation.

Oral Presentation Rubric

Eye Contact
5. I make good contact with everyone in the room.
• You can tell that I’m knowledgeable about my topic.
• I look at the audience, not the floor or the project.
• Making eye contact with everyone in the room helps to keep them interested.

3. Even though I make eye contact with the audience most of the time, I spend part of the time looking at the floor, my project/ props, or my best friend.
• I know a lot about this topic, but I’m a little nervous about my presentation.
• I try to look at everyone, but I also stare at my project/ props or the floor to avoid looking at the audience.
• Some audiences might get distracted or bored because of my lack of eye contact.

1. I just want to get this over with.
• I don’t know what I want to say, and I’m not looking at anyone.
• I’m staring at the floor, the ceiling, or anything to avoid looking at the audience.
• I can’t see the audience, but I can hear them snoring.

Voice Level
5 My voice level is appropriate.
• Not too loud, not too soft, my voice is just right.
• You don’t have to read my lips to figure out what I’m saying.
• The inflection in my voice keeps people interested.

3 Even though most people can hear me, at times my voice is too loud or too soft.
• I’m almost there, but when I get nervous my voice shakes.
• At times people have to read my lips to figure out what I’m saying.
• It’s pleasant and friendly enough, but I lost my audience at times.



1 My voice is too loud or too soft.
• I either scared the people in the back row, or the people in the front row had to crank up their hearing aids.
• I really tried not to cry.
• The audience is listening to their iPods.

Body Language
5 My body language is appropriate for my presentation.
• I faced the audience throughout my presentation.
• I used props to enhance my presentation, and used appropriate gestures.
• I led the audience through my presentation.

3 Even though my body language was appropriate most of the time, sometimes it was distracting.
• I had my back to the audience at times.
• Sometime I used too many gestures.
• I was fidgety part of the time, and this distracted the audience.

1 My body language took away from my presentation.
• I was cracking my knuckles and flapped my arms like a chicken.
• My back was to the audience the whole time.
• The audience thought I was demonstrating how to do the Macarena.


Appropriate Language
5 I used standard American English.
• There are very few grammatical errors when I speak.
• Any English teacher would be proud to hear me speak.
• Maybe someday I’ll be a newscaster.

3 Even though I used standard American English throughout most of my presentation, sometimes I slipped in a little slang.
• The grammar might be a little bit informal, but it would be OK for a classroom discussion.
• Even though it wasn’t all standard American English, everyone still understood what I was saying.
• I could be a radio DJ.

1 Didn’t nobody know what I wuz sayin’.
• Mrs. McCall started cryin’.
• Someone axed me if English wuz my first language.
• I’m sure I have other strengths.


Fluency
5 I was completely confident and fluent as I spoke.
• I transitioned smoothly from one topic to another.
• My anecdotes were short, simple and too the point.
• My audience was captivated.

3 Even though I was mostly fluent, I was nervous at times and had to use some fillers.
• I had trouble moving from one idea to another.
• I was a little long winded, or didn’t share enough information.
• I said UMMM a few times.

1 My speaking wasn’t fluent and I lacked confidence.
• I said UMMM so many times my audience thought they were at a NASCAR race.
• Some stories were like the Energizer bunny, and other stories got all tangled up with other stories that had no point or transition between those stories and it was real confusing.
• Listening to me was like listening to William Hung on American Idol.


Use of a visual aid to enhance presentation and extend meaning
5 I used my project to cue me to speak about my topic. The focus was on what I was saying.
• My project made my presentation even better by providing a visual aid for my audience and a cue for me.
• I used my project to prompt me to tell anecdotes that taught the class about my topic.
• There were clear connections between what I was saying and my project.

3 Even though I used my project as a cue, at times I focused more on the project/ props than on my speaking.
• Most of the time I used my project/ props to enhance my presentation, but at other times I just said one sentence about each picture.
• Sometimes I focused more on the project/ props than I did my topic.
• Sometimes there was not a clear connection between my props and what I had to say.

1. I was over dependent on my props and it took away from my presentation.
• I just slapped some stuff together and faked it.
• If this had been a race I would have won.
• What was I supposed to be doing?

Imagine a bulls eye, the center represents perfection, and then there’s a range between perfection and not even hitting the tree where the bulls eye is hanging. The rubric spoke to students in language they understood, in phrases that they were able to recall, telling them exactly where they were in regards to a target with each aspect of their presentation. The results were phenomenal. I wanted to make clever rubrics for everything. I started with writing.
I turned my attention to the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing posters and book, which after being neglected for two years were thrilled to just be acknowledged and ecstatic to be taken home and read. From there I created the Writing Rubric. The way it’s supposed to work, the teacher shows students samples of writing, and together the teacher and students practice rating the samples using the rubric. I spent last school year collecting student samples, and I intend to use them for this purpose in the upcoming year.

Writing Rubric

Word Choice
5
• My wording is original and interesting.
• I use strong verbs and specific nouns and adjectives.
• I could paint a picture with my words.
• The words and phrases I use might linger in your mind after you read them.

3
• I should probably consult a thesaurus.
• Some of my words are original, but others are ordinary.
• I could be more specific with my choice of words.
• You will remember parts of my writing.

1
• I need a thesaurus for my thesaurus.
• The words I chose were overused.
• I’ve read obituaries that were more interesting.

Content
5
• My topic is focused and makes sense.
• You’re not going to want to put this paper down until you’re done reading, even then you’re going to want to read it again.
• You’ve never read anything like this before.
• With all of the details, you will feel like you were there.

3
• I get a little off topic at times, but most of my details help to tell the story.
• You’ll enjoy reading this one time.
• I have some interesting details, but I need to go back and add more.
• I need to revise some parts of my paper to make them more original.

1
• My story was all over the place. I started talking about this, rambled on to that, and what was I talking about?
• This may sound familiar, like several stories that you’ve read before.
• If you run out of Tylenol PM, you can always read this paper.

Conventions
5
• My grammar is appropriate for my purpose and audience.
• My punctuation marks are all in places where they should be.
• I used a dictionary when I proofread my paper.
• My paper is ready for publishing.


3
• Oops I forgot to proofread my paper before I turned it in.
• A dictionary would help.
• I need to watch my capitalization.
• I slipped in a lil’ slang where it wasn’t appropriate.

1
• Spel chek cant even help none
• U cant tel were won thing ends and the next begens cause their aint no puntuashun
• What part a speech is grammar?

Organization
5
• My beginning and ending are like well crafted bookends.
• My introduction is engaging.
• My ideas flow smoothly from beginning to end with nice transitions along the way.
• The ending is satisfying and leaves the reader thinking.
• My paper is organized into paragraphs

3
• I need a little more bait on my hook.
• I wasn’t sure how to start off, but once I got going, I took off.
• I need to go back and add some transitions between my ideas.
• I was doing a great job, but I got tired of writing, so I stopped.
• Part of my paper is divided into paragraphs, but I still need to look at where shifts in my writing call for new paragraphs.


1
• If this had been a race I would have won.
• This story includes ideas from five different stories that just had to get out of my head and landed on my paper
• I was going to add an ending, but I
• What’s a paragraph?

Sentence Fluency/ Structure
5
• My paper has a variety of sentence structures.
• There is a rhythm to my writing that helps it to flow.
• This paper wants to be read aloud.
• All dialogue in my paper sounds real

3
• I need to vary my sentence structure more.
• Most of my writing flows, but there are a couple of places that seem choppy.
• My dialogue needs some work to make it sound natural.
• This paper could be read aloud.

1
• My sentence structure is always the same.
• Mrs. McCall has more rhythm than my paper.
• I could write dialogue for Saved by the Bell.
• You should make students in detention read my paper aloud

Voice/ Style/ Tone

5
• You would know I had written this paper even if I had forgotten to put my name on it.
• My writing is expressive and engaging.
• My writing is appropriate for the purpose and the audience.
• If my writing is a narrative, then it is honest and appealing.
• If my writing is expository or persuasive, then it has a strong sense of conviction and shows why the reader should care.

3
• If I had forgotten to put my name on my paper you might have guessed it was mine.
• I need to edit some parts of my paper to make it appropriate for my purpose and audience.
• If my writing is a narrative, then I need to think a little bit deeper before I write.
• If my writing is expository or persuasive, I need to be a little more passionate to convince you to care.

1
• If I had forgotten to put my name on my paper, you’ d have never guessed it was mine.
• Why did I have to write this? Who was going to read it?
• If my writing was a narrative, you wouldn’t have believed it.
• If my writing was expository or persuasive, it couldn’t have convinced a frog to hop.


The results of the rubric, once again were amazing. I used it consistently last school year and received, by far, the best writing that I have ever gotten. In 6 + 1 Traits of Writing (Culham, 2003), George Hillocks Jr. is quoted as saying, “Scales, criteria, and specific questions that students apply to their own or others’ writing also have a powerful effect on enhancing quality. Through using the criteria systematically, students appear to internalize them and bring them to bear in generating new material even when they do not have the criteria in front of them” (p. 19). Instead of dreading grading papers, I was excited to see what my students were writing about and how they writing about it. The rubric made it easy to chart my students’ growth and address individual issues that they were having with their writing. It also enabled us to break the task down together, focusing on improving one facet at time. As they became proficient in one area, we moved on to another. The following sample is from an 8th grade student named Joseph. His focus at this point in his writing was on the area of word choice. Although some of his words are not precise, it is clear to see that he was experimenting with language.

It was early morning, around 6:00 AM. I had slept well the pervious night. I arose from my soft bed. I opened the shady, dust covered blinds to my room. The sunrise had already begun. I glared at the dull sun. It was as red as an apple hanging in the sky. Even with the sun half- arisen over the trees, it made the dew on the grass show like an ocean of diamonds. I wearily trudged onto the kitchen floor. I was startled by the icy touch of the tiles parallel to my toes. I was not aware that my sister was already awake.

Although Joseph’s word choice was pretty good, his sentence structure was all the same, and the real content of the piece didn’t start until the middle of his essay. Once he had a little more practice with word choice, we began focusing on his sentence fluency and content. The following sample is a later piece of writing by the same student.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, trying to cover my new found news.
“I should ask you the same thing.” She said.
I replied with nothing but a stare. She looked exhausted. Her usual strait brown hair was now ragged and frizzy. She had bags under her eyes that couldn’t be covered with make-up. Her beautiful dark brown eyes were dull and glazed. “What’s wrong?” Her voice woke me up from my half-sleep.
“I have something to tell you.” I looked at her with that brother-to-sister-don’t-tell-mom-or-dad-look. “I recently learned that I have HIV.” A big explosion of sound-waves went through the seemingly still air. Her bags went away and her hair stood up.
“What?!?! How could you? You were supposed to wait for marriage.” I cowered as though she were going to hit me with a bat.
“I don’t know how I contracted it. It just happened.” She stormed out of the room without saying another word.


Joseph is a wonderful writer and an excellent student, but he was not the only one to benefit from using this rubric. As a whole, I saw more growth in my students’ writing this year than ever before. In addition to using the rubric, I also allowed my students to make changes to their writing for full credit. They are so trained to be focused on grades that I have found this to be a truly effective way of getting them to learn from their mistakes, thus growing as writers. “The purpose of revision is not to correct, but to discover” – Lucy McCormick Calkins (Culham, 2003, p. 24). I used the following grading scale to come up with a numerical grade from the rubric. Students received two grades for each piece of writing. The first grade came from the entire rubric. I found this to be important so that they could see for themselves where their writing was in relationship to the overall target. The second grade, however, came from the trait or traits that they were focusing on improving in that particular writing sample.


Writing Rubric Grading Scale

30-29 = A+ = 100

28-27 = A= 97

26-25 = A- = 94

24-23 = B+ = 92

22-21 = B = 89

20-19 = B- = 87

18-17 = C+ = 84

16-15 = C = 81

14-13 = C- = 79

12-11= D+ = 76

10-9 = D = 73

8-7 = D- = 70

6-0 = Re- do

“Assessment is not something that we tack onto learning; it is an essential ongoing component of instruction that guides the process of learning. Assessment is the horse that leads the cart of understanding” – Rebecca Simmons (Culham, 2003, p.11). In order for students to improve their writing, they have to know what it is they need to improve and how to improve it. “The journey to lifelong learning begins with a shared vision of success and a common vocabulary for how we talk about these critical issues” – Betsy Dyches (Culham, 2003, p.7). Creating a rubric that combines the vocabulary for writers with terms that students understand, not only gets their attention, but it also stays with them, improving the quality of their writing.

Source:

Culham, R (2003). 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc. .