Sample Rubrics

I have used many rubrics throughout the three years for journal collection. I've included the various ones here.

The first half of year 1, I graded solely on the completion of entries. Then I started thinking about quality versus completion. I have since then begun making a variety of different rubrics trying to find one I like. Here I have cataloged the various versions I've used.

Year One (2011-2012)
Graded half on completion and took student input for the grade. I also wanted to look at sentence structure.

Year Two (2012-2013)
I wanted the students to do some self-analysis and reread their entries. I would put the different entries in the sheet and then they would fill it out and submit their self-analysis with their journals.

Year Three (2013-2014): 1
At the beginning of year three, I met with several colleagues from my writing group (PWC) and asked how they grade ELA journals. A friend gave me a copy of his journal rubric and I started altering that rubric to use for my student journals.

Year Three (2013-2014): 2
Between collection 1 and 2, I had the students take an entry and try to improve it with additions, deletions or exchanges. This rubric reflects me wanting to include that entry and the effort of improving it into the rubric.

Year Three (2013-2014): 3
By this rubric, I'm trying to change the point values to reflect what I observe from their grades.

Year Three (2013-2014): 4
I believe this is a rubric I will be using for a while. I've changed some of the points and descriptors. The engagement, I believe, is not only the details in the entry but also include how well they try to use new grammar topics that we're learning.

This year, in addition to using the rubric, students also receive an email with my comments and feedback. I keep those notes that I send them in a chart so I can review comments I've made previously. I can see if I've said things about organization or vocab etc. My charts look something like this:

For the improved entries, I created a self-correction guide that I gave the students. This guide can be found here.

Year Four (2014-2015) & Year Five (2015-2016): Rough Draft, Final Draft
Currently, and last year as well, students have been rough drafting and final drafting entries. They write several rough drafts and then choose two to final draft. During that final draft time, I try to help them focus on their writing goals and improve the quality of their entries.

Year Six (2016-2017): Done per unit, see Sample Topics