Rubrics for creative writing assessment

It will be demonstrated that the art of negotiable contracting not only empowers students by giving them shared ownership of their own learning and assessment but it also provides them with additional opportunities to use the target language as they analyze and discuss the rubric construction process, examine the rubrics and their different levels, generate descriptive language from the rubric's criteria, and suggest revisions for improvement based on criteria in the rubric. Essentially, a rubric consists of a fixed measurement scale and a set of criteria that are used to discriminate among different degrees of quality or levels of proficiency. They are intended as communication devices that precisely convey to students what their learning target is and what they need to do to reach that target Maryland Assessment Consortium,p. Rubrics can be either holistic or analytic.

Variety of ideas and contexts Ideas represent a startling variety of important concepts from different contexts or disciplines. Ideas represent important concepts from different contexts or disciplines. Ideas represent important concepts from the same or similar contexts or disciplines.

Ideas do not represent important concepts. Variety of sources Created product draws on a wide variety of sources, including different texts, media, resource persons, or personal experiences. Created product draws on a variety of sources, including different texts, media, resource persons, or personal experiences.

Created product draws on a limited set of sources and media. Created product draws on only one source or on sources that are not trustworthy or appropriate. Combining ideas Ideas are combined in original and surprising ways to solve a problem, address an issue, or make something new.

Ideas are combined in original ways to solve a problem, address an issue, or make something new. Ideas are combined in ways that are derived from the thinking of others for example, of the authors in sources consulted. Ideas are copied or restated from the sources consulted. Communicating something new Created product is interesting, new, or helpful, making an original contribution that includes identifying a previously unknown problem, issue, or purpose.

Created product is interesting, new, or helpful, making an original contribution for its intended purpose for example, solving a problem or addressing an issue.

Created product serves its intended purpose for example, solving a problem or addressing an issue.

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Created product does not serve its intended purpose for example, solving a problem or addressing an issue. Brookhart, Alexandria, VA: Copyright by ASCD. Generating a grade is not the intended purpose of the rubric for creativity.

Rubrics help clarify criteria for success and show what the continuum of performance looks like, from low to high, from imitative to very creative. I do not recommend grading creativity. Another advantage of the rubric for creativity is that it functions as a visual organizer that makes us consider creativity apart from the other criteria for the work.

For example, in the acrostic poem assignment, other criteria might include the quality of the ideas conveyed, word choice and use, and correct application of the acrostic format. Still, taking a step back from the work and focusing on its creativity allows for the kind of feedback missing in those opening classroom examples.

Start by helping students understand what creativity is, using rubrics, examples, and discussion about these. Then give feedback on the level of creativity you observe in their work. In the example of the acrostic poem, the teacher might have coached the girl to work with more originality, explaining that her work was very much like many other poems and challenging her to write a poem that was less like those of others.

The boy needed to know that his use of unique personality terms—such as aggressive and nutty—was creative and poetically skilled. In these cases, a few words of feedback to each student would probably have sufficed.

The important thing is to say the words—to name, note, encourage, and value the creativity in the work. Teachers can give more complex feedback on more complex assignments.

For example, in the write-a-melody music assignment, some melodies will sound very much like themes that other composers have written. Pointing out those similarities and asking for more differences may be useful.

40 Alternative Assessment Ideas for Learning | TeachHUB

They could also brainstorm fresh ways they might have approached the problem, written the poem, and so on. But they need to do something with the feedback immediately. Minds need to stretch to grow more creative. Her students were learning to identify polygons and understand their characteristics.

She gave them an assignment to draw a picture using polygons. The assignment was conducive to creativity because it asked students to put together two unlike things—their knowledge of polygons and their view of the world in which they live. Shaffer shared three criteria for the picture with her students: Student 1 included and labeled four different polygons, and she created a picture, as opposed to just including four separate shapes.

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So her work was of high quality. Student 2 included at least three polygons a square, a trapezoid, and a rectangle. Perhaps he just forgot to label them.iRubric K This is a rubric determines how well each short story was written..

Free rubric builder and assessment tools. Scoring Rubrics in the Classroom: Using Performance Criteria for Assessing and Improving Student Performance (Experts In Assessment Series) [Judith A.

Arter, Jay McTighe] on initiativeblog.com *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

This book offers a practical approach to assessing challenging but necessary performance tasks like creative writing. Creative Thinking VALUE Rubric The rubrics articulate fundamental criteria for each learning outcome, with performance descriptors demonstrating progressively more sophisticated levels of attainment.

The rubrics are intended for institutional-level use in evaluating and discussing student learning, not for grading. With this creative list of 40 alternative assessments ideas, On the other hand, once the assessment guidelines and grading rubric are created, it can be filed away and used year after year.

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Alternative Writing Assessments. ARABIC [back to top]. ARA Beginning Arabic I 4 cr. Introduces understanding, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and emphasizes basic Arabic sentence structure.

Travel with your students beyond the traditional written book report into a new realm of creativity! Learn how to actively engage students in literature response with more than 39 imaginative projects designed to enhance comprehension of both fiction and nonfiction literature.