Story Writing Rubric: Fill & Download for Free

Here is a list of things of top ten things I found wrong on actual visits to different schools1 Mice in the biology room with no traps to catch them2. A teacher who died behind his newspaper. 3 classes came and went before anyone noticed3. A chemistry class with no lab equipment to buy4. A padded time out closet with student confined 3 hrs for missing homework one day5. An English teacher who used public sarcasm to put down kids who gave “wrong” answer to gotcha questions about grammar and then laughed like Santa6. A math teacher who sat at desk all period as students took “individualized worksheets” filed in boxes and put in a pile on his desk when done. He hollered from desk at any off task behavior7. A principal who read all school PA motivation messages in middle of every period.8. An athletic director who taught “required for athletes” History of Sports course to raise gpas.9. A varsity football coach who made fun of overweight kids in front of peers.10 An art teacher who paint balled down any student painting she did not likeI could add similar stories for charter schools or a high cost private school. Instead I will share the opposite taken from all three. All exemplify what more should be talking about noting that good teaching is more common than “ the wrong”.A principal in a low economic all Hispanic urban high school who provides extended time classes for kids who wanted to “strengthen ELA skills for college. Teachers, principal and Dean volunteer extra time with no stipend. 95% of junior class participation after or before school day or Sats.A math teacher who uses only Project based learning in his pre algebra 9th grade “catch em up” and 12th grade AP Calculus classesA college and career advisor who helps each student prepare a personalized learning plan each quarter with goals to strengthen thinking and problem solvingA sophomore teaching team that ends year with multidisciplinary project on city’s public art which ends with team made student public artA U S history teacher who’s classes investigate each’s family culture and it’s impact on daily lifeA substitute world history teacher who came with projects to engage students for days she was sub. Always planned for topics given by absent teachersA principal in charge of “discipline “ who required signed personalized behavior agreement with parent copy prior to return to class Goals for elimination of unacceptable behaviors, rubric with consequences spelled out plus steps to take. Weekly check up by teacher and student with Assistant Principal. First timers would ask “Why can’t you just punish me?”STEAM teachers in “school of last resort” created garden with sales stand to teach all subjects including math recipes, public speaking , plant sketches and story writingA PE teacher in small rural schoo who had teams invent games and then compete. All teams mixed males and females and included special needs members. Games matched curriculum and standardsELA/ SS teacher team had American Studies students adopt a friend from primary school and write/read a story don historic period and child’s cultureLesson to learn: the next time you hear complaints about what’s wrong with American High Schools. Go visit one and discover the right things happening thanks to the many dedicated teachers and administrator who are preparing better kids for a better future Enjoy

When I answered this question, it said “how would you rate your English written skills”. I could so mock that question.If I were a cruel person, I might say that snorkeling is one of the skills I have. And now that you see it here, it is written. And on a scale of 1 to 10, I am an 8/10 snorkeler.But I’m not a cruel person. And I have a lot of English learners in my classrooms. I sense that the question here might be better phrases, “how would you rate your English writing skills?“ And so I’m going to try that one.As a teacher, I could say I partly at least write rubrics for a living. Rubrics are essentially scales on which I assess my students’ assignments or tests.My scale for professional writing would look like this:Always makes deadlines. /5Can write efficiently. /5Writes on topics of interest to the audience. /5Can create purposeful emotional effects (humour, suspense or horror as required, for example) with the written word. /10Can select just the right words, phrases and sentence/paragraph structures to pull the audience along. /10Is sensible and logical when required and honest when not. /10Puts that je ne c’est quoi into the writing that separates great from good, which might be described as flair, character or poetry. /5Total: /50Here’s how I rank myself:4/5. I mostly get the job done. Not always.2/5. I’m a slow writer. Without technology I’d be at one or a zero on thIs scale.2/5. I’m constantly trying to use Quora here to get better at gauging what people want to read. So far this is my top story: to come xxxx.4/10. I’ve had some success writing humor in the past (I will post one of my favourites here xxx). But I seem to bomb as much as I succeed. I think I may have been effective at drawing out sympathy (wait for it xxx) but sometimes I look like a fool (too many to choose from here xxx).6/10. Most of the time it takes a lot of revision to get me to the 6/10 spot here, but I can be more than passable, I think. Competent.7/10. I consider logic to be one of my strong suits. I can’t really tell if I’m really honest with myself. Having studied logic, I realize how often I miss the boat. In the past I’ve been rather prescient, which helps reinforce my sense of why I have a seven here.0/5. This is the one I study more than any other. And this is the factor that eludes me more than any other.Average: 5/10.I think I was a passable professional writer, when I did it for a living. I teach it now. And I love to do things that I find challenging.Notice how there isn’t a single thing here about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or capitalization? Yet these are the things that so many amateurs who assess writing look at. In the profession, we have people to do that for you. We don’t need you to do that at all. So I’m counting copy editing as part of “writing”. It belongs in the reading category.

There’s a funny story that a college philosophy professor told me that is relevant here.“For the final exam of a 400-level philosophy class, the professor asked one question: ‘Why?’The class pulled out piles of blue books and began writing brief summaries of the entire history of philosophy, citing as many sources as they could. One young man, after only a few seconds’ thought, turned in his book and walked out of the room. In the book was written only two words: ‘Why not?’He received the only 100% grade in the class.”I have no idea if it’s true, or just an urban legend among 100 level philosophy students, but it’s a great story.To answer your question, absolutely not. Anyone who mistakes “longest” for “best” does not understand a great many things and is probably not a very good teacher. This is why we have rubrics when we assign papers, to communicate a set of well-rounded standards. The purpose of assessment is not to see who does the most work, but to see who understood the lesson.