Using Rubrics as a Guideline in Writing

The philosophy of the Common Core State Standards establishes new benchmarks for
academic subjects, replacing previous state standards so that the competition for each individual
student is at an even-playing field. This is intended as a basis for teachers to help students fully
understand and critically analyze their texts through adequate and well-planned instruction. One of
the tools that is now implemented into the grading system for essays is the Common Core State
Standards writing rubric. This is a resource for instructors to plan and provide constructive feedback
in aiding students with the writing process. Broken down into three main components, the rubric can
be used to evaluate John and Marias argumentative essays through the use of organization,
conventions, and elaboration of evidence.
One of the components in the rubric is organization, in which the systematic structure allows
the reader to smoothly move through the text and guides the reader towards the writers intended
meanings. Using the rubric as a measure in evaluating a students work, Johns organization is at
level 2.5 because although his response demonstrates a logical development of ideas from the
beginning to end, he used little transitional flow in introducing new information to the reader. In
order for his sentences to logically transition, he should start sentences with old information that is
familiar to the reader and end his sentences with new information. Like John, Marias organization is
at level 2.5 because while she shows similar strengths in her ideas with a strong thesis statement, her
arguments are perceived as weaker due to her limited variety of transitional structure. To improve
their transitional skills in writing, a list of transitional words is given as an aid and I would have
students write two independent sentences that would transition from one sentence to the next and,
subsequently, one paragraph to the next.
Another important category in the rubric is the conventions of writing, where the response
must demonstrate the command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing. In this case, Johns conventions is at level 2.5 because his spelling and capitalization is

Using Rubrics as a Guideline in Writing

consistently correct, however, there are many punctuation errors. When citing his sources, John
needed comma placements after introductory clauses and the few times that he used the punctuation
was correct. In contrast, Marias conventions level is at 1.5 due to the frequent errors in spelling and
lack of punctuations. There is a pattern within her spelling errors through her little understanding of
phonemic awareness, which could stem from her bilingualism. This is shown through Marias
spelling in words such as dehydrate, repeckted, bicus and missreble. A method in showing
Maria and John how to strengthen her writing through punctuations is to instruct her on comma rules
and tie it in with transitional sentences. An additional teaching lesson to help students like Maria
with their phonemic awareness is to give vocabularies that are in the same word families so that she
will be familiar with root words.
The last significant aspect in the rubric category that helps evaluate an effective essay is
elaboration of evidence, where the student provides comprehensive support for the main idea and
skillfully integrates evidence with correct citations. According to the writing rubric, Johns
elaboration of evidence is at level 2.5 because he supplies some concrete and minor relevant details
to construct a mental image in the readers mind and uses certain instances as support for his
reasoning. His presented opinion, in regards to the negative lifestyle the California Indians on the
missions endured, is brief and weakly integrated in his citation. John cites in his source that the
Natives went from hunters to farmers and instead of explaining how this is relevant his thesis, he
continues onto a new idea that the Natives learned a new religion. On the other hand, Marias
response is at level 2 for this category, especially concerning her use of irrelevant information that
proves for an unconvincing argument. Although it is notable that she uses both paraphrasing and
quoting techniques, her insight for these sources shows a lack of depth and underdevelopment of
ideas. An activity in helping students such as Maria to improve her writing skills and encourage
close reading would be a worksheet in which the student would select a passage from a text, mark

Using Rubrics as a Guideline in Writing

passages and annotate texts while reading, as well as summarize through paraphrasing. This is
purposeful because it allows the student to fully understand the text and be able to dissect relevant
information from the sources in order to expand on their insight. Thus, Maria would be more likely
to grasp a better understanding of her sources to fully analyze her supporting ideas with concrete
evidence.
The Common Core provides a fair learning opportunity for all students across the globe to
succeed in their education. The rubric from the Common Core acts as a guideline for teachers to see
their students strengths and weaknesses and utilize it in their teaching to help students improve their
writing. For instance, it allows for me to see that Marias conventions is between a level 1 and 2 due
to her frequent errors in spelling and punctuation and serves as a break down as to why this is her
receiving score.