Our language skills progress as we grow, mature, and learn. Squiggles turn to letters, to words, to sentences, and before we know it, we are writing essays, papers, and reports! The written word allows us to express our ideas, understandings, and findings to others. As this skill develops for your young students, a new skill needs to emerge in your personal teacher toolbox: the ability to evaluate, assess, and grade our students’ writing.
To some, these tasks seem daunting. How does one transition from enjoying the simple act of reading their child’s stories to evaluating and assessing for academic reasons? The joy does not have to vanish as soon as students’ writing becomes academic, and evaluating is simpler than you may expect.
Where to start? The easiest and quickest place to begin is with the writing program you are using (if you are utilizing a structured writing program). Chances are there are writing rubrics provided with each type of essay assigned or a generic rubric in the teacher’s materials. The writing rubrics are an excellent resource for your students and you. A rubric will guide your student in the expectations and necessary attributes of their essay and provide a standard/guide for the grading or evaluating process.
If you are developing your writing program or utilizing writing assignments from across subjects, creating a rubric can be as involved or as basic as you feel necessary and capable of. Here at Rainbow Resource Center, we desire to support and encourage you as you choose to educate your children. Along with the many other FREE Resources we have developed, a new one is the Generic Writing Grading Rubric. This downloadable guide and the fillable template will give you a starting point as you and your student move into new levels and areas of writing.
Whether you have a program, a rubric, or are free-styling writing, ask yourself the following questions: Will I grade every piece of writing? What will my evaluation process look like: holistic or analytical? What does my student need from me to excel in writing? What do I do when I don’t like what I am reading?
Writing is a journey you and your students are on together. Let us enjoy the time we spend exploring, creating, and elaborating on worlds we observe and of our own making. This series of Writing Teacher Toolbox articles will unpack the tools provided to equip you to evaluate writing and the writing process objectively. ~Rebecca
