Rubrics

An Early Level Writing Rubric.

Children co creating their Rubric by looking at examples.

What are Rubrics and why do we use them ?

Rubrics are co created success criteria that children understand and are able to use.

Rubrics are more than just checklists; they are co-created success criteria. They empower children to:

Plan and produce high-quality work.
Interpret feedback accurately.
Identify their own next steps for improvement.

The Rubrics will look very different as children progress through the school. They will be introduced gradually with pictures clearly showing the progress from one stage to the next.

This guidance should be adapted and used to meet the age and stage of your children, however, the principles apply to all children.

How do we co create Rubrics ?

Step 1 - Teachers Collaborate and Create Teacher Generated Rubric

At the "Planning Moderation" meeting teachers meet to agree what the criteria on the Rubric for that terms work will include. There are some Rubrics already created to guide teachers but it is important that they are adapted to be relevant to your children.

We aim to have a Guide Rubric that cover Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a level. This is the Imaginative Rubric for Phase 1/2 for Second Level.

GOCA Imaginative writing rubric Second level phase 2-3.docx

This is the Imaginative Rubric for Phase 2/3 for Second Level.

GOCA maginative Rubric Second Phase 1- 2.docx

Step 2 - First Attempt / Cold Piece

Children have a first attempt at the Genre of writing. As Pie Corbett explains here it is an opportunity for the teacher to understand what the children already know and to identify the key teaching that will need to happen that term.

Listen to Pie Corbett as he explains the reasons behind why we do a "Have a Go Piece"

Pie Corbett talks through the imitation phase where children learn the model text.

Step 3 - Look at Model Texts

This step will look different at each level and depending on the Genre of Writing you are doing.

Imaginative Writing at Early and First Level

At this level the Talk for Writing approach of using a Model Story and a Story Map that children will learn orally with actions. Here the children will learn the story through the creation of a Story Map and the regular Oral retelling of the story with actions.

Non Fiction

A story map is not always appropriate and certainly for Non Fiction Texts it is really important to look at examples of the Genre. These may be examples from previous years or created on A.I.

Step 4 - Co Create the success criteria

As an introduction to this part it is often an idea for older children to watch Austin's Butterfly and talk to them about the purpose of creating a Rubric is to help us give specific, kind and helpful feedback.

Co creating the Rubric is a skill that children need to be gradually taught and will take time for them to become skilled at.

It may be that you start by just looking at one aspect such as story structure. You give the children what a 2 Star story structure would look like. Children then work together to create what a 1 star and a 3 star would like.

Or you might do a lesson on adjectives, at the end of the lesson you then work together to decide what the 1, 2 and 3 star would look like for your imaginative writing rubric.

The important thing is that children need to understand the Rubric and the more they are involved in creating and recreating it the better!

Step 5

Pupils complete a "Warm Task" using the Rubric to plan their writing. They then Self and Peer Assess using the Rubric.

For Peer Assessing it is a nice idea for children to read and assess a peer's piece of writing but only focussing on the content. They then pass it on another peer assesses looking only at use of language. Reading assessing pieces like this enables children to understand the criteria better for their own writing.

The benefit to a graded assessment criteria is that it is easy to identify which areas are strengths and which aspects you will need to work on for either a redraft or the next piece you will write.

Step 6 Redraft or Final Piece

It is important that as a teacher you assess all the warm pieces too and identify common areas that might need further teaching.

Or you might find that the Rubric was too easy for some children and you need to adjust it, make it harder!

The final step is either for children to redraft their warm piece using the feedback they have been given. A method that works well is to stick the piece of writing onto an A3 piece of paper. The children then annotate around their piece of writing with adaptations they are going to make. This changes the purpose of a redraft being from just rewriting it with better spelling and handwriting to really focusing on the feedback and making specific alterations.

Final piece can then be written and assessed as above.

Step 7 - Reflection

We have introduced this final important step - reflection and target setting.

Once children recieve feedback from their teacher on their final piece it is important that they spend time looking over their feedback and clarifying any bits they don't understand.

They then identify what aspects they have done well and what aspects they will need to work on for the next time. These form their targets.

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