2.8  Using Rubrics or Scoring Guides

2.8.1 Learning Activities: How to tell a 6 from a 4 from a 2 when you score an essay

	You know how important first impressions are. In writing, the first few paragraphs make the first impression on the reader or scorer of the paper. The reader can often tell how good the paper is likely to be from a paragraph or two.
	In the activities that follow, you will see a task and the opening paragraphs of three different responses to the task. For the trait of Focus & Meaning, one of these responses is headed for a 6. Another is headed for a 4. The remaining one is headed for a 1 on Focus & Meaning.

      Read the prompt, read each opening paragraph, and assign the score you think the response is headed for. Score only the trait of Focus & Meaning. Click on the analytic rubric if you wish to review the descriptions for this trait. Give a reason for each score by taking language from the rubric that best describes the response.

Bad Leads to Good    ( Click for PDF Version )

The Task:

     We have all encountered bad situations in our lives that later turned out to lead to good things. Think of a time when a bad situation later had a good result for you. What bad situation were you in? How did it later have a good result for you? What did you learn from the experience?

     Write an essay about a bad situation that later turned out to have a good result for you, and tell what you learned from the experience.

Opening Paragraph 1:

     Bad things happen to people all the time, even if they're good people. Some friends of mine who have never done anything bad themselves have had some real bad things happen to them, like car crashes and getting their apartment ripped off. And they never did anything to deserve it.

Focus & Meaning score: _________________

Reason for this score:     _________________

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

Opening Paragraph 2:

I've just about given up trying to predict how a conversation with one of my parents is going to turn out. If I think things are going well, a bomb is sure to explode soon. If I think they're going to reach for the handcuffs as soon as I ask for permission to go somewhere, my father will probably make a grunt that means okay without even looking up from his newspaper. There are other kinds of surprises, too. Good things can turn bad, and bad things can turn good. Last Friday I got into a wicked argument with Mom. Finally I screamed at her, You're ruining my life! I hope you're enjoying it! Instead of yelling back, she burst into tears. Then we started talking. Two hours later I knew more about my mother as a person than I have been able to figure out these past 14 years.

Focus & Meaning score: _________________

Reason for this score:     _________________

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.

Opening Paragraph 3:

When I was six years old, a really bad thing happened to me. I was climbing a tree in the park and I got stuck about halfway up. I twisted and turned, but I couldn't get my foot out from where it was stuck. As I stood there crying and holding on to the tree, a woman passed by and said she would call for help. The fire rescue workers came in a little while and put a huge ladder up against the tree. I was afraid to let go of the tree, but I had to get down, so I did. But the day wasn't all bad. Instead of grounding me for six months, my parents gave me a welcome home party.

Focus & Meaning score: _________________

Reason for this score:     _________________

Do your answers look like this one? Click here for suggested response.