10 Uses for Rubrics

We all know that rubrics are excellent tools for grading writing projects. They're a good way to explain concisely what you are looking for in a student essay. However, most people don't know about the many other uses of rubrics. They can be used for assessing all sorts of projects and activities, from grading class participation to time management skills. Read on to learn about how you can incorporate creative rubric-based projects into your classroom.

1.) Participation

Most elementary and high school teachers give points for class participation, which is a difficult concept to grade. Using a rubric can make the process of assigning a participation grade much less vague. Some example sections to include on a participation rubric: how often a student speaks in class, contribution to group activities, willingness to answer questions and preparedness for class. K-12 Everyday Rubric Pack

2.) Effort

Similar to participation is effort; it's another concept that's often important in a classroom setting but difficult to grade. For an effort rubric, you could include sections like time spent on class activities and participation in group projects. Subsections for the group projects category could be willingness to take responsibility, cooperation with the group, and time spent doing his or her part. K-12 Everyday Rubric Pack

3.) Homework

Rubrics let you move beyond simply checking whether or not homework is completed without forcing you to spend time grading for correctness. Use your homework rubric to assign points for timeliness, neatness, following instructions and thoroughness. Homework Rubric Generator

4.) Projects

Even projects that don't center on a writing assignment can be graded with rubrics. Art projects lend themselves to rubric assessments; include sections for creativity, style, inspiration and explanation for a straightforward way to grade artistic work. Project Rubric Generator

5.) Behavior

In elementary classrooms, behavior can be a crucial factor in determining a student's overall performance. Using a rubric is not only a great way for teachers to keep track of behavioral issues, but it's also good for letting parents know what their son or daughter needs to work on. Give points for good performances, but take away points for bad behavior. You could break your rubric down into categories like listening, roughness, interaction with other students, lunchtime behavior and respectfulness. Behavior Rubric Generator

6.) Changing between classes

Older students generally change classes, and halls can be a place where bad behavior is unleashed. To relieve these problems, hall monitors can use rubrics to score a student's performance while changing classes. With this method, a hall monitor would pick out students being rough or unruly in the hall and write them a rubric outlining what exactly they did wrong. The hall rubric could then be filed into a record, so administrators could identify students will problems in the hallways. Clean Up/ Changing Activities Rubric

7.) Free response questions

Short answer questions can be difficult to grade because of huge potential variation in answers. Use a rubric to make sure students hit key points in their answers. You could also include sections for writing style, clarity and grammar. K-12 Writing Rubric Collection

8.) Listening

In elementary school, listening is a big deal. Some students have problems paying attention to directions. Use a rubric to identify students who need help with listening, recording exactly where they're lacking. For example, a student who doesn't listen well on the playground may receive zero out of 10 points for the category "listening at recess." Listening Rubric Generator

9.) Lunch manners

Lunch is one of the few times when students aren't directly near a teacher, so it tends to be filled with behavioral problems. This could be remedied with a rubric. Give lunch monitors rubrics to fill out once a week for each student's manners. If the student hasn't had any problems, he or she would get a perfect score. Every time a student gets in trouble, however, points would be taken away on that week's section of the rubric. K-12 Everyday Rubric Pack

10.) Proper use of time

Time management is a skill that's hard for most children and young adults to learn. Use a rubric to help guide your class in the right direction. Assign a long-term project and have your students give you weekly breakdowns of their progress. Then, ask them to fill out a rubric rating their time management skills in different areas--writing time, research time, homework time, etc. Check their rubric and offer advice if necessary. This should be more of a learning experience than a graded project. K-12 Everyday Rubric Pack

These are just a few ideas, but there are many more creative ways to use rubrics in your classroom. So the next time you do anything that requires a grade, think about how you could incorporate a rubric. You'll be surprised at how convenient they can be.

Available Printable Rubrics By Category

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