Excerpted from Writing Portfolio Activities Kit.

Designing Rubrics to Fit Assignments

1. Emphasizing Requirements of Assignments
   • Students should see rubrics as "red flags" that highlight the important components of a paper. Rubrics remind students what to watch out for, what to revise if necessary, and what will be considered in the assignment of the paper.
   
   
2. Varying Elements of Rubrics
   • When constructing a rubric, you may choose to vary it for various classes and even for different assignments within the same mode.
   • For instance, the Short Story Rubric is more suitable for student-written short stories, as it is concentrated on elements of the story – setting, characterization, plot/conflict, theme, tone/mood, etc.
   • The Narrative Vignette Rubric is more generic and was designed to accompany a slice-of-life narrative – a narrative vignette. Besides its more fundamental nature, it is evident that it follows a comparative study of similar assignments. This rubric not only provides for peer interaction but also for the child author's assessment of the writing process involved.
   
   
3. Adapting Rubrics for Individual Assignments and Student Needs
   • The point is that the rubric is a learning tool for both students and teachers and should be varied when necessary to address the assignment as well as the students' weaknesses.