it's interesting that you mention qualities of writing. i work for dalton public schools (dps) in dalton, ga., and we are working on just that. here's the really cool part: dps has developed 6 different rubrics, rubrics that apply to math and language arts, engaging, thoroughness, persuasive, justified, informative, and clarity. the system is giving students in 4th, 7th, and 10th grade assessments that are evaluated on these different rubrics. now, you don't assign a paper and grade it for all 6 traits, but different traits directly apply to writing, and you can use these rubrics to teach specific skills.
some teachers have discovered ways to use these assessments, or copy cat assessments, for grades. essentially, the tasks require students to think on a multi-dimensional level. you might enjoy looking at some of these so that you can design one for your own use. if you would like to look at some of our rubrics, then i'd be happy to send them to you. caroline mooney _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
