Reading Response Rubric

READING RESPONSE RUBRIC*

	FOUR	THREE	TWO	ONE
Format	Correct heading (name, assignment, date, period) and four categories clearly marked.	Heading is clearly visible, but somewhere where it shouldn’t be; categories not marked.	Heading is missing or too difficult to find; categories not there.	Student did not follow directions/example.  It has a name though, because if it didn’t I wouldn’t be grading it.
Background	Includes author, main character, title (underlined) & summary with not too much, too specific information, not too little information	Forget one of the necessary parts; summary is too specific or doesn’t include nearly enough information.	More than one part missing. Student is unsure of how to summarize but has yet to ask and take charge of their education.	The student is clearly not understanding what they are reading or not reading at all.
Prompt	Answered the prompt completely; Includes topic sentence; May include quotes that follow with explanations or paraphrasing that follows with explanations; If two or more topics, indented for new paragraph	Topic sentence is not clear/easy to find.  A quote or paraphrase is there (answered the prompt), but the explanation is missing or not connecting to the prompt. Only answered part of the prompt.	Topic sentence is missing. Quotes or paraphrase does not match the prompt. Prompt is incomplete.  Support is lacking.  Explanations are non-existent.  No indenting.	The student is off topic.  The student tried to turn in a mess and somehow got away with it before the teacher could give it back to them.  Or: The student watched the movie and is answering the prompt based on the movie (or so it seems).
Questions	Includes topic sentence; explanation follows so that teacher can see thinking; Writing shows deep thinking that will lead to a better understanding of book.	Topic sentence is not easy to find/clear.  No visible thinking after topic sentence.	Question is not an important one; one that would not lead to deeper understanding.	Student is not interacting well with the book; question is whack.  For example, “I am wondering what the character’s middle name is?”
Grammar/Mechanics	Must include one comma used correctly and highlighted; title, characters, author spelled correctly and capitalized, your/you’re; their/there/they’re; its/it’s	Student is not consistent with homophones, but teacher can understand it.  Have a comma, but used wrong or not highlighted.	Student could not put one comma in their writing.  Student doesn’t have a full grasp of specific homophones.	Student did not read over his/her work before turning it in.  It looks like he/she doesn’t care.

*I consider most work I do a draft. If you have any complaints about the fairness of this rubric please let me know.  I would never mind changing it to ensure that it is clear and considerate and enables you to do your best work.