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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

How does implementing Student-Created Rubrics enhance a Writers Workshop in a First Grade
classroom and affect students writing achievements and writing attitudes?
Lisa Fanelli
North Carolina State University
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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

Abstract
Writing Conventions is a skill that many first graders struggle to master. With the
implementation of Common Core, writing has become an essential tool for all students. With the
pressure of writing responses in all content areas, student writing motivation is key. A students
motivation and attitude affects their writing achievement. In this study, a class of 18 first grade
students analyzed in which areas they need help during writers workshop. The class then
created their own rubric to use to help them with writing conventions. The end result showed a
positive increase in a students attitude towards writing and a positive increase in a students
achievement in writing. As a result of these finding, all students were on grade level or above
for writing conventions.
Key words: first grade, rubric, student motivation, writing achievement, writers
workshop, writing conventions
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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

1. Description of the Problem

With the implementation of Common Core, writing is an asset that students must have in

order to fulfill requirements for various standards and objectives. With the emphasis on

writing increasing, students attitudes about writing are decreasing (Graham, Berninger,

Fan, 2007). This is my fifth year teaching first grade. Each year, I have noticed that

students struggle with various aspects of writing; but, students mostly struggle with

writing conventions. Even strong writers have trouble with editing and writing

conventions.

Students need to be able to write a complete paragraph using correct conventions before

moving to second grade. This issue is really important to me because I feel like my

students need to have a solid foundation for writing conventions before entering second

grade. Once students enter second grade, students are no longer learning the foundations

to write complete sentences. It is expected that they know how to write complete

sentences, so they can learn other components of writing such as: punctuation marks,

how to use quotations, conducting research independently, forming a beginning-middle-

end paper independently, and other higher order writing components. I feel that is it my

job to make sure that I am teaching my students in first grade to be successful writers so

their second grade teacher can continue with their writing education. Second grade

teachers do not have time to hold writing conferences in order to go over writing

conventions. The teacher will be more concerned with the content in a students writing

piece.

2. Evidence Explaining the cause of the Problem

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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

First graders have a hard time remembering writing conventions because so much goes

into writing. Writing is a culminating experience of thinking about what you need to

write down. Once they know what they want to write, they need to break down their

thoughts into: a sentence, then individual words to write, then sounds to write in a string

to form the words. A child is developing the part of their brain where they can construct

meaning of the concept of print (Gambrell, Morrow, 2015, p.87). Students need to have a

strong background in phonics, words recognition, and understanding that letters make up

words, words make up a sentence, and a sentence is a complete thought. This is a lot for

a first grader, who is six turning seven years old, to process. In kindergarten, the

objectives for writing are getting three sentences written on a single topic with teacher

support. Then, by the end of first grade, students need to be able to independently write

at least 7 sentences on a single topic with correct conventions. That is a lot to master in

180 days of school in first grade.

3. Research Questions:
a. In what ways will the process of creating and using writing rubrics increase
students writing achievement?

b. How will the process of creating and using writing rubrics change students
attitudes about writing?

4. Methodology:
For my action based research, I used the students in my first grade class. I wanted insight

into their views about their personal writing achievement and their writing motivation. I

gave each student a writing attitude survey, writers inventory survey, and interviewed

each student about their views on writing attitude and achievement. I also took a pre-

writing sample to collect baseline data on their writing achievement. Once the study
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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

concluded, I had my students do a post-writing sample and post-writing attitude survey

(See Appendices A, B, and C).

I decided to give my students the surveys and conduct their interviews first. Doing those

activities first, started my class thinking about themselves as writers. I then asked my

students what I could do to help them become better writers. I wrote down their

suggestions on the smartboard. Many participates stated that writing conferences was the

best way that they liked to be helped with writing. Others said; using the word wall,

using our dictionaries, using Letterland words, and practicing every day.

After this activity, I then asked my students to think about their own writing and where

they needed help when writing. Many of my students said that they needed help coming

up with writing topics. Others said spelling and handwriting. One participate said

remembering where to put the period. Many other students agreed with that statement;

and, they also said: remembering the punctuation mark and to start the next sentence

with a capital letter. I also wrote these on the smartboard. Then, I asked, out of all these

writing issues, where did they need the most help? Their response was writing in

complete sentences and using punctuation.

That is when I offered a suggestion to help. I told the class about rubrics. Rubrics are a

scoring tool that outlines expectations for a given assignment (Stevens & Levi, 2005). In

a research study conducted by Rula Diab and Luma Balaa (2011), they found [that]

because students were involved in the process of rubric development, they were more

empowered and motivated to learn (p.59). They also found that students generally
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revealed quite positive attitudes and reactions to the use of rubrics in teaching and

assessing the critique assignment (Diab, Balaa, 2011, p.59).

To implement student-created rubrics, I first told my participants (my students) about the

purpose of my study, and why I was conducting my study. They have seen rubrics before

when we used them in other content areas. They have also seen rubrics when I used them

to grade their writing. After showing my students examples of rubrics, we then created

their own. Students told me what we should include on the rubric. The class either

agreed or disagreed. We took about 30 minutes to create and finalize a rubric that

everyone felt comfortable using. The end product had four phrases on it: spaces, words,

capital, and period. My students all agreed that these were good words to use to remind

them what they need to include when writing a complete sentence. I created the rubric,

and laminated it for the students to put it in their writing folders to use daily (See

Appendix D).

Timeline: March 7th- April 15th (6 weeks)

Date Implementation Changes needed
March 7 Send home parent
letter with permission
form
Send home parent
survey
March 8 Start conducting
student interviews
Take first writing
sample (pre)
Conduct writing
attitude surveys
March 9 Continue with student
interviews
Give writers profile
to students
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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

March 10-11 Get parent permission

forms back
Get parent surveys
back
Complete any
interview, survey, or
profile with any
student(s) as needed
March 14 Introduction to study
Create writing rubric
with students
March 15 Start implementing
and using rubrics
during writers
workshop
March 16-18 Initial observations of
students using the
rubric
March 21-April 8 Continue using
rubrics when writing
April 11-15 Continue using
rubrics when writing
Post writing
motivation survey
Post writers profile
Collect post surveys
for parents
April 15 Final (post) writing
sample

5. Findings and Conclusions:

When looking at the data that I collected from interviewing my students, common themes

emerged. All my students stated that writing was important. They all understood that

writing is an important skill that needs to be done well in order to be successful. When I

asked them why, many students stated reasons such as: future jobs, college, and to be

prepared for second grade. These are all reasons that I have given to them during our

school year to show them the importance of writing; and, why we practice writing every
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day. I asked my students about the best ways that they like to learn about writing.

Many stated: listening to the teacher, practicing every day, and using strategies that I

have taught them like using the word walls and dictionaries. An interesting theme that I

found were their responses to the questions about: how do you feel about writing, and

how do you feel about yourself as a writer? I found a correlation between the way a

student perceives writing and their perceptions of themselves as a writer. The students,

that responded that they do not like writing or that it was boring, perceived themselves as

a bad writer. The students who enjoyed writing perceived themselves as a good

writer. A students attitude about their writing ability also comes from their self-efficacy

beliefs (Bayraktar, 2013). I found this to be true with my students.

I then analyzed the data on my students writing achievement. Below is a table with the

data from the scores from the pre and post writing samples. To grade the writing

samples, I used Wake Countys Grade 1s Writing Rubric (Appendix E). According to

this rubric, students can receive a score of a 1, 2, 3, or 4. To be considered on-grade

level, students need to perform at a level 3. To be considered above-grade level,

students need to perform at a level 4. Students receiving scores of a 1 or a 2 are

considered below-grade level. I only focused on the organization and conventions of

the writing samples, and I used only that section of the WCPSS writing rubric.

Participate Pre-assessment Post-assessment Change

1 2 3 +1
2 2 3 +1
3 2 4 +2
4 1 2 +1
5 3 3 +0
6 1 3 +2
7 2 4 +2
8 4 4 +0
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9 3 4 +1
10 3 4 +1
11 4 4 +0
12 1 3 +2
13 1 3 +2
14 1 4 +3
15 2 4 +2
16 2 4 +2
17 4 4 +0
18 1 3 +2

There was an overall positive change of the scores from the pre-writing sample to the

post-writing sample. Fourteen out of Eighteen students showed a positive change from

their pre-writing sample to their post writing sample. The remaining four students stayed

the same, and they did not increase or decrease. Those four students were already

performing on-grade level according to the on-grade level measures. The data

showed that they continued to perform on-grade level.

I then analyzed the data on my students attitude towards writing. For assessing my

students attitudes towards writing, I scored their writers attitude survey. According to

the survey, students could answer the questions by coloring a smiling face, an okay face,

or a sad face (See Appendix A). I assigned each face a value. The smiling face was

worth 3 points, the okay face was worth 2 points, and the sad face was worth 1 point. I

then added up each students survey and gave it an overall score. The maximum score is

33 points, the minimum score is 11 points. I also collected a pre and post survey for their

attitude towards writing before implementing rubrics and after. Below is a table showing

the students scores for their attitude surveys.

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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

Participate Pre-assessment Post-assessment Change

1 26 28 +2
2 20 22 +2
3 26 27 +1
4 22 26 +4
5 24 28 +4
6 24 28 +4
7 26 23 -3
8 24 27 +3
9 25 26 +1
10 24 30 +6
11 23 24 +1
12 20 28 +8
13 16 25 +9
14 17 20 +3
15 25 25 +0
Two16 28 29 +1
17 25 25 +0
18 18 19 +1

Again, there was an overall positive score. Fifteen out of eighteen students showed a

positive change in their reading attitude score. Two students showed no change. Those

two students already scored high on their reading attitude. Both scored 25 points out of

33. One student did receive a negative change from their pre and post attitude survey.

That one students attitude changed from 26 out of 33 to 23 out of 33, it still indicated

that their attitude about writing is high.

I then compared how the change in a students achievement correlated to the change in

their writing attitude. Below is a table showing the relationship between a students

change in achievement and the students change in attitude.

Participate Change in achievement Change in attitude

1 +1 +2
2 +1 +2
3 +2 +1
4 +1 +4
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Implementing Student-Created Rubrics

5 +0 +4
6 +2 +4
7 +2 -3
8 +0 +3
9 +1 +1
10 +1 +6
11 +0 +1
12 +2 +8
13 +2 +9
14 +3 +3
15 +2 +0
16 +2 +1
17 +0 +0
18 +2 +1

Student number 12 and 13 had the largest changes in their attitude about writing with a

score of +8 and +9. Those students also received a score of level 1 on their pre-writing

sample and level 3 on their post writing sample. The chart shows a positive correlation

between a students writing achievement and their attitude towards writing. Overall, I

found that implementing rubrics increased writing achievement and writing attitude.

6. Reflection:

My students enjoyed the process of creating and using their rubric to help them during

writing. As a teacher, I am thrilled to see that their attitudes about writing have

increased. I am more thrilled that their conventions are improving as well. Through

informal observations during this study, I did notice more students needing less help with

writing conventions during writing conferences. Many used the rubric before

conferencing with me. I was able to focus more on the organization of their writing piece

and content related issues. I was happy to see my students using the rubrics

independently. I have seen great outcomes with implementing rubrics during the writers

workshop. I have decided to keep and to continue using the rubrics during writers
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workshop. I feel that it was a great time of the year to implement the rubrics. We started

this process in third quarter, and it continued into fourth quarter. My students were more

mature at this point of the year to understand where they needed help during writing. In

the beginning of the year, there are more elements to writing in which they need

assistance like choosing a topic. I have seen the benefit of using student-created rubrics,

and I will continue to use them.

7. Appendix:

A. Student Writing Attitude Survey

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B. Writers Inventory
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C. Writers Attitude Interview

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D. Student-Created Rubric

E. WCPSS Writing Rubric (from CMAPP)

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References
Bayraktar, A. (2013). Nature of Interactions during Teacher-Student Writing Conferences,
Revising the Potentia Effects of Self-Efficacy Beliefs. Eurasian Journal of Educational
Research, (50), 63-85.
Diab, R., & Balaa, L. (2011). Developing Detailed Rubrucs for Assessing Critique Writing:
Impact on ELL University Student Performanced and Attitudes. TESOL Journal, 2(1),
52-72.
Gambrell, L. B., & Morrow, L. M. (2011). Best practices in literacy instruction (5th ed.). New
York: Guilford Press.

Graham, S., Berninger, V., & Fan, W. (2007). The Structural Relationship between Writing
Attitude and Writing Achievement in First and Third Grade Students. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 32(3) 516-536.
Stevens, D. & Levi, A. (2005) Introductions to Rubrics. Sterling, VA: Stylus.