Heres my first rubric for student blogging.

I took suggestions from Richardson (2010) and ideas from this article, this article, and this article. My class consists of on-level 6th graders with a wide variance in their writing skills. This rubric seeks to measure both the quality of the writing, the quality of the blogging, and the participation level of the student. Ive incorporated my schools writing deal breakers. This is a list of guidelines for student writing developed by the ELA teachers in my grade level. I tried to keep it broad enough in scope so that it could be adaptable depending on how the blogging assignment is integrated. No doubt this will go through multiple revisions. Not one of my 145 students have any experience with blogging. I anticipate that Ill be spending a lot of time explaining the nuances of Acceptable vs. Target. I also anticipate the need to create an entirely different rubric for my special ed. kids. For them, I will probably take Richardsons advice and take baby steps by simply linking to an article they find interesting and include an excerpt from the article. Blogging Rubric
Criteria Writing Clarity and Readability Unacceptable (0 points) Lakeside Middle School NonNegotiable Writing policy is not adhered to. Acceptable (2 points) Lakeside Middle School NonNegotiable Writing policy is mostly adhered to. There are 2-3 mistakes related to capitalization, punctuation, spelling, or complete sentences. Target (3 points) Lakeside Middle Schools NonNegotiable Writing policy is followed. There are no mistakes related to capitalization, punctuation, spelling, or complete sentences. Students blog post show thoughtfulness and reflection. There is evidence of connection both in content and through links to other articles or videos. The student articulates the relevance of those connections.

Writing Effectiveness

Student did not submit a blog post. Or, the writing shows no evidence of reflection or intellectual depth.

Students blog post shows moderate evidence of insight, understanding and reflective thought about the topic. One or more links are included. At least one sentence is used to describe what you think is meaningful or important about what you have read.

Level of participation

Student did not comment or respond to other student blogs. Or, the comment lacks insight or is superficial. Does not express opinion clearly. Shows little understanding.

The comment shows insight and depth and is connected with the original post.

The comment show insight, depth and evaluation. Personal opinions or experiences are expressed and are clearly related to the thread or post. Comments include acknowledgement of the authors ideas and observations. Information is given to further the discussion.

References

Churches, A. (2009, 12). Assessments and Rubrics. Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything. Retrieved 01, 2014, from http://www.schrockguide.net/assessment-and-rubrics.html

Franker, K. (2012, 01). Assessments and Rubrics. Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything. Retrieved 01, 2014, from http://www.schrockguide.net/assessment-and-rubrics.html Meloni, J. (2009, 08). Integrating, Evaluating, and Managing Blogging in the Classroom. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 01, 2014, from http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/integratingevaluatingmanaging-blogging-in-the-classroom/22626 Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. California: Corwin.