"Orange" Ya' Glad You Tried Rubric Maker?

Rubric Maker by ThemeSpark

I love utilizing rubrics to set the expectations for projects. What I do not like is the creation of rubrics. It is painful to create all the learning indicators. It is like experiencing a bad case of "writer's block." Way back in the day, I used Rubistar for all projects/presentations my students completed. It worked great as they have a ton of pre-made/customizable rubrics ready to go. It is still a viable resource today as I occasionally refer teachers to it. 

If you are looking for a quick way to create a rubric and fully customize it without all the intense brain labor, try Rubric Maker! With this tool, teachers can create a rubric based upon the Common Core Standards. This is somewhat of a strange thing to say since I'm from Indiana and they do not use the Common Core. However, the standards are very closely related. There are some variations here and there, but for the most part the skills lists are the same. The process is simple as you just need to select your desired skills and the indicators for mastery are automatically created.

So here's how to get started with Rubric Maker!

Orange Slice/Rubric Maker Smash!

It is no secret that I'm a huge fan of using Orange Slice to give students feedback. It is a great add-on within Google Docs that allows you to quickly create and score a student's work. (Click this link for other posts I've created regarding the use of Orange Slice.) The built-in rubrics are very much based upon the feedback for a writing piece with some customization. What if you want it based more upon the specific skills you want students to master? Rubric Maker will help you evaluate the specific standards covered within a lesson as you can easily search the Common Core Standards and plug them into a rubric.

Here is the process for teachers to utilize Rubric Maker with Orange Slice:

1. Create a rubric with Rubric Maker, go to the share view, and highlight and copy the table that's created there. 
2. Paste the table in a Google Doc and run Orange Slice to set up the initial grade sequence and expectations.
3. Share the document with students via a Google Classroom assignment with each student getting their own copy. 
4. Use the copied document to grade any project whether it be an oral presentation, visual display, or multimedia project. 

Need a more detailed explanation? See my video below: