Short Story Rubric

Performance Indicators	Exceeding Expectations	Fully Meeting Expectations	Minimally Meeting Expectations	Approaching Expectations
Story Elements (Setting, Character, Plot, Conflict, Theme)	All story elements work together to create a cohesive and engaging story.	Most story elements work together to create an engaging story.	Story elements lack some cohesion and/or some are clearly absent and may result in a story that is less engaging and/or confusing.	Story elements lack all cohesion and therefore the story doesn’t seem to have a point.
Craft (Sensory Language, Figurative Language, Symbolism)	Extensive and comprehensive repertoire of well-crafted language that seamlessly work together to enhance readers’ experience of the text.	Broad repertoire of well-crafted language that enhances readers’ experience of the text.	Limited repertoire of language-based devices. Language seems to be included for the sake of meeting criteria but does not enhance the overall experience of the text.	Language-based devices absent or seriously lacking.
Irony (Verbal, Dramatic, Situational)	All three forms of irony are expertly and seamlessly integrated into the story.	2 of 3 forms of irony are integrated into the story or all 3 are present but use of 1 or more is still developing.	1 of 3 forms of irony is integrated into the story or 2 or more forms are present but do not work to enhance the story.	Unclear that the story uses any form of irony at all or the irony present does not enhance the story and may actually detract from the overall effect.
Revision	Both draft and revision are provided and the revision demonstrates significant content revision strategies (5 to 7). Revision is clearly a superior piece of writing due to the added effort and attention to detail.	Both draft and revision are provided and the revision demonstrates some content revision strategies (3-4) and or it’s unclear that all parts of the revision are a stronger piece of writing.	Both draft and revision are provided but the revision focuses on mechanics, word choice, etc and does not demonstrate significant content revision (1-2 strategies) and/or it’s unclear that any of the revision significantly improve the piece of writing.	Both draft and revision are provided but no significant revision has occurred.

Answer each of the following questions to help you think clearly about your project and to give you some direction in your thinking. Provide 1 unique point for each mark a question is worth (i.e. if a question is worth 3 marks, make 3 unique points).

1. Describe your project? (Basically, in your own words, describe the nature of the project just completed.) (3)

2. What did you do at each stage (beginning, middle and end—at least!)? (3)

3. What did you hope to accomplish by this activity? What did you actually accomplish? (Focus on your goals, not the teacher’s goals...i.e. refine understanding of short story structure, understand dramatic irony, etc...) (3)

4. Describe where you were struggling to achieve what you wanted from this activity? (3)

5. What work habit difficulties did you encounter? (Some common student difficulties are: staying on task, generating ideas, too scared to ask for help, attendance, slow internet access, motivating oneself, etc…) (3)

6. What did you hope to learn from this activity, about yourself, about others, about short stories? (3)

7. If you did this same activity again, what would you do differently? (You can use question 2, 4, 5 to help you answer this one. Basically, if you were given the same assignment again, how would you approach it differently). (3)

8. What would you like to do next if you could continue with this activity? (If we had another month to work on this assignment, what would you do next? Write a story making use of a totally different theme? Write an essay examining a particular writer’s use of situation irony? etc? (3)

9. How have your ideas about short stories changed, developed, and/or evolved over the course of this project? (A good format to use if you're stuck is: I used to think...now I think...) (5)