How teachers can customize and use the Google Docs Rubric template

How teachers can customize and use the Google Docs Rubric template
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How teachers can use the Google Docs Rubric Template

A rubric has always been stressed as an important tool for assessing student’s performance in a classroom. A well-designed rubric can help evaluate a student’s response on a test, progress in the subject-matter or even behavior and discipline in the class in a timely manner. A rubric is an excellent instrument for clearly communicating the goals and expectations to students as well as their parents. Students can easily check their work against the rubric provided and ensure their work is on par with the requirements.

To assist in the task of creating a rubric, the Google Docs Templates library has a few rubric templates which can be easily customized to suit the teacher’s needs. To access these templates:

  1. Sign into your Google account and click Documents at the top.
  2. Select New> From template…
  3. Use the search bar at the top and look up Rubric. You will be presented with a few rubric templates.
  4. Among these, the user-created rubric titled “Reflection rubric - concept mastery and communication” by Erin Moore best conforms to the standard rubric format used in classrooms.
  5. You can view the template before using it by clicking on the Preview. This will help you decide if the format works for you.
  6. To use the template, click on the Use this template button.
  7. A copy of the Rubric template will open in a new window with editing tools at the top.

You can easily customize the template by changing the title of the rubric and entering the student’s name if the need arises. You can change the rubric to reflect the scores you wish to assign and also modify the minimum objectives needed for each score. You can also add or remove rows to the rubric to suit your assessment. Simply use the right-click button on the mouse anywhere inside the table and you can choose the changes you need. Adding and deleting rows, changing their order, copying rows and much more can be easily accomplished by the click of a mouse. You can even change the image on the left-hand corner.

To demonstrate how easy it is, I have created a simple rubric using this template to assess 6th grade student’s performance on a project. You can view this rubric at: https://docs.google.com/View?id=dgk2gvw3_17dnd7g7dw.You can also distribute the rubric to students and parents via the web.

After you have saved your rubric, click on the Share button and select Publish as web page. Google will assign a unique address to your rubric webpage which you can email to students and parents.

This rubric template is simple to customize and very easily understood, even by students. There are other rubric templates in the Google Docs template gallery which you can use if you need a more sophisticated rubric. All these templates provide an easy solution to simplify a necessary task teachers need to perform on a regular basis and help them save time and effort.