Artifact Cover Sheet

Artifact Title:

Description of the
artifact: (100 300 + words of
detailed description):

Mastery Rubric: Part 2 only

This artifact is a rubric that lays out the
requirements for part 2 of the eighth graders
saint project. The rubric lays out expectations
for writing, language, religious content and
personal connection. The rubrics standards
are Exceeds, Meets, Improving, and
NP/Incomplete.
The sub-categories of writing are
argumentative genre, reasoning, organization,
and research. An incomplete evaluation
means that 2 or more criteria have not been
met or are below grade level. The standards
are met if the essay lists and explains a
variety of reasons in order to support the
claim that the saint is a personally wise
choice.
Language is concerned with grammar and
spelling. In order to receive a high mark in
this category the essay must be free of
spelling and grammatical mistakes.

Why did you select this

particular artifact? (100 300
+ words of detailed reasoning):

For the religion category the essay must be

two pages long at least and contain
historically accurate information.
This is a good example of how a rubric should
look and function. It is easy to read and the
standards are clear. It provides clear
indications of what the instructor is expecting
from the assignment.
Rubrics are important for the education of
students because they take the guesswork out
of what teachers are expecting of the
students. It also keeps the teacher
accountable to their students when grading.
Since there are clear objectives that the
student must attain for a certain grade it aids
in reducing favoritism when grading. Rubrics
also help students identify where they may

need to improve.
The assignment associated with this rubric is a
research paper for the eighth grade
confirmation Saint project. I aligned it to this
diocesan standard because it gives the
student the opportunity to learn about a
particular saint and possibly apply their
actions to their own lives. Through this
assignment the students are required to
choose a Saint for the sacrament of
Confirmation. This Saint must be a person
they feel connected to. This connection has to
be apparent in their essay.
Why did you align this
artifact with Diocesan
Standard 7&8: VII E. To
imitate Christ and a desire
to imitate the saints faith
and actions.
(Fill in the Texas EP standard the
artifact is aligned with and give 200
+ words of reasoning for alignment

What are the essential

learning(s) or outcome(s)
of this artifact? (An essential

learning is a primary skill, or content

knowledge gained from an
assignment, assessment, project or
experience 100 200 + words)

Through their research, the students learn

about the lives of their Saint. This learning
will give them the basic understanding and
knowledge they need to begin to imitate the
faith of these men and women. Without the
basic knowledge the students cannot grow in
their faith. The project also provides the
fertile ground for the student to grow in the
desire to imitate the saints faith and actions.
Without the content knowledge, the student
cannot be expected to imitate Christ or the
Saints.
This rubric, through its association with the
Confirmation Saint research project, aligns
with the diocesan standard for seventh and
eighth graders to imitate Christ and a desire
to imitate the saints faith and actions. It
does this by giving the students the
opportunity to learn about their particular
saint and to reflect on why they are important
and how they relate to the student.
One outcome intended by this artifact is to
provide a framework for the students to write
their saint report research paper. Another
essential learning associated with this artifact
is that the students have to do a selfassessment as part of the assignment. This is
done so that the students reflect on their
strengths and weaknesses. It also allows
them to put into words any changes that they
could make to improve their work. This
teaches the student to reflect on their
assignments before they turn them in. This

helps them catch and fix any careless

mistakes. For example, the student may find
that they need more time to write a paper of
this size than they originally anticipated.
This artifact has provided me with a good
example of how a paper rubric should look.
Through reading the chapters in the book I
know that this particular rubric is a four-point
rubric rather than the standard three point
one. This rubric is a part of a traditional
assessment. Since the essay is a long term
project it allows the students to practice
complex and higher level thinking.

How does this artifact

relate to or reflect your
growth toward developing
your strengths, talents,
and interests as a
teacher? (250 500 + words):

I am interested in teaching students to use

their higher faculties in their academic work.
The essay that this rubric refers to requires
the students to think about a Saint in detail
and engage in self-reflection as to why they
chose a particular Saint. This essay
assignment also requires that they practice
their research skills. This forces them to begin
to identify and distinguish between useful
information and information that is not
relevant to their task.
When teaching I want to focus on content
mastery rather than content memory. In light
of this, an essay is one of the more effective
means of assessing a students higher level
thinking. However, this rubric has also shown
me that I have to tailor my assignments to the
students I am teaching. I cannot expect my
students to think on a high school level when
they are only in seventh grade. I need to
design my rubrics and essay assignments with
difficult yet attainable standards for the age
group I am teaching at the time. Since this
rubric is for the second part of the overall
assignment it focuses more on content and
form rather than the big picture ideas. This
shows me that I can use multiple parts of an
assignment to guide my students to the
answers and work I need them to produce.

As a community of lifelong
learners, we are always
looking for ways to
improve our performance
or products, how could
you improve this
artifact? (150 300 + words):

I would improve this rubric by first offering

some concrete examples to go along with the
different descriptions of standards to be met.
I noticed a few grammatical errors in the
rubric itself that could be improved in order
present the requirements more clearly. While
verbal instructions may have been given in
class I would prefer to see written instructions
on the rubric itself. Especially if it is to be
used by the students as a reminder of the
standards they are supposed to attain. I
believe that the rubric could be further
improved if another category of assessment
were added. With five columns of standards
the teacher would be able to more effectively
use this rubric to grade the students. That
being said, I do appreciate the fact that this is
an example of an analytical rubric style rather
than a holistic one. There are multiple
categories and sub-categories that can be
evaluated.