PIP Proposal

Guiding Question
How can rubrics be structured and implemented to promote a language growth mindset in the
classroom?

Summary
The goal of this research is to improve on rubric implementation in the language arts so that
students can use them as a tool for a language growth mindset. This has come to my attention as I have
been using the Provincial Standard Test Rubrics in order to get the students familiar with the grading
they will be exposed to. I noted, while marking, that these rubrics do little in the way of offering
guidance or potential avenues for growth to the students. They take a look at the rubric and see that
they have “ineffective and/or awkward stylistic choices” in their writing. As much as the teacher may
explain these terms to the students, I do not believe it to be fair for them to take much direction for
improvement from statements such as these.

Strategies and Processes to Implement

Through my research I have come up with the following strategies I would like to implement thus far:

 Implement rubrics with ‘wise’ feedback

 Draft rubrics with students for an assessment, if it works it will be continued for further classes
 After an assessment with a rubric I made, conference with each student about it
 After an assessment with a rubric they made, conference with each student about it

Timeline
 October 4th-8th: Implement Rubrics with ‘Wise’ Feedback Mechanics
 October 12th-14th: Conference and gather feedback on the implementations from students
 October 18th – 29th: Continue Implementation of ‘Wise’ Feedback and Compare Results, see if
Improvement in Self-Efficacy Seems Apparent
 November 1st – 5th: Draft Rubric with Students for an Assessment
 November 8th – 19th: Mark Assessments, Conference with Students for Feedback on
Implementations
 November 22nd – December 3rd: Draft Rubric with Students with a Clear Focus on ‘Wise’
Feedback Implementations.
 December 3rd – 15th: Mark Assessments, Conference with Students for Feedback on
Implementations

Outcome
I hope to find a way to best implement rubrics with students to promote self-efficacy and a language
growth mindset across all levels of learners. These rubrics would be used more as a tool for students to
use to improve, rather than a tool to assess the success of a student in accordance with ill-defined
standards.

How will I Share these Findings?

These findings will be shared first in a conference with my T.A.’s. I would also like to share these findings
during a P.D. designated day and will talk with administration to see what can be done to facilitate this.
 Annotated Bibliography

Dobbs, Christina L., and Christine Montecillo Leider. "A Framework for Writing Rubrics to Support
Linguistically Diverse Students." English Journal 110.6 (2021): 60-8. ProQuest. 28 Sep. 2021.

Dobbs and Leider discuss how language in rubrics may lead to students underestimating their
performance in writing. As a result, students do not seem to strive and achieve higher grades leading to
a self-fulfilling prophecy loop (Dobbs and Leider, 61). They praise the value in using “feedback that is
considered ‘wise’ [as it] can be more effective at refuting stereotypes for racial minority students” who
often “felt that the language they were using was incorrect” even if it would have been acceptable
language in their day-to-day contexts (Dobbs and Leider, 62). This work will be invaluable as I teach a
large population of Indigenous students who have largely felt disconnected from Western teaching
institutions and traditions.

Howe, Emily, and Richard Correnti. "Negotiating the Political and Pedagogical Tensions of Writing
Rubrics: Using Conceptualization to Work Toward Sociocultural Writing Instruction." English
Education 52.4 (2020): 335-60. ProQuest. 28 Sep. 2021 .

“Negotiating the Political and Pedagogical Tensions of Writing Rubrics: Using Conceptualization
to Work toward Sociocultural Writing Instruction” by Emily Howe and Richard Correnti (2020) explores
how the promotion of sociocultural theories in rubrics can help address the issues with these rubrics and
high-stakes assessments by making the focus shift from ‘objective’ and outcome-based to a “meaning
making” and “dynamic” writing and literacy classrooms which “seeks to create authentic rhetorical
contexts” (Howe and Correnti, 336). I hope to utilize their view of “three distinct but interrelated
processes in rubric use” (Howe and Correnti, 337), to better understand tensions between standardized
tests and socioculturally inclusive classrooms

Li, Jinrong, and Peggy Lindsey. "Understanding Variations between Student and Teacher Application of
Rubrics." Assessing Writing 26 (2015): 67-79. Web. 28 Sept. 2021.

This article took a quantitative research approach at how students and teachers do “not share
much in common in their selection of focal points and keywords” within rubrics (Li and Lindsey, 71). The
authors then go on to break down the data into what the students and the teachers were more likely to
place greater emphasis on in the rubrics, therefore providing a reference for what I should be aware of
when presenting rubrics to students. I also found the suggestion that it may be beneficial for “classes
[to] create rubrics for their writing tasks” (Li and Lindsay, 75). This may be a strategy I will implement
with my classes if it proves to be beneficial to the students after a trial run.