Rubric for Grading Rationales

A rationale receiving an A will do the following:

• Provide a justification for teaching a conceptual unit that is convincing to its targeted audience, which should include school administrators, colleagues, board of education members, parents, and anyone else who might ask you to defend your teaching.
• Take the form of an argument, consisting of
  • A clearly articulated overall thesis
  • a set of related claims
  • responsible evidence that serves to support those claims (drawn from some form of scholarship)
  • warrants that explain how the evidence supports the claims
  • an anticipation of a counterargument to the rationale
  • a rebuttal of that counterargument.
• Orchestrate these components into a coherent argument
• Use language suitable to impress your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.
• Include evidence of a rough draft that has been subjected to a peer critique based on this rubric.

A rationale receiving a B will do the following:

• Provide a justification for teaching a conceptual unit that is generally convincing to its targeted audience, which should include school administrators, colleagues, board of education members, parents, and anyone else who might ask you to defend your teaching.
• Take the form of an argument, consisting of
  • a clearly articulated thesis
  • a set of related claims, although those claims might not have the clear relationship evident in an rationale receiving an A
  • responsible evidence that serves to support those claims (drawn from some form of scholarship), although that evidence might not be as clearly explained or as well documented as that in a rationale receiving an A
  • warrants that explain how the evidence supports the claims, although that support might not be as clearly explained as in the warrants in a rationale receiving an A
  • an anticipation of a counterargument to the rationale
  • a rebuttal of that counterargument, although that counterargument might not be as convincing as the counterargument in a rationale receiving an A.
• Orchestrate these components into a coherent argument, although the overall coherence might not be as great as in a rationale receiving an A.
• Use language suitable to impress your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.
• Include evidence of a rough draft that has been subjected to a peer critique based on this rubric.

A rationale receiving a C will do the following:

• Provide a justification for teaching a conceptual unit that is somewhat convincing to its targeted audience, which should include school administrators, colleagues, board of education members, parents, and anyone else who might ask you to defend your teaching.
• Take the form of an argument, consisting of
  • a thesis, which might not as clearly articulated as that in a rationale receiving a B, or might be so broad that it does not justify the particular unit being defended.
  • a set of claims, although the relationship among those claims might not be abundantly clear, or might consist of platitudes or buzzwords rather than argumentative points.
  • evidence that serves to support those claims, although that evidence might not have a scholarly basis (e.g., might be based on personal opinion) and might not be as clearly explained or as well documented as that in a rationale receiving a B
  • warrants that do not clearly explain the relationship between a claim and its supporting evidence.
  • a counterargument that is not worthy of address or acts as a non sequitur to the argument in the rationale
  • a rebuttal of that counterargument that does not convincingly refute it.
• Orchestrate these components poorly, without a clear relationship among the claims or between the claims and the main thesis of the argument.
• Use language suitable to impress your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.
• Include evidence of a rough draft, though without necessarily evidence of a peer critique.

A rationale receiving a D will do the following:

• Provide a justification for teaching a conceptual unit that is not likely to convince its targeted audience, which should include school administrators, colleagues, board of education members, parents, and anyone else who might ask you to defend your teaching.
• Lack at least one of the basic features of an argument, or include them in ways that are unrelated, poorly explained, or illogical. These features include:
  • a thesis
  • a set of claims
  • evidence that serves to support those claims
  • warrants
  • a counterargument
  • a rebuttal of that counterargument
• Orchestrate these components poorly, without a clear relationship among the claims or between the claims and the main thesis of the argument.
• Use language that might raise questions among your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.
• Include no evidence of a rough draft or peer critique.

A rationale receiving an F will do the following:

• Provide a no clear justification for teaching a conceptual unit
• Lack several of the basic features of an argument, or include them in ways that are unrelated, poorly explained, or illogical. These features include:
  • a thesis
  • a set of claims
  • evidence that serves to support those claims
  • warrants
  • a counterargument
  • a rebuttal of that counterargument
• Present these components without a clear relationship among the claims or between the claims and the main thesis of the argument.
• Use language that might raise questions among your readers that you are qualified to be an English teacher.
• Include no evidence of a rough draft or peer critique.

A rationale receiving a zero will not be turned in.