PERSONAL ESSAY RUBRIC

RUBRIC for a PERSONAL ESSAY:
a form of writing in which an author explores and shares the meaning of a personal experience and relates this experience to ideas

	Blaze of Glory Bon Jovi	Take a Bow Madonna	Coming Out of the Dark Gloria Estefan	I Have Nothing Whitney Houston
Style Writer’s Voice, Audience Awareness	The writing is honest, enthusiastic, natural and thought-provoking; the reader feels a strong sense of interaction with the writer and senses the person behind the words; sentences are strong and expressive with varied structure; reveals deepening insight, sometimes expressed as wonder, the essay concludes, but the thinking does not, reader is left with ideas to ponder	Writer's voice is consistent and strong. The writer is aware of an audience. The reader is informed and remains engaged. Sentences have varied structure; coherent, but relies on prescribed organizational structure rather than following lines or patterns of thought; predictable word choice	Writer's voice may emerge strongly on occasion, then retreat behind general, vague, tentative, or abstract language. The writer may be aware of an audience. The reader is informed, but must work at remaining engaged. Sentence structure shows some variety; generally stays on topic but lapses into digressions; simple, generic word choice	Writing is confusing, hard to follow; language is vague; no audience awareness; disorganized; no variety in sentence structure.
Occasion for Reflection Context, the set of facts or circumstances that lead to the reflection; occasion merits the consideration afforded it; occasion is profound, not ordinary or mundane	Memorably presents the occasion for reflection; uses fine detail, sensory language, narrative accounts, controlled pacing, dialogue or quotations to explain sophisticated purpose	The occasion itself may dominate or overshadow the actual reflection; explaining, rather than exploring, a generalized idea or occasion, lacking detail in presentation of the occasion.	Both the occasion and the reflection are unclear or simplistic; may be simply and autobiographical account of a single incident instead of articulating a purpose.	Occasion for reflection and purpose may be omitted or presented only in the title
Reflection Traces the process of idea development, making connections between thought or belief and experience	Reflection is thoughtful and convincing, emerges from the occasion, not around or alongside it; presents ideas in an original way; reflection may be implicit, embedded in a way that leads the reader from the specific to the abstraction that underlies it	Thoughtful but predictable, essay is grounded in the occasion, not the reflection; establishes a loose connection between the experience and the essay purpose; may be convincing but lacking sophisticated exploration	Reflection is a simple restatement of the belief, limited to superficial generalizations, may have little connection to the occasion being discussed	Little or no evidence of reflection
Development Vivid, sensory description, persuasion, explanation which supports the purpose and elaborates on the reflection	Pays attention to particulars of observation which are recounted as a way of grounding the reflection; uses imaginative yet precise language to enhance presentation of subtleties of thought; metaphoric language	Uses some detail and some sensory language and strategies for developing insight	Limited to lists of details or generalizations	No attempt to elaborate, or attempt may be simple repetition of the initial statement