Learning comes from doing. But when students are doing history, they generate a lot of written work. How to evaluate and grade this work is a problem, but it is a problem that can be managed.

One of the keys is developing rubrics and scoring guides that make the process of evaluation efficient for you and meaningful for students. Posted below are the evaluation aids I’ve developed for HI 132.

• The Workshop Essay Rubric (used to grade Assignments 1 and 5, and all the Workshop essays written thereafter)
• A Portfolio Checklist (indicating all the work students are required to complete and turn in at the end of the course)
• Portfolio Scoring Guide
• The Final Essay Rubric (for evaluating the summative, end-of-term assignment in which students argue for Zinn or Johnson as their preferred history of the U.S.)