| CATEGORY | Excellent | Good | Satisfactory | Needs Improvement |
| Grammar (Conventions) | Writer makes no errors in grammar that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar that distract the reader from the content. |
| Adding Personality (Voice) | The writer seems to be writing from knowledge or experience. The author has taken the ideas and made them "his own." | The writer seems to be drawing on knowledge or experience, but there is some lack of ownership of the topic. | The writer relates some of his own knowledge or experience, but it adds nothing to the discussion of the topic. | The writer has not tried to transform the information in a personal way. The ideas and the way they are expressed seem to belong to someone else. |
| Spelling (Conventions) | Writer makes no erros in spelling. | Writer makes 1-2 errors in spelling that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes 3-4 errors in spelling that distract the reader from the content. | Writer makes more than 4 errors in spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
| Creativity | The poem contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has really used his imagination. | The poem contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his imagination. | The poem contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the flow of the poem. The author has tried to use his imagination. | There is little evidence of creativity in the poem. The author does not seem to have used much imagination. |
| Organization | The poem is very well organized. | The poem is pretty well organized. | The poem is a little hard to follow. Ideas lack continuity. | The poem cannot be followed. |
| Form | The poem closely follows a poetic form. | The poem mostly follows a poetic form, but varies in one or two lines. | The poem only partly follows a poetic form. | The poem does not follow any poetic form. |
| Rhythm | Poem is rhythmical and/or rhyming. | Most of the poem is rhythmical and/or rhyming. | Poem is partly either rhythmical or rhyming, but not throughout. | Poem is neither rhythmical nor rhyming. |