4 – Outstanding

3 – Proficient

2 – Emerging

1 – Attempt Made

Why is this person famous?

Succinctly describes who the subject is and why they are famous.

Gives the subject’s name and tells why he or she is famous.

May be unclear about why the subject is famous.

Does not explain why the subject is famous or missing name.

3 Descriptive Words

Selects 3 outstanding words to describe his/her biography subject, and uses much evidence to support these choices.  Word choice complements the subject very well.

Selects 3 different words that describe character traits; uses evidence to support choices. It is clear why the author chose these words to describe the subject.

Selects fewer than 3 different words or uses synonyms or simple words to describe their subject. Evidence may not directly support the words. May not be apparent why these words were selected.

Word choices may be simplistic or not character traits or may be incomplete.

3 Experiences

Describes 3 events vividly using much detail and support from the text. It is easy to see why the writer thought each experience was instrumental.

Names 3 experiences that made this person famous. Description is mostly complete and there is evidence to support each. You get a sense of why the writer thought each was important in making this person famous.

May not name 3 experiences or descriptions may be vague. May not use clear evidence of each; and it may be hard to understand why the writer chose these experiences.

Experiences are incomplete; lacking evidence; and you have no idea why the person chose these experiences as being important to the subject’s fame.

Most Admired Part

Succinctly describes which part of subject’s life was admired most, using evidence. It is easy to see why the writer chose this part.

Describes which part of the subject’s life the writer admired most. Uses evidence from text to support this choice.

Description may be vague; it may be hard to tell why the author admires this part of the subject’s life.

Description is missing or may be difficult to understand.

Timeline

Timeline contains more than 5 events and all events are clearly significant in the subject’s life.

Timeline contains 5 important events from subject’s life in sequential order.

Timeline may contain fewer than 5 different events or events may be out of order or lacking importance.

Timeline is missing events or is difficult to follow; events may be irrelevant.