comments and a grade
I have to admit that I haven’t yet had a chance to read all of the readings for the week, but I wanted to at least contribute to the blog early enough in the week that everyone would hopefully have the opportunity to read through it before class. I’m working my way through chapter nine in the Roen et. al. book about how to respond to student writing, and some of the suggestions I have found helpful. I really “like” what Amy says about “liking” student writing. One of my biggest fears about teaching English (well, I probably have a lot of fears if I stop to think about it), or at least one warning that I’ve heard from others about teaching English, is the amount of work involved in grading student writing. I realize that this can be a chore (probably like right now in my classes I love the works we read but still struggle to enjoy the paper writing process) but I do hope that I will be able to engage enough with my students’ writing that the task won’t seem as bad as some have predicted. And I am able to say I “like” what I read in the writing lab, so that is helpful. I also agree with what Keri was saying about “I / You” comments. I actually had a different class in high school that discussed the differences in communication that these different forms cause, and the “you” comments are more likely to find fault, while the “I” comments seem more likely to point to what the reader notices (which I think fits very well with Kahn’s suggestion to ground your responses in the student’s text and give them a playback of your reading experience).
The question that was running through my mind while reading these essays about commenting is that none of them (so far) have talked about what happens when the comments for revision are coupled with a grade. Some of the writers in chapter nine seemed to be suggesting that it was important to offer revision advice without a grade. Obviously, we are going to be grading the first submissions for English 1000, and I’m going to be realistic and say that I don’t know how much written response I’ll be able to give otherwise, given that we are busy with our own lives and classes. So, I guess I’m just wondering how the grade with the comments affects students’ perceptions of the revisions comments. I’m not even suggesting that we change this (because I don’t know quite how) but we could maybe discuss the way the grade and the comments may work both with and against one another.
The question that was running through my mind while reading these essays about commenting is that none of them (so far) have talked about what happens when the comments for revision are coupled with a grade. Some of the writers in chapter nine seemed to be suggesting that it was important to offer revision advice without a grade. Obviously, we are going to be grading the first submissions for English 1000, and I’m going to be realistic and say that I don’t know how much written response I’ll be able to give otherwise, given that we are busy with our own lives and classes. So, I guess I’m just wondering how the grade with the comments affects students’ perceptions of the revisions comments. I’m not even suggesting that we change this (because I don’t know quite how) but we could maybe discuss the way the grade and the comments may work both with and against one another.
posted by jhertlein | 5:18 PM
3 Comments:
While it's definitely true that if we give a bad grade with not a lot of comments the student will be confused and likely upset, it's also true that if we make a lot of comments and give them a high grade, the student won't pay attention to most of what we've said.
Also, if the final grade is something we'll "settle for" do we care what the comments are anyway?
I've tried different things so the students would not dismiss the comments because of the grade. I used to get a lot of what Elbow referred to. "Tell me what you want." or "What do I have to do to get an A?" I think I am getting better about identifying areas for improvement.
Right now, I am using a portfolio where 60% is content and 40% is quality. They write so many papers and then choose one that is the best process and one that is the best final product. This helps to focus on revision, and I comment on their drafts. They are writing at least three drafts.
I'm off on another topic here, but I was thinking about liking student writing. I was wondering if I would like student writing if I read sixty of those analyzing image papers. They just aren't interesting to read although I think it is really important to analyze those images. None of the essays had great beginnings. Mostly, they had one paragraph conclusions that were restatements. My comments for the draft and the final paper were constructed the same, but students won't pay a bit of attention to those comments I spent so much time on when I give them a "final" grade.
I've tried different things so the students would not dismiss the comments because of the grade. I used to get a lot of what Elbow referred to. "Tell me what you want." or "What do I have to do to get an A?" I think I am getting better about identifying areas for improvement.
Right now, I am using a portfolio where 60% is content and 40% is quality. They write so many papers and then choose one that is the best process and one that is the best final product. This helps to focus on revision, and I comment on their drafts. They are writing at least three drafts.
I'm off on another topic here, but I was thinking about liking student writing. I was wondering if I would like student writing if I read sixty of those analyzing image papers. They just aren't interesting to read although I think it is really important to analyze those images. None of the essays had great beginnings. Mostly, they had one paragraph conclusions that were restatements. My comments for the draft and the final paper were constructed the same, but students won't pay a bit of attention to those comments I spent so much time on when I give them a "final" grade.
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