Posted by: Victoria on: October 19, 2009
When I grade, I focus primarily on content, and whether or not the student has responded correctly to the prompt. If the writing doesn’t answer the question, I cannot reward the student for his or her writing, regardless of how artful it might be. If, however, the question is answered properly, I go on to examine how well the assertions are supported, whether or not the argument/analysis etc makes sense, and whether or not I feel the student genuinely understood the point of the exercise. Since this is FYC, I also focus quite a bit on grammar, looking for recurring errors in particular areas, and correcting them as necessary. That being said, I do not penalize too harshly for grammatical problems, since the student is in the process of learning about such things, and cannot be expected to be perfect at employing them just yet.
I grade in this manner in order to help the student learn in the most efficient and clear fashion possible. I try to focus on recurring errors because if I picked at every little error, the list of comments would be so long that the student probably wouldn’t even read them. I try to be encouraging, because I want them to have a positive experience, and be open-minded to constructive criticism, so that they can use my advice for future assignments. I focus on content and whether or not the question is properly answered because being able to follow directions and support your assertions is vital in any area of academia and professional life, and because I want them to at least begin to read beyond just the words, and try to think critically about both what they’re reading and what they’re writing.
I think I grade this way because my philosophy regarding composition is to help as many students in the most efficient way possible, while still making my comments pertain directly to them. The drop-out rate is so high amongst freshmen that I cannot bring myself to be scathing, because I think that a lot of these students might give up at the first sign of error or failure. It’s my job, as an instructor, to do my best to keep them in class, keep them interested, and keep them positive about writing. So many of them don’t enjoy it coming into this course, so to be unnecessarily harsh will only reinforce this preconceived notion that they can’t write well.
October 22, 2009 at 11:37 am
I completely agree with your focus on content. Ultimately, understanding the “point” is the reason for reading the paper, not necessarily admiring his/her writing skill. I also agree that comments should not be scathing: they should foster the development of the students’ writing skills. This, however, is a two-way street: a student must want to develop his or her writing skills. I think that this is the point on which we slightly disagree. Unlike high school where attendance is compulsory, college is not; while I firmly believe that everyone should earn an undergraduate degree, I know that it is seldom within my power to motivate students to do so. Those students who choose to dropout after their freshman year are the ones who 1) never completed their assignments, 2) never sought support, and 3) probably never even read the comments they received on their work. When I began teaching, I would never have made such statements: I was the idealist who thought that I could convert high school students to loving literature and writing. I soon learned, however, the limits of my influence.