This semester, I have been required to read and offer feedback on student papers, and for the first time, assign a grade. I cannot say that I am a fan of this. The reading and commenting takes forever, but I still prefer it to having to put that grade, a number, at the end of my final comment. This has been something that has challenged me throughout the semester, and I thought I had finally grown comfortable with it, until I began grading my students’ fourth paper of the semester. I was discouraged and disappointed by several of the first papers that I graded, questioning my teaching practices and ability. I wondered what had gone wrong, if maybe I was just a horrible teacher since so many of my students seemed to have missed several key objectives of the assignment such as using an appropriate tone, not alienating their audience, and providing support for their claims. I eventually came across better papers that assured me that I had not completely failed, but I was concerned about the number of strong writers whose papers were subpar. As usual I made notes of common problems to provide global feedback and also to know what to emphasis next semester, but I asked myself, “what about this semester?”. I wanted to know what I could do to help my students learn for the short while I still had them in my class.
I began by thinking back over the semester. Much of what I have learned in the Theories of Writing course I have wanted to apply to my own teaching, but I have not had much opportunity to do so. Here was my chance to implement some of what I had learned. I care about the thinking and writing that goes into my students’ papers. They care about this also, but are also concerned with the grade indicated at the end of my detailed comments (the grade I hate assigning). I was disappointed that so many good writers had not written to their highest ability, and I knew they could do better, so I offered them the chance to prove it. I asked them to read over their papers and my comments, write a reflection on the problems with their paper that may have kept them from communicating effectively with their chosen audience, and make the necessary changes. It seemed the best way to make both myself and my students happy: I get the better thinking and writing; they get the better grade. But then I worried if offering this revision would raise too many students’ grades, and this would reflect badly on me as a teacher. I didn’t want anyone to think that because my students’ grades were so high, I was not holding them to the standards of the department, that I was not challenging them. I realize how silly the thought was, but given that at the beginning of the semester I was told that the average grade in the course is a “C” and all of the talk about how often students are upset about the grade they receive, but this is a good thing because it means the teachers are doing their jobs, I still worry that even though I know my students have done the thinking and writing necessary to earn a “B” or “A-“ in the course, others may not. I made it very clear to my students that simply completing the optional reflection/revision would not be enough to improve their grade. They had to show careful consideration and critical thinking about their own writing and the needs, concerns, and expectations of their audience. I am hoping that I receive some quality work, but since the assignment is not due for a few more days, I will have to leave the results TBA.
talishahaltiwanger 