Grading Student Sample Essays

Whoa--I'm actually writing a content-based blog post! I finally have a lazy Saturday morning with nothing planned (our scheduled vet visit got rescheduled, otherwise I would have had to be out the door at 730 this morning!). I feel a cold coming on (boo), and it's a cold, gray day. What I have to look forward to is grading a stack of essays I brought home.

But for now, there's coffee and sweats and Christmas music (shhhh....don't tell on me! I do wait until after Turkey Day to put up decorations).

I wanted to write briefly about something I've started doing primarily with my College English writing course, but that I hope to do with all classes when they write an essay going forward. 

Each year, I set aside some student essays that I could use as samples the following year. For us, it's even easier because we have access to our students' file on the network, so I can just go back in and print their essay off the computer, which I like best, because that way I can change the name and make it anonymous, rather than whiting it out on a hard copy.

I don't just find examples of "A" papers, but rather a variety of ability levels and grades. Before passing them out, I hand out the essay rubric I am using to grade the students' essays and we go over it and what it means to earn a certain score in a category. Then I pass out the anonymous student sample essays. Sometimes, the whole class gets the same one at a time; sometimes, I put them in groups and each group gets a different one. The key is, you DON'T tell them what grade the paper earned ahead of time.

Students (either alone or with partners) read and then analyze the essay. They "grade" it using the rubric you will use to grade their own essays. They come up with a final score, and then I typically have them write a brief paragraph explaining/defending the grade they assigned.

Here is what I have found after doing this probably 15+ times with different groups of kids: They can be BRUTAL graders! I have had student essays that earned a "B" for me failing some of my students' assessments! I usually ask them to sit in groups based on how they graded an essay and then each letter grade group defends their grade. Then I tell them what the essay earned for me and why and we talk about it.

I like doing this for a few reasons:
1) It lets them see MY thought process when assigning a grade to an essay, and they realize a lot of work actually goes into it.
2) They can see an actual student sample essay, rather than just the model essays we read in our textbook.
3) They can start to think critically about writing, pointing out strengths and weaknesses.
4) I always use this to segue into peer response. What usually happens in peer response, is that they don't want to give constructive criticism because they know the person, but they are not afraid to be honest when it's an anonymous essay. This has also made me consider doing anonymous peer review going forward. (Of course, I don't want them being brutally honest/harsh with peers, but too often the responses I see are "looks good" or the like).

It usually takes a couple class periods to do 2-3 student samples, and sometimes I assign it for homework if we're short on time. But I do feel like it helps students grasp what an "A" paper or "B" paper might look like, and they can better understand their own grades when they get papers back.

Do any of you do something similar in your classes? How so?

How to have effective writing conferences

Source: social.rollins.edu. A Venn Diagram I often show my writing students.

Teaching College Composition writing, I've done a lot of research through my MA coursework on the best and most effective way to teach the writing process. So often, my students--even my College students--don't like to go back and revise and edit their work. I try to impart to them how important this is, and that writing is a process, not a race to get the final draft done the fastest.

I often tell them that professional authors--people who get paid to write and sell millions of copies of their books--have to go through MANY revisions and edits before it is ready to publish. So if we are amateur writers, how can we expect to have a perfect piece of writing on the first try, when that isn't even possible for people who make a living doing this? Usually it sinks in a little when I say that.

But today I want to focus on one specific part of the writing process that I started doing last year and have had a lot of success with: writing conferences.

The key to having a successful conference is making the STUDENT in charge of leading them. I used to grow frustrated because I would have students come sit by my desk to "conference" and ask questions like "What are you struggling with? Where do you need my help?" and I'd get answers like "I don't know" or "I need help with everything," neither of which are helpful for me as the instructor.

So now, I make sure students are prepared for the conference and that they lead it. The day before writing conferences (this happens AFTER peer revision has taken place), I will give my students a short form to fill out with no more than 7-8 questions. I ask things like:

• What is the strongest part of your essay so far?
• What has been the hardest part of writing this essay?
• What are three specific revisions you plan to make before submitting this essay?
• Point out one or two specific places in your essay you'd like me to look at, as well as write out specific questions you have about those sections.

I will also have them highlight important parts of their essay like the thesis, topic sentences, maybe the counterargument if we're writing argumentative essays, and they will point those out to me during our conference and defend why they are strong or ask me about concerns they have.

I will only meet with students who have completely filled out the sheet. I do let students fill them out later for partial credit if they decide they want to meet with me after all, but my perspective is that any given conference takes 5-10 min. depending. I have a LOT of students to get through. If you are not serious about preparing for it and actually asking me questions, it would be a better use of time for me to meet with someone else and for you to work on your essay then.

When a student comes up with the form filled out, I asked THEM to walk through the questions with me, pointing things out in the essay and asking me the questions they wrote down. This gives a focus to the conference so it isn't a waste of time. I can also hone in on what is bothering them about the essay instead of asking about a bunch of things they are not worried about.

I will not read an entire essay and "grade" it before the final is submitted for grading. I tell my students that up front. However, I WILL look at specific places in their essays that they struggle with and answer specific questions.

I get a lot of, "Can you read these three paragraphs and tell me what I did wrong?" when we first start out. I will not do that.

But if they ask, "Can you read this paragraph and focus on my transitions? I am struggling with those," that I WILL do.

I think it is SO important for students to be able to reflect on their own writing and pick out what they struggle with and what they excel at, instead of just having teachers tell them those things. It also helps me help them during our conferences, and I found a get a much higher quality of final essay coming in when I conference with them first, so it ends up saving me some time on grading because we hashed out some problem areas beforehand, and they fixed them.

Do you hold writing conferences with your students? What tips do you have to make them effective?