The most powerful thing I read about assessing writing was Samantha’s letter at the end of Chapter 7 in Spandel. In a letter to a teacher, Samantha says, “just having the courage to put something on the blank surface before me is miraculous enough!” This is something I want to keep in the forefront of my mind as I assess writing.
Okay, I can’t say that reading about assessing writing has actually made how to assess writing any more clear. In fact, the more I read about assessing writing, the more it seems to me that teachers develop assessments, through experience, that works best for them and their style of teaching. This got me thinking about how I think I will assess the writing of my students and I’ve come up with a basic plan that steals from Wyngaard, Spandel, and (gasp!) Williams.
First of all, I think it’s important to have assessment going on throughout the writing unit. Some ideas I found useful for assessing throughout the unit were Spandel’s check lists for students, Wyngaard’s worksheets, and the good ‘ole peer review, which everyone thinks is a good idea. Since I’m a tool belt gal, I’m going to ask my students to use the 5 tools I talked about in my last blog as they workshop and peer review each other’s writing. All of these assessments will be worth points that will factor into the final grade for the paper. I’ll do this so the paper is not only graded on its final form but is assessed for the process as well. The final paper does need to be evaluated – like it or not. I especially loved Spanel’s ideas of grading with perception, compassion, and with an eye for what is useful for the student. I liked Williams’ idea – and Wynagaard talked about it too – of reading all papers quickly and putting them on a continuum. Then it’s important to go back and read papers carefully within the context of the continuum. Spandel’s rubric made sense to me too – beginning, developing, and strong with the focus always being on helping the student become a better writer, not fixing a grade on a paper. I’ll even take Spandel one step further and let students with a B or below redo their paper and turn it in again in order to get a better grade.
I’ll close with Samantha – as teachers we need to “meet me [Samantha], the writer where I am!”
Okay, I can’t say that reading about assessing writing has actually made how to assess writing any more clear. In fact, the more I read about assessing writing, the more it seems to me that teachers develop assessments, through experience, that works best for them and their style of teaching. This got me thinking about how I think I will assess the writing of my students and I’ve come up with a basic plan that steals from Wyngaard, Spandel, and (gasp!) Williams.
First of all, I think it’s important to have assessment going on throughout the writing unit. Some ideas I found useful for assessing throughout the unit were Spandel’s check lists for students, Wyngaard’s worksheets, and the good ‘ole peer review, which everyone thinks is a good idea. Since I’m a tool belt gal, I’m going to ask my students to use the 5 tools I talked about in my last blog as they workshop and peer review each other’s writing. All of these assessments will be worth points that will factor into the final grade for the paper. I’ll do this so the paper is not only graded on its final form but is assessed for the process as well. The final paper does need to be evaluated – like it or not. I especially loved Spanel’s ideas of grading with perception, compassion, and with an eye for what is useful for the student. I liked Williams’ idea – and Wynagaard talked about it too – of reading all papers quickly and putting them on a continuum. Then it’s important to go back and read papers carefully within the context of the continuum. Spandel’s rubric made sense to me too – beginning, developing, and strong with the focus always being on helping the student become a better writer, not fixing a grade on a paper. I’ll even take Spandel one step further and let students with a B or below redo their paper and turn it in again in order to get a better grade.
I’ll close with Samantha – as teachers we need to “meet me [Samantha], the writer where I am!”
The website I'm adding is http://www.rubrician.com/writing.html. I agree with Spandel that we should create your own rubric - but it's sure good to have a place to start! This site has rubrics for everything you can imagine and it ROCKS!
3 comments:
Of course I'm not sick of you commenting on my blog! Hopefully you're not sick of my comments! I'm glad we're both honest about our concerns with grading, covering up my fears won't help anyone. I'm guessing confidence will come with experience, trying different approaches, and asking for student input. Nice website, I've no doubt I'll be using it frequently.
You've got it, Sara! I love what you said about assessing with compassion. You and I know the anxiety of sharing writing with others, it's important to remember that our students are probably feeling the same way. Love your link! Where was this during ed Psych?
I agree that assessing and evaluating writing will always be challenging for teachers. I also enjoyed the excerpt from Samantha. What is important is that we meet students where they are at with writing. One lesson that I learned from volunteering at the Minnesota Writers project is that students need to have the support of experienced writers. Encouragement is a key ingredient for student success. I like the idea of students growing as writers and learning how to make the writing process work for them. I am glad to see from my experiences at local schools that students are turning in pre-writing, drafts and final products in writing. I think that this will give the teacher a better idea as to where to meet students like Samantha.
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