Post by WIDboard on Oct 12, 2011 8:28:19 GMT -5
Your time is limited as an instructor, and your students can only process a finite amount of feedback on any given assignment. Accordingly, professors Carol Hayes and Derek Malone-France emphasize the importance of determining your priorities as a responder to and evaluator of student writing. They emphasize that it is extremely important that what you consider most important corresponds to how much time and energy you invest in responding to those concerns in student work. As an example, they suggest trying an exercise such as the following (feel free to use your own categories):
1. Rank the following categories of student writing issues as they relate to your concerns as a GTA who is grading undergraduate papers:
___Development of an argumentative claim (with counterarguments & responses)
___Use of evidence to support claims
___Organizational structure
___Grammar/Style
___Quality of research/Use of primary sources
___Citation style
___Other ______________________
2. Now, rank these same categories in terms of the time you spend on them in your commenting on student papers:
___Development of an argumentative claim (with counterarguments & responses)
___Use of evidence to support claims
___Organizational structure
___Grammar/Style
___Quality of research/Use of primary sources
___Citation style
___Other ______________________
3. Do the two lists match up? What do you value most, and what do you spend the most time on? Why do you spend time where you do, and might you need to adjust your response patterns?
In essence, if you don't care about grammar, then don't spend time commenting on it. If your course or discipline doesn't emphasize creating argumentative claims, then don't invest your energy there. Make sure that your priorities match your comments on student work.
Prof. Hayes is a fan of the idea that "If you make it clear in their papers that you care about something, then your students will care about it, too. Spend your time wisely, and show that you care for that which you actually do care.
1. Rank the following categories of student writing issues as they relate to your concerns as a GTA who is grading undergraduate papers:
___Development of an argumentative claim (with counterarguments & responses)
___Use of evidence to support claims
___Organizational structure
___Grammar/Style
___Quality of research/Use of primary sources
___Citation style
___Other ______________________
2. Now, rank these same categories in terms of the time you spend on them in your commenting on student papers:
___Development of an argumentative claim (with counterarguments & responses)
___Use of evidence to support claims
___Organizational structure
___Grammar/Style
___Quality of research/Use of primary sources
___Citation style
___Other ______________________
3. Do the two lists match up? What do you value most, and what do you spend the most time on? Why do you spend time where you do, and might you need to adjust your response patterns?
In essence, if you don't care about grammar, then don't spend time commenting on it. If your course or discipline doesn't emphasize creating argumentative claims, then don't invest your energy there. Make sure that your priorities match your comments on student work.
Prof. Hayes is a fan of the idea that "If you make it clear in their papers that you care about something, then your students will care about it, too. Spend your time wisely, and show that you care for that which you actually do care.