I Don't Grade Student Papers
Our grading should match our pedagogy. In my classroom I attempt to create aspect of the kind of society I want my students to live in: a society where the work is meaningful and intrinsically rewarding, where people grapple with big ideas they care about, in an environment where they can talk, read, write, and think without worry of failure or ridicule. Students need to feel that their work is important, relevant, and meaningful. If not, why should they spend time on it? (page 272)
Please post any comments on Christensen's grading policies in this post.
I do have to ultimately grade papers, but after a series of opportunities to revise and demonstrate they've incorporated or learned what we've been studying. There are typically aspects of genre (e.g. in memoir there should be elements of narrative, but also implicit and explicit aspects of significant to the narrator) and craft, and that's derived from mentor text. I usually teach one strategy to boost the academic quality, crafting a lede, a conclusion or finding a quote on google that functions as a subtitle.
ReplyDeleteThose elements are what I expect to see, and what we revise for, with peers primarily. When we're pretty much "there" they get grades and we move on. Meaningfulness comes from their choice of topic, their telling of the story and their effort and devotion to craft, their own and in their writing response groups.