Gladly Would I Teach

Students learn to write through writing. It’s a simple concept. If we want students to write well, they need lots of practice. Mondays are writing days in my AP English course. In addition to outside writing assignments, students write a 40-minute timed writing in my class each week. I am amazed at how much my students improve during the semester.

“You’ll hate me on Mondays,” I warn them, but you’ll thank me one day . . . years from now.

Since I know that students will be absent occasionally or will be worried about tests in other classes or will just go blank when they see the assignment, at the beginning of the semester, I give each student 2 free passes. They are allowed to pass in a pass whenever they decide they do not want to write the paper.

Today, three weeks before spring break, many students decided they just didn’t have the energy to write, particularly when they discovered that the writing assignment from the 2003 AP test was about BIRDS.

While students were writing during first period, a flock (or gaggle or skein) of geese flew overhead and made us laugh.

Although I am often tempted to create a couple of free passes for myself, I haven’t yet. How relieved I would be to collect 70 papers and then return them ungraded and say, “Today I’m using one of my free passes.”

Tempting!

Today I might as well have used a free pass. I only had 12 papers from first period, 8 papers from second period, and 17 papers from 3rd period.

It’s been an easy night!

  Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Edie Parrott

A couple of days ago I explained why I think timed writings
are so important for students, and I promised to explain later how I grade
timed writings quickly. I certainly do not believe that my way of grading is
the fastest or the best method, but it’s the way I have found most productive
for me. I attended a conference a couple of years ago where the speaker
insisted that he had not written anything on a student paper for years; he only
assigns a grade. That approach apparently works for him, but it wouldn’t work
for my students or for me. I know an outstanding teacher who spends hours over
the course of several days grading a stack of papers because she marks every
error the students make. It works for her, but that approach would not work for
me. We all have our own methods for grading, and over time we take a few ideas
from others and blend them with our own ideas to create our own effective
grading procedure.

My main objectives when I grade timed writings are to grade
the papers quickly so I can return them the following day, to provide enough
information so students can improve in their writing, and, sometimes above all
else, to maintain my sanity. The approach I’m outlining is only my grading
procedure for timed writings. I teach on a block schedule (90 minutes daily,
one semester only) and have 3 classes of AP English Language students (total of
84 students). As I mentioned in a previous post, I require students to complete
a timed writing every Monday. The information below is specific to timed
writings required for AP English. Next week I’ll post ideas for grading timed
writings for courses other than AP.

Here's how I grade.

1. I teach students how I will grade
   timed writings.
   I spend a full hour after the first timed writing early in the semester explaining
   how readers grade essays on the AP test in May and how the AP 1-9 rubric
   works. I then explain how I will use the rubric and benchmark papers in
   class and how I will mark their papers (information below). This step is
   crucial. If I teach this part successfully, I will have few grading
   problems or grading disputes all semester. I also emphasize that I can
   only spend approximately 2 minutes per paper; therefore, students won't
   get many comments.

2. After students finish timed writings,
   I require them to grade themselves and reflect on their papers immediately.
   At the end of timed writings, I have students turn their papers over and
   give themselves a score of 1-9 on the back of the essay. This is hard for
   them the first half of the semester, but they get much better with practice.
   I also have them write me a note to tell me how they think they did on the
   assignment and specifically what they want me to comment on or what
   questions they want me to answer when I grade their papers.

3. I grade the papers.

   1) I put a check mark in the
   margins next to cogent points that students advance, good use of examples,
   superior vocabulary, excellent use of rhetorical devices and strategies,
   etc. Good papers have lots of check marks.

   2) I circle or underline distracting grammatical or mechanical errors. I
   don't correct anything, nor do I mark all errors since the papers are rough
   drafts. I always mark comma splices, run-ons, and fragments because I
   consider these errors so egregious that I fear overlooking them may lead
   to revocation of my teaching certificate.

   3) I write very short comments in margins:  “off topic,” “love this,”
   “you lost me,” or I put a question mark in the margin.

   4) I put a score of 1-9 (according to the rubric) at the top of the page
   and write very brief suggestions which I actually abbreviate as the
   semester goes on:  “Need More Analysis,” “Need Examples,” “Work on
   Vocabulary,” “Read prompt carefully,” etc. I would love to write “BS” for
   “Be Specific,” but I rarely have the nerve.

   5) After assigning a grade, I flip
   the paper over and make a brief comment or answer the questions that students
   pose on the back of the paper. As the semester continues, students become
   remarkably adept at assigning their own grades. Halfway through the semester,
   most students will score themselves within one point of the score I assign. If
   there is a large variance in our scores, I know I need to offer a couple of
   sentences to explain why the score isn’t higher or lower. Often students will
   simply write questions such as: “I worked harder on my introduction. Did it
   work?” “I used only two examples. Is that enough or should I have gone into more
   detail, or do I need to include more examples.” “I was lost on this assignment.
   I just started writing something because time was running out.” If students
   feel comfortable in the class and comfortable with me as a grader, they will be
   painfully honest in their self-assessment. In fact, when I respond to student
   comments on the back of the timed writings, I often feel my role changes. When
   I grade the paper, I’m the English teacher assessing their performance. On the
   back of the paper, however, I’m the cheerleader encouraging them to keep
   writing and improving.

   6) As I grade papers, I compile a
   list of problems that many students have in common and/or points I want to emphasize. I also compile a
   list of what students did well. I will use these lists when I discuss the timed
   writings the following day.

   7) I put a star in the top left-hand
   corner of exemplary papers that I would like students to read aloud.

4. I review papers in class the following
   day.
   We look at the prompt together before we discuss the papers. I then review
   the College Board scoring reports with students so they will understand
   what the readers were looking for. We read aloud one or two papers. At the
   beginning of the semester, I usually read one or two exemplary sample
   papers provided by College Board, but by the middle of the semester, I
   allow students in the class who received stars on their papers to read
   their own papers to the class. Afterward, students discuss what they could
   do next time to make their papers better. I also use this time to review
   two to three common problems that I saw in the papers.

Organization

Since I have three 90-minute AP classes, I review the
College Board grading criteria and sample papers during first period while my
students are writing. I then grade first period papers during second period and
grade second period papers during 3rd period. I usually have 26-30 students in
each class and can grade a class set of papers in about one hour. By grading during
class, I usually only have to work an additional 1-2 hours after school or
before school the following day, but that is just on Mondays when I assign
timed writings.

One of the greatest benefits of grading timed writings
quickly and returning them the following day is that I have the grading down to
a routine and can grade the papers quickly without fraying my nerves, carrying
around a stack of un-graded papers for days, or getting bored with the
assignment or the papers. My grading method may not be the fastest or the best
method, but it’s the best approach I have been able to devise after decades of
teaching and thousands upon thousands of essays to grade.