Comment on the quotation below.
"For a writing teacher who believes in encouraging revision, graded papers are nothing but a curse. Low grades discourage trying, and high grades imply a piece is done...."
(handout, p. 55)
So, how should we as writing teachers encourage revision, self expression, and risk taking, while keeping in mind curriculum requirements and administrative expectations for giving letter grades, etc...?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGrades can discourage either way as the quotation mentioned. I think the class atmosphere is the most important factor. If teachers are supportive and help students feel comfortable, then they will express more freely, take risks, and be more productive and creative. Helping students progress should be the goal of the teaching not forcing them to fulfill certain requirements. The whole education system should adjust to the various needs and different developmental stages of each student. Giving extra assignment may help them to catch up with the requirements but it should depend on students' needs.
ReplyDeleteIn order to encourage students in writing, it is important to give students an impression that we would like to help them improve their writing skills. One of the reasons students get discouraged after getting a poor grade is because they feel shamed and failed. Through writing conference one by one, helping their writing skills to be improved would be a great way, also. By creating the class atmosphere to feel free making mistakes and not being perfect, students can get couraged and monitor their improvements through writing conference (such as self-checklist, anecdotal records).
ReplyDeleteTeachers should try to give reasonable motivations to students. The motivations are the powerful reasons that can motivate them to start writing. If topics are related with students’ favorite stars or things, they would write more aggressively and actively than boring topics. Also before starting writing, getting closer to students playing word games or sharing funny stories can make risk-free circumstances, which can help students revise each other’s mistakes feeling free. At the same time teachers should give them clear rubrics and explanations of them for class.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe that, as writing teachers, we can keep our students' spirits up by showing them that we are here to help them. Most students would probably think that they are given only one chance to make their assignments and that's it. We need to break that mentality. We need to show them that it is okay to make mistakes as they will help them improve themselves and show them that we are not people who just accept their papers and grade them after that. We are also people who they can approach to if they need help on something or if they are having problems with their writing.
ReplyDeleteAccording to my students, not grading but careful feedback with suggestions is what they want from me as their writng teacher. I agree that grading scale may be discouraging. However my students wanted me to look at their work and to see how I think about it and the direction they should head for in their future writing. One characteristic of Korean students I also found out is that they like their teacher to revise their work but dislike peer revision because they do not want to show their work to others.
ReplyDelete