Hiram College WAC Based upon work by Erika Lindemann, Donald

McAndrew, and Thomas Reigstad

Reasons for evaluating student writing Administrative:

GradingTracking studentsPlacing students in English courses

Evaluation and ResearchMeasure student growth over timeDetermining effectiveness of teacher or writing programMeasuring group differences

InstructionalMaking an initial diagnosis of the students’ writing

problemsGuiding and focusing feedback to student writers as

they progress through an English course.

A Hard Fact Some studies suggest that comments do very

little to improve student writing.So why do it? And how should we do it? We do it in part because students feel

validated by comments. Commenting, it seems, is our job as writing teachers.

Follow two caveats: 1)1) The comments must be focused.The comments must be focused.2)2) Students also have opportunities to apply Students also have opportunities to apply

criteria for good writing to their own criteria for good writing to their own work.work.

This means focusing, again, on higher order concerns (argument, ideas, organization, structure), and using creative approaches to deal with lower order concerns (grammar, spelling, usage).

Teach through comments in three steps: Assess what the student needs to learn, as

well as what they have done well Plan your approach to the lesson Conduct the lesson

Assess Read the paper without marking it (quickly). Attempt to identify the one or two issues you

want to address in your comments. What was the student attempting to do? How

did it go wrong, and how could they get back on track?

PlanMake some notes (possibly on a different

sheet of paper), about no more than two major issues that you wish to address.

How do you want to address these issues? What could the student do to improve their

essay?

CommentWithin the essay: Use leading questions, but avoid questions that

prompt simple yes/no answers. For example, use questions that begin with Why, How, or What: How does this idea connect to the rest of the ideas in the

essay? Why have you placed this point here? Could it work

somewhere else, and how would it fit there?What do you want the reader to understand in this

paragraph? Why is this detail important?

CommentWhen commenting on what the student has

done well, be specific as well: Instead of “Good!” try “Good transition

between these ideas” or “I like how you bridge the gap between

these points.”

Endnote Provide a quick summary of what you feel

the student is attempting to achieve in the essay, and then go on to discuss where they succeed and where they need work.

Try to limit yourself to no more than two compliments and two focal areas for improvement.

Make a “cut and paste” list of common responses to work students need to do for improvement.

Grammar Again, identify focal problems rather than

all of the problems in an essay. You can try color coding with highlighter

to identify recurring grammar problems, and have the students correct these errors. This must be accompanied by an explanation of how to fix the problem.

Better, have students write a short (1 page) response about their particular grammar foible (defining it), why it is incorrect, and how they can correct it.

Notes to Self: Improve the AssignmentWhat works about the assignment itself?

What doesn’t work? How did students match or not match your expectations?

As you grade, take notes on your assignment sheet and on the syllabus as to how to better approach the assignment next time. What would you change in the assignment? The activities that lead up to the assignment? How would you make those changes?

ReferencesDonald A. McAndrew and Thomas J.

Reigstad. Tutoring Writing: A Practical Guide for Conferences. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2001. Print.

Erika Lindemann. A Rhetoric for Writing Teachers. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1995. Print.