Red Pen, Green Pen, Blue Pen, No Pen!

I'm sure many of us who have been in the classroom have an opinion one way or the other with regard to what you use to mark students' papers. Over the years, I heard conflicting opinions: don't use red pen, use pencil, don't use pencil, don't write on the paper, use a grade sheet, use a checklist, two praises for every push . . . and so on. And while I knew that I would be doing a lot of grading and reading as an English teacher, I was in no way prepared for how hard it would be. Not because of the time or my inability to sometimes decipher "on the bus" handwriting, but because sometimes a student would hand in something so far off from what was expected of them that it was almost painful to find a way to give meaningful feedback . . . and how to deal with the realization that sometimes you can't work with what you've been given by a student.

The reality is that as soon as students hand in their work, it has to be evaluated in some way. I really liked what Lynn had to say about grading, and I appreciated the sample paper he included. Many times I'd sit down to read papers, happily grade and comment and then reach a paper that seemingly came out of left field that I could not understand. Often, I'd go through it like the professor in Lynn's piece, starting at the beginning and correcting as I went. In my defense, we graded with Focused Correction Areas, so I wasn't marking every single error, but often I focused on what was wrong instead of trying to understand what the student was trying to do. At the same time, the reality is that sometimes you get a paper that you just can't figure out . . . and it goes to the bottom of the paper until you're ready to deal with it.

The idea of looking for meaning and having the student redo the paper makes total sense to me. To try to find what it is they are trying to say and help them put it together better. Often, I didn't have students redo papers . . . I gave them the option, but i never required it. In using rubrics when grading, however, they have to write to the assignment--which is why I'm glad Lynn included the assignment. After reading it, I can see why the writing was jumbled and hard to follow . . . I couldn't figure out the assignment either! A good reminder to always be mindful of being clear and concise.

Another part of correcting papers that really spoke to me was marking a line in a student's writing to see if they can find the error. It's a great way to encourage student accountability and learning--definitely a technique I will use in the future.

I think one of the hardest things about grading/assessing/evaluating writing is that no one ever really tells you how to do it. There are mountains of examples of rubrics and checklists and symbols and techniques, but when you boil them all down, you're left with a simple fact: you must read the papers and write back. I like some of the "real life" advice in these articles, and I think that reading them help reinforce my new thoughts on error and the importance of clear and concise--and kind--feedback to students.