1 .As an academic writer my instructors have all used what I would describe as traditional methods of assessment. Any work done in class was graded according to a standard of their choice then assigned a score. I never had any information such as a rubric to plan and produce work. The quality was what counted for a grade. There was an expectation that all aspects of writing would be considered; spelling, grammar, quantity, subject, and yes even handwriting.
2. In my experience, the first paper was the guide for the rest of the course. The grading from course to course varied greatly and left most people confused and uncertain. That is probably why I disliked writing when I was younger. I returned to school in my 40's with quite a bit of anxiety about this skill and even though my professors gave me rave reviews I still carry some of that today.
3. The greatest challenge with my students is trying to identify gaps they may have in the learning/writing process. Also making them understand what is expected of them in the U.S. on standardized exams. The gaps I refer can be from lack of instruction or interrupted education and indeed many times it is a culture issue. Nothing is one size fits all, or formulaic in teaching these children their needs vary from culture to culture and child to child.
4. I use formulaic assessment for my class before the students have gained the necessary skill to write effectively. At some point the quality has to take over and that is going to be a judgement call.
5. We have the portfolio assessment option built in to the SB 149 here in Texas now. They gave us portfolio or project as alternatives for STAAR exams. I promoted portfolio for the ESL population to no avail. I thought it was a good option because of end of year time constraints and the accommodations allowed to ESL students could be verified with a portfolio. Finally it would have lessened the anxiety level for students and teachers.
Blog # 6
- As an academic writer my instructors have all used what I would describe as traditional methods of assessment. Any work done in class was graded according to a standard of their choice then assigned a score. I never had any information such as a rubric to plan and produce work. The quality was what counted for a grade. There was an expectation that all aspects of writing would be considered; spelling, grammar, quantity, subject, and yes even handwriting.
- In my experience, the first paper was the guide for the rest of the course. The grading from course to course varied greatly and left most people confused and uncertain. That is probably why I disliked writing when I was younger. I returned to school in my 40's with quite a bit of anxiety about this skill and even though my professors gave me rave reviews I still carry some of that today.
- The greatest challenge with my students is trying to identify gaps they may have in the learning/writing process. Also making them understand what is expected of them in the U.S. on standardized exams. The gaps I refer can be from lack of instruction or interrupted education and indeed many times it is a culture issue. Nothing is one size fits all, or formulaic in teaching these children their needs vary from culture to culture and child to child.
- I use formulaic assessment for my class before the students have gained the necessary skill to write effectively. At some point the quality has to take over and that is going to be a judgement call.
- We have the portfolio assessment option built in to the SB 149 here in Texas now. They gave us portfolio or project as alternatives for STAAR exams. I promoted portfolio for the ESL population to no avail. I thought it was a good option because of end of year time constraints and the accommodations allowed to ESL students could be verified with a portfolio. Finally it would have lessened the anxiety level for students and teachers.
Hi Lana,
ReplyDeleteI've had professors during my time as an undergrad that used traditional grading scales. I began dreading writing for their class and most of the writing were essay exams. That did not improve my confidence! However, after the first or second exam, I was determined to improve my writing to improve my grade. Regardless of what arbitrary standards they had in place for essays written in their class. I disliked having to figure out what they wanted, but it did provide me with a challenge.