Grading Student Writing: Tips for the
Over-worked and Under-confident

by Mona Quinn

As writing across the curriculum is encouraged in forward thinking schools, teachers blanch at the notion of adding yet another grading burden to their already massive loads. Furthermore, many top-notch educators in various disciplines feel unprepared to grade student writing; after all, “they’re not English teachers.” With these legitimate reservations duly noted, there are abundant strategies available to help the over-worked and under-confident achieve their school goals.

Strategy #1
Know that students learn to write better by writing. However, they should always understand what they are expected to write (specific assignment) and why they are expected to write (specific purpose). Modeling examples and explaining assignment structures or formats help communicate expectations. On the other hand, assignments can be informal (notes, summaries, reports, journal feedbacks, etc.) and the writing performance expectations can be adjusted accordingly. Sometimes, merely listing, jotting phrases, or brainstorming ideas might be appropriate. These writing activities, which often lead to other activities such as discussions or projects, do not need to be graded; but they are assigned and they do have a purpose and they encourage student writing.

Strategy #2
Make sure students know the writing skills you will be grading. Choose one or two areas to concentrate your efforts with each assignment; don’t overwhelm yourself and your students by trying to address everything at once. If organization is emphasized, look for good topic sentences, focused paragraphs, and strong introductions and conclusions. Help students organize information by encouraging brainstorming and informal outlining before they begin their writing. If vocabulary choice is weak, give students examples of more vivid words. Good sentence structure can be reinforced by your offering a written correction, or by collecting examples from student writing and asking the class to suggest ways for improvement. Limit your comments on written work to the one or two skills you are emphasizing, and avoid worrying about punctuation and other language conventions unless they interfere with meaning. To help focus your efforts, before giving the assignment, construct a rubric you will use to grade the writing. Share the rubric with your students. Feedback can be given a variety of ways: through symbols (eliminates writing the same comments over and over), different colored pens (each represents an area emphasized in the assignment), or conferencing (one-on-one discussions often clarify problem areas).

Strategy #3
Know that all writing does not require an instructor’s feedback. We have already addressed informal writing, but what about reports, essays and papers? Veteran English teachers have found many valuable shortcuts: After grading for content, select only a few from a class set each time to grade for writing skills; tell students ahead of time that you will only make an in-depth evaluation of just a few papers each time. Another strategy is to grade only the first paragraph for writing skills. Other teachers require students to keep a portfolio of graded work and select one piece to return to the teacher to grade for writing applications. Journal entries can receive completion grades, and some reports can be done individually, shared with a group and rewritten to turn in as a group effort.

Tips, strategies, and shortcuts provide legitimate methods for teachers to meet their instructional goals, assess authentically, and communicate with their students. One of the best resources for these teacher aids is networking. And don’t forget that talking with your English department about problems you encounter grading writing is a helpful way to discover solutions to a sometimes unwieldy challenge.

Sources

Kelly, Melissa (2007).

Top 9 tips to cut writing assignment grading time. Secondary School Educators, Retrieved 2/13/07, from http:712educators.about.com/od/gradingsystems/tp/essaygradetips.htm

McKinney, Kathleen (2007).

Writng in large classes: don't be overwhelmed with grading!. Retrieved March 1, 2007, from Center for teaching, learning & technology Web site: http:www.teachtech.ilstu.edu/resources/teachTopics/wrtLarge.php

Mona Quinn

Mona Quinn is a former secondary English teacher who is also a certified Faculty Mentor Trainer, as well as a calibrated Indiana Mentoring and Assessment Program (IMAP) portfolio scorer through the Indiana Department of Education Division of Professional Standards.

This featured article appeared in Volume 2, Number 3 issue of the Write Connections quarterly newsletter. View other archived newsletters , a topical organization of all newsletters, or sign-up to receive notification when the next newsletters are ready to download.