Writing Without Grades

1. Writing Without Grades Possibilities in Liberating StudentWriters Valerie Mattessich Pascack Valley Regional High School District (NJ) NCTE/CEL—Chicago, IL Nov. 21, 2011

2. Typical Reaction to “Grading Essays” Why am I grading all students on the same criteria when their needs and abilities are so different? Do they even read my comments? What does an ‘A’ mean, anyway?

3. My Agenda • To prompt you to examine the way in which grades are assigned to student writing in your district/department • To provide a brief glimpse into some alternatives ideas about grading writing

4. My Sneaking Suspicion… …was that the students’ focus was on grades, not on improvement in writing skills.

5. How do I remove grades from the equation, thus freeing students to think, learn and write?

6. What does the research say?

7. “A grade may be influenced or contaminated by everything from flattery to a teacher's personal preferences, to a desire to warn, to a fear of causing psychological harm, to a need to reward good behavior, to a need to meet institutional distribution requirements. Yet, despite this, once given, grades are treated as scientific, immutable, factual” (Holaday 36 ).

8. “Even when teachers (or peers) offer extensive commentary in addition to grades, the presence of grades distorts the feedback, influencing the way the writer hears it” (Bauman 170).

9. “Giltrowand Valiquette found that students most often read the comments as justifications for the grade on the paper, rather than as specific suggestions for improvement. Other research, too, shows the dubious value of teacher comments on students' papers” (Bauman 170).

10. How can I make adjustments that suit me, my students, and my school district?

11. My Ideal Writing Classroom • Frequent writing occurs • Low-stakes writing is the norm • Ample conferencing time allotted • Assessment is mainly formative • Writing perceived as both process-oriented AND product-oriented

12. Catalysts for Change 1. Nancie Atwell’s In the Middle • Fully-realized workshop model with structure and purpose 2. Unit received via NCTE Lesson Plan Exchange 3. Collins Writing Program • Focus Correction Areas

13. Atwell’s Contributions • The obvious: • INSPIRATION! • How can I engage and nurture student writers more fully? • INFORMATION • The nuts-and-bolts of running a fully-realized workshop environment in which students are given the space and resources to read and write for authentic purposes.

14. Practical Influences • Unit plan received through NCTE Lesson Plan Exchange circa 2003 • Focused on writing for mastery • Essays revised continuously until mastery achieved • No grade assigned to any one piece of writing • Writing was recursive; revision was “forced”

15. Collins Writing Program • Focus Correction Areas • Teacher identifies 2-3 areas in which students need to improve • Student only graded on progress toward those goals • Not assessed/evaluated on other skills in a given piece of writing

16. Key Components of My Writing Instruction • Limit (but still use) one-shot, formally graded pieces • Use individual writing rubrics with all students for majority of writing pieces • Plan writing units that rely on repeated practice of given set of skills • Emphasize and make room for frequent reflection • Employ consistent writing-to-learn activities • Make room for plenty of structured, and often anonymous, peer feedback

17. Why write to learn? …students who feel incompetent at writing avoid writing. They do not practice. They do not get better. The truly traumatized, and I estimate that about 20 percent of my classes are in this category, will do anything to avoid the torture they experience when they are required to put pen to paper or finger to key. They may struggle through a writing course, put out a few scraps they are not happy with, make the changes the teacher demands, accept a C or a D or whatever is enough to get them past the requirements, and then rush out at the end of a semester, breathe a huge sigh of relief that that is over, and vow never to write again. Their experiences in a writing class and the C or D they receive for their efforts reinforce their belief that they cannot write and increase their determination to find future courses, and later, a career, in which they will not have to write. And when they find that they do have to write again, because physicists and psychotherapists and business people and even leaders of wilderness outings all have to write, they repeat the ghastly process over and over (Holaday 36).

18. Writing-to-learn activities • Journal entries to start class • Assessment takes place mid-marking period and at end, part of class participation • Teacher sees areas where student naturally tends in his/her writing • Practice with timed writing, for test prep

19. Use of Google Suite for Content

20. Sample journal entries

22. More Writing-to-Learn Opportunities Summarizing/reflecting mid-lesson in journals Taking Cornell notes on readings, lectures, videos Assessment is quick, observed, pass/fail

23. Sample Cornell Notes

24. Another Cornell Note example

25. Individual Writing Rubrics • Students identify 2-3 areas in their writing in need of improvement • Teacher confirms the areas that student identifies • Student makes rubric, with examples of target skill in action • Teacher uses rubric to assess majority of writing pieces over the next unit/marking period

26. Recursive Writing Units • Can be used at thesis, paragraph or essay level • Mastery of skills, not necessarily content, the focus here • Content can be incorporated if necessary

27. (Elbow 19)

28. Reflection assignments • Create reflection assignments in Turnitin.com based on each writing piece submitted • Reminds teacher to allow for that extent of feedback on the part of the student

29. Example Writing Reflection

30. Writing Reflection Example

31. Buyer Beware! It is not enough simply to take the specter of grading away… Take away grades and you also take away the traditional means whereby students are motivated to work hard; you take away the chief mechanism through which they get feedback about their writing; you take away the means through which they learn how successfully they write compared with their classmates and others; and you take away their sense of accomplishment and reward. Similarly, when you take away grades, you take away the familiar lens through which teachers are accustomed to viewing students, themselves, and everyone’s respective roles in the classroom-even what goes on in the classroom. If we choose not to grade student writing, that choice sets in motion a chain of causation that necessitates a number of other decisions as well (Bauman 165-166).

32. I wish you well as you continue to seek opportunities for teachers to more effectively coach and nurture student writers! Thank you for your time.