Dilemmas in Assessment of Student Writing :: English Writing Teacher Student

Being a new instructor of English, I find the assessment of compositions to be a concept I question and struggle with on a regular basis. Having consulted several colleagues, teachs, administrators, and co-worker graduate educatees, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easy answer to this tedious yet ever important question. temporary hookup there ar many inlets and outlets to this dilemma, for the sake of time I willing touch on only three. While all three are very different in toll of concepts, rituals, and conducts, they all come in concert to one common goal - helping students express themselves in terms of writing.SubjectivityWhile assessment can give students, parents, and administrators a come across of where a student stands in terms of achievement, one must unceasingly remember that the grade is subjective. There is no right or wrongly answer in English, as there is in math or other quantitative areas of study. The basis of a grade depends upon a student s ability to choose a course of thought and perplex it accurately and convincingly in written form. The subjectivity falls in how the teacher interprets or responds to the ideas and supporting information. For example, during my first venture as a student teacher, I was given the task of grading free superior essays. The students were given free range of the subject matter, and were told to write an insightful and touching essay on the topic of their choice. After grading the papers, my mentor sit down with me and we discussed some of the grades I had given for several of the students papers. Upon glancing briefly at the comments I had made and the grades I had given, my mentor began asking direct questions as to why I would grade certain papers one way, but would particularize a different grade to others that were quite similar. As she went on to contract through other papers, she would agree with some of my grades, but strongly disagree with others. I found this interesting because, while we were both reading the same essays, we were focusing on different points or concepts, which shaded our perception of the piece as a whole.In retrospect, I believe that afternoon spent rereading essays with my mentor was one of the best teaching practices that I have come across. erstwhile in a while, teachers needed to refocus their grading instincts by, in effect, by word of mouth defending their stance on grading policies.