Grading is a pain.
I never considered myself a perfectionist until I started teaching. I have been grading my students’ research-based portfolios on and off for several days now. I find myself having to take many breaks this “go-round” because I have to keep reminding myself that my students do not know how to do MLA formatting, and I cannot expect them to be perfect. Then I have to consider that most of them do not even need to know how to use MLA after they finish taking their required English classes. (I offered APA but they all jumped on the MLA wagon, and I did not protest because I have always had issues with APA.)
I’m struggling with the message I might be sending. As much as I want to be strict about what they submit, I am giving them some flexibility with their mistakes because they are just learning about citations and formatting. Is that wrong? Am I teaching them that being mediocre is acceptable? I find myself telling them that I am looking at it as a learning process, and they should not think that their work is perfect just because I did not mark every mistake as incorrect. I want them to know that I am here to help them be better writers not better MLAers.
One thing that does bug me is when I conference with a student and say something as simple as “this document should be double spaced” and he or she still submits the final draft single spaced. Sadly, the draft I reviewed (and wrote “double space” on) is often included in the portfolio as evidence. When this happens, I think that a student should be penalized. Doesn’t it show that he or she is either just being lazy or simply not paying attention?
Before anyone sides with Maxine Hairston and says that I am helping students become co-dependent by “editing” their papers this way, I do not do this to all their writing. I let them have their mistakes – spelling, grammar, etc. BUT I did not expect them to learn how to use MLA formatting on their own. Why should they? They are freshmen and they need help with the ins and outs of this complicated requirement. I took one on one opportunities to help them learn some of the basics. If they don’t get the bibliographic formatting correct that is understandable, but I think that they should be able to remember the basic/general formatting of the document by now.
If I take a point or two off because they don’t double space, don’t use one inch margins, use 16 point font, or don’t have a heading at all - does this show inconsistency on my part when I choose to be lenient over the bibliographic parts?
I repeat, grading is a pain.
5 comments:
...does this show inconsistency on my part when I choose to be lenient over the bibliographic parts?
That's strictly your call, Enid. I can only relate my own thinking on this: As long as you've emphasized the idea of documentation, you've done the job. As far as bib's go, I don't quibble over the small stuff. If the cites are all there and the whole thing resembles a bib, it's a bib.
Ah, fun times of grading. I just got through grading 65 portfolios this past week, so I'm feeling your pain. Anyway, I agree with Kent about this bib thing. And, actually, I think I do pretty much waht you do. I'm pretty strict about the formatting of the paper (I always put lots of notes about double-spacing and headings and headers, etc.) but I only write anything on the citations in their bib if it is an extremely noticable, repeated offense. Also, I had them turn in annotated bib drafts throughout the time we were working on portfolio 2 and with each one I would get a little stricter on MLA/APA format. I wouldn't ever really count off for it in the drafts, but I did in the final they turned in with the portfolio. Oh, and I do take off if they do not revise big things like double-spacing after I already told them to do it.
I've had some success with providing students with checklist reminders on what they'll need to look for in their papers or their peers' papers as part of how I'll assess their papers. I sometimes see them going through the checklist with their peers, which is a nice thing to see. Of course, there will be those who lose or ignore the checklist. As first year students, they're a bit overwhelmed with all the newness in their lives, so I try to provide them with ways to make their lives a bit more organized. Some may say this is handholding, but it makes life a bit less stressful for both parties.
One thing my education professors always told me was that all teachers wish they could just get that first group back to give them your best. The issue is that without that first group, you can never reach your full potential. That's actually my essay topic.
Tough question!
I am still working on my Seminar portfolios and haven't had to worry about this factor yet! I think I will definitely draw an arrow and point out that it is wrong. Maybe even take off some points. You could always do the errors activity. Circle the citation if it is wrong, take off points and allow them to turn in another Bib.
It is a bibliography though and I agree with Kent. As long as they show the sources they used, they're almost there.
It all depends on how important you think citations are, I guess. (I feel like I just helped argue in a circle for you...)
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