Roberta, Doug, Russ, Jim, and other maritimes WAC-knowledgeable
people --
Our campus WAC group (an informal group of faculty in other
disciplines) is planning a workshop in September, and we have come to
an impasse. In short -- too short to be fair -- they are wanting
someone who will help them mark all the essays they think they should
be requiring (they are thnking of bringing in someone who has a
complicated scheme for identifying errors, that will save them time
and effort). I am urging that they think rather in terms of other
kinds of uses of writing that they can do which doesn't require that
they turn into assessors of grammar and sentence structure.
WE MEET TOMORROW (WED) AT NOON!
Is there any of you who might possibly be available to come to this
workshop of September 22 , 12-2; a weekend in Halifax tempt you? Or
someone who will help me put together something to couterbalance this
movement?
I have to run (I've got a summer school class inkshedding at the
moment) -- but I'd really appreciate some response. We're at the
stage where a prophet in her own country is more suspect than one who
might come in from NB (Again that's probably not fair, but I am in a
rush.)
Cheers,
Susan
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Susan Drain 902 457 6220
Chair, English Department FAX 445 3960
Mount Saint Vincent University
Halifax, NS B3M 2J6 [log in to unmask]
Canada Note change of address from [log in to unmask]
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Susan--In March of this year I led a three-hour faculty workshop
(about 16 profs from 10 disciplines), entitled,
"Grading and Responding to Student Writing." I think some people
came with the attitude you described, but we challenged it, subtly I
think, in several ways:
1) We asked them to grade and respond to a short essay with a
number of grammatical mistakes, but with a few excellent ideas as
well.
They met in groups to discuss their various grades and
responses--an enlightening exercise.
2) I made a video of an interview with 5 students(representing
arts, science, business faculties)on the subject of how they viewed
profs' grades and responses to their essays. We showed the video at
the workshop; participants wrote, discussed their reactions to it.
3) We included in the workshop "packet" some suggestions about
types of ungraded writing, etc.
4) We gave them several articles to read:
Nancy Sommers,"Responding to Student Writing." College
Comp. and Comm., vol. 33(2), May l982
Janet Giltrow, Reg Johanson, Michele Valiquette, "Student
Writers and their Readers: The Conventions of Commentary." Simon
Fraser Univ. March l994
plus some other good ones I can send or recommend to
you.
We left them with the following questions:
l. What messages are we giving students when we grade/respond to
their writing?
2. What does a grade mean to us, to them?
3. What are the purposes of our comments on student writing?
-To create a dialogue between ourselves and the student?
-To articulate to students the conventions of writing in our
disciplines?
-To help them improve their next papers?
-To justify the grades we have given them?
4. To what extent are we trying to demonstrate to students how
professionals write in our particular fields?
5. What is the connection between clarity of thought and
grammatical correctness? Should we grade and respond to these
separately or together?
Susan, I think that approaching this question of grading and
responding to student writing can lead to a better understanding
of many of the most important issues underlying writing in university.
Could you "use" their idea but turn it in your direction? This is
sketchy I know, but I'll elaborate further if you'd like.
Cheers, and best of luck tomorrow! Roberta
