Thoughts on Teaching – A New Grading Idea? – 6/3/19
I have had a new idea for grading running through my head the last week or so, and I want to get some feedback on it. One of the struggles with our current department writing project is that it is hard to get the students to take the feedback from one set of assignments and use it to correct the next set. As an example, let’s take a Works Cited. I can make all sorts of comments on the first draft of it that they submit, give them screencast videos on how to do a Works Cited, point them to the Purdue OWL for help on it, recommend they go to our Writing Center, and yet they still turn in something at the end that does not really fit what we are looking for on a Works Cited.
So, the idea that has been running through my head (using the example of a Works Cited) is this:
- A draft Works Cited is due at a certain point in the semester. That draft counts for 50 points of a 100-point grade. It will be grade on a scale of 1-50 with a grading rubric and written comments on it.
- Then, when the final paper is due, it will have a (theoretically) corrected Works Cited on it that will be worth the other 50 points of the 100-point grade. It will be evaluated by the same grading rubric.
- The 100-point grade is a sum of the two different grades.
- So, if they did poorly on the first one and corrected the errors, they could have a much better grade at the end. (30+50=80)
- If they don’t care, the can turn in one with all of the same problems, and I will know not to have to look at it very closely. This saves grading time for me and lets them know what they will get if they don’t bother to work on fixing it or even learning it in the first place. (30+30=60)
- If they do well on the first one and make small improvements on the second, they know they will have a good grade (45+50=95)
What does everyone think of that idea? Would it work? Is it too complicated? Has anyone tried something like this? Is there an alternative that would work better?
By the way, here is what my grading rubric looked like last semester for a Works Cited. It was worth 60 points at that point, but it would be easy to adjust this to 50 points.
| Standard | Poor | Fair | Good | Excellent |
| Formatting by MLA standards | Little effort is made to format the Works Cited in MLA format.
(5 points) |
Three to four of the Excellent standard elements are not done.
(9 points) |
One to two of the Excellent standard elements are not done.
(12 points) |
Title of page is Works Cited, which is centered. Citations are in alphabetical order. Entries are double spaced and indented correctly. Font and size are consistent through the page.
(15 points) |
| Sources Cited | Little effort is made to cite the sources provided for the assignment.
(5 points) |
Fewer than eight sources appear on the Works Cited.
(9 points) |
Eight sources total appear in the Works Cited. All eight of the provided sources are cited.
(12 points) |
Ten sources total appear in the Works Cited. All eight of the provided sources are cited. The textbook and one sample lecture are cited.
(15 points) |
| General Elements of Citation by MLA formatting | Little effort is made to use MLA standards in citing the sources.
(9 points) |
Many errors in meeting MLA standards but effort is shown in attempting to reach MLA standards for citation.
(13 points) |
Most sources and or/most parts of the citation are completed correctly by MLA standards.
(16 points) |
All parts of the citation (author, title, publisher, webpage, etc.) are included correctly for all sources by MLA standards.
(20 points) |
| Correct citation of Online and Physical Sources | Little effort is made to distinguish online from physical sources.
(4 points) |
Online and/or physical sources missing most of the information that shows what type of source they are.
(6 points) |
Online and/or physical sources missing some of the information that shows what type of source they are.
(8 points) |
Online and physical sources are correctly identified with the correct information to show which is which. Date accessed and website link provided for online sources.
(10 points) |
Thoughts, Ideas, Ramblings, and Other Things 