Fascinating stuff, these essays on peer response. They always give me more things to think about that I hadn't before. This last one, Kate Freeland's on conferences, was particularly interesting because it basically suggests an entirely different framework for the class. I do quite like some of her principles, but as is usually the case I think I'd have to use a slightly scaled-back version in my own class.
I'm curious about this portfolio idea, which we're using in this class. I am liking it in here because of the nature of the course and the types of things we're working on, but in a class that's focused on writing a set number of papers I'm not sure how effective it would be, especially in the first semester where I'm trying to establish my own sense of grading and interaction with student papers. Maybe it's a weakness on my part, but I feel like I'll need grades as much as the students to get an idea for how things are going, how they're responding to my feedback, and so forth.
I also really don't care for the "negotiation of course grades" at the end of the semester she talks about. This goes back to a few readings ago...I think if you allow the students to negotiate their grade with you it's a bit of an undermining of your position of authority. That's where some of my difficulty with the portfolio idea comes from...I feel like it's easy for them to question your position if it's just one summary grade rather than a series of grades in which they can gauge their progress and standing. I know I myself once got righteously pissed off over a portfolio grade over which I felt I had little control.
Another thought the Freeland piece stirred in my coconut was the fact that she really has a bigtime focus on the process and on the writing itself. With the course theme requirement and all the things we have to think about, I feel like it might be a bit difficult to have that sort of focus. The piece made me worry a bit that my course will focus too much on me, my plans, and my goals for the course instead of the students' writing. I think that'll be an easy trap to fall into. But maybe it's just me.
4 comments:
Two very important topics you mentioned: portfolio assessment and the process vs. text conundrum.
On portfolio assessment: “...in a class that's focused on writing a set number of papers I'm not sure how effective it would be, especially in the first semester where I'm trying to establish my own sense of grading and interaction with student papers.”
I think the thing I’m most unsure about is assessment. Personally, though, I take the opposite (!!!) position as you, and feel more comfortable with a portfolio assessment than traditional grading methods. This is, in part, a bias based on personal experience with traditional grading. Grade anxiety has caused me much grief, more so than I’d like to admit. Those few days between the last day of exams to the day grades are posted one can find me in a heightened state of anxiety. It doesn’t matter how hard I worked throughout the semester, or how much encouragement I have received from others, the absolute unknown really rattles my coconut (as you so eloquently put it). Portfolio assessments, for me, lessen this anxiety, because I know that the professor really values a more holistic understanding of my work. Thus, I will probably use a portfolio assessment in my course.
A discussion of portfolio assessment leads to one that considers the writing process vs. final piece of writing. I don’t think there should be a dichotomy here, or a preference of one over the other because it is so difficult to separate the two. They are intertwined aspects of writing as a social practice, and thus we need to consider them in a holistic manner.
The writing process, eventually, leads to a product. Yet the product cannot exist on its own without the process. This is obvious but really merits a deeper consideration.
(I should mention that I may have totally misread this quote, so please correct me if I’m wrong, and consider my comments here as a tangent...) You wrote: “Another thought the Freeland piece stirred in my coconut was the fact that she really has a bigtime focus on the process and on the writing itself.” Did you mean Freeland focuses on the process rather than the writing itself? Or that she considers both equally?
Anyway, writing process (and product) gain more complexity after reading the texts devoted to revision, conferencing, and peer response. These three activities seem essential to an effective writing process in this type of classroom. As Freeland notes, “early in the semester basic writing students often don’t know enough to ask specific questions about their work” (p. 248). If students do not understand effective ways to critique and revise their own work, they will not be able to undergo the writing process confidently, and thus will rely on old habits learned from high school.
It’s important to make it clear to students that revision is not simply editing for mechanics. That is a small part of the revision process. Revision happens when writing, after a draft, after and during a peer response or conference, etc. Revision allows us to make crucial choices regarding our writing and to be reflective on how we can continue writing effectively.
I think you can include some aspects of “teaching the writing process” in your course without being overwhelmed. Otherwise, what would you teach? I think, essentially, we will be teaching the writing process (in its many variants): basically, how do we make meaning using the resources and knowledge available?
Score, I've been quoted in somebody else's blog post (even if it was in response to mine). I can see why people were saying it's a good thing to quote students' writing in your responses. Being quoted is cool.
Anyway, good thoughts, Lindsay. It's very interesting that you prefer the portfolio method. My thinking at the moment is that that may be something I eventually move into, but I feel like I need the guidance (even for myself) of a more standard system of graded papers to keep me focused and on task my first semester. I'll definitely allow for revisions and multiple drafts and all that, but I'm not sure I'm ready for the portfolio idea at this point.
For the second bit, I was definitely ambiguous in my wording. My bad. I wasn't saying there's a dichotomy between process and writing in teaching (they're more or less the same thing). I was more talking about Freeland's general emphasis on what students write and their process, as opposed to the materials she teaches in class, which don't even get a mention in the article. A good example of this is the fact that she cancels at least 10 classes per semester to do student conferences. That's a lot of classes and a lot less time to provide them with materials. So my point there (a bit convoluted, as my points tend to be...maybe it has something to do with all the parenthetical phrases I love so. Get to za choppah.) is that I've been focusing a lot of my thought on the sorts of materials (films, novels, texts, etc.) I'm going to teach and less on the process students will be going through in writing. Which I probably shouldn't be doing. But it maybe unavoidable since this is my first class and I still have very little idea how to plan it.
Crud. "maybe" in the last sentence should be "may be." I hate typos. Especially when I did them.
Thanks for the clarification (something I need quite often...)
I see what you mean, and I wonder too, if she teaches according to a theme. Also, perhaps conferences, for her, are so constructive and focused on one student at a time, that they make up for the amount of classes missed.
Maybe you could try grading each assignment according to a scale based on requirements rather than a blind guess on what an A is or an F is. Then combine those scores with a final portfolio: individual assignment grades + a grade for the assignments holistically. I think a portfolio might help to assess how the student progressed through the semester as a whole rather than just seeing each assignment as static events in time.
Like I said, I'm unsure about assessment too, so these are just some ideas floating around...
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