Give Me A "G" (for grading)

I found these essays very interesting but largely improbable. You can't tear down a system without replacing it with something else--and neither author had a convincing assertion about what that replacement should be.

Like Tamar, I wasn't a huge fan of the Baumrind essay. I do agree with Baumrind that students will not automatically soar to success without the weight of grading to hold them down. Ha! Take away the grading system--or something like it--and you take away motivation for 99.9% of them. Baumrind suggests a grade based on the amount of work completed by the end of the term, but what quality of work will you be receiving? Will they actually do any of the reading they say they're going to?

One of my undergrad English classes was set up much this way. Our grade consisted of two essays, both handed in the last night of class, combined with the amount of reading we had done. We simply told the professor on the last night of class what we had completed. I've always been obsessive about my grades, yet I did the minimum required for my A. I didn't kill myself off writing the papers, either. It just didn't matter. Sure there was less stress, but I think I was capable of much better work. At the very least I would have liked more guidance.

Another professor graded solely on the length of the essays handed in. To him, more was better. This class drove me insane, especially because I suspected (and still do) that he didn't read the writing at all. I was so tempted to insert random sentences just to test him, but never did. My grade was tied to wordiness, and I learned how to perform.

I liked the Elbow essay much better than Baumrind. Evaluation takes more time, but seems more fair. Writing is a complicated business--it only follows that a single letter grade is too simple to account for all that goes into the process. Written comments can offer guidance and support toward better writing. If only we could ensure that students would read the comments! I'm sure, like me, you can tell which students in your class read what you write on their assignments.

Elbow mentions the need for an evaluation-free zone, or unevaluated assignment. This has a lot of merit. One student in my class was struggling with the in-class writing until I told her I was not grading her on her spelling or grammar skills. I wanted her to grab hold of the ideas we had talked about in class, but she was so worried about spelling she couldn't even complete a sentence. This experience changed the way I respond to in-class writing. If they give me an honest effort, they get credit for the writing. I limit my comments to the positive things that I see happening in their writing. I've noticed they write a lot more now.

Elbow argues that successful writing teachers like their students and their writing. He's on to something here. I do not want to turn into the grouchy teacher that everyone avoids and invents stories about. I do love a good story, though.

Elbow was uncomfortable with the power grading gave him, and I see his point. As a teacher, grading scares me to death. It is so arbitrary--but it does help motivate some students to work harder. There's a fine line between motivation and discouragement. Taylor, my complainer, can whine about the assignment, but he's still going to do it so he doesn't have to take 1010 for a third time (he told me this today). But what about the student who progresses from the "absolute train wreck" to "minor accident" paper? The Collective Brain on my front row are such examples. They are working so hard--and still falling far short of the ideal "A". Do I give them the grade I should and discourage them? Or do I take into account the progression and hard work I've seen? Which is most fair? Grades can never reflect determination, and these girls have it in spades. Grading is the best option for Taylor; evaluation would be best for The Collective Brain. As with most complicated questions, maybe the answer lies somewhere in the middle.