Surprises

I was most surprised by the range of writing skill and knowledge in my class.  I was expecting some students to come to the class writing better than others, but I was caught off guard by the distance between one group and the other.  

I found that this creates two problems, one in teaching and one in grading.  When we are having a class discussion it is hard to keep a standard pace that everyone can follow.  It goes like this: I ask a question. If George(not real name) answers, he is always correct, so we can move on to the next concept.  If Willimina(not real name) answers she usually gets stuck on some minor point that is often hard to explain, like how to pluralize, then I am explaining s vs es and exceptions, then catuses and cacti,  while the rest of the class doses off. 

In grading, I run into this problem: If I grade George’s paper first it makes Willimina’s look worse. If I grade Willimina’s first, then George’s looks perfect. 

I was expecting the range to be smaller and the scale to be more graduated.  There almost no students in the middle.

My instinct is to divide the two groups, but that just does not feel right.  It probably has something to do with being put in the dumb kids reading group when I was a child. 

During class, I am coping by asking George to explain his answers more thoroughly. Then I ask questions about his answer.  If Willimina is having a particularly hard time, I ask her to remember her question and see me after class.

In grading, I am trying to follow a more standard rubric, but since the difference between George and Willimina’s papers is mostly related to grammar, sentence structure, and other mechanical issues, it is still hard to know how to weigh that portion of the ruberic.

Any other suggestions?