1. EFFECTIVE GRADING AND MINIMAL MARKING
A workshop presented by:
New York City College of Technology
Writing Fellows
Yosefa Ehrlich
Pablo Gonzalez-Martinez 
Hello everyone, thanks for coming.

2. Myth “Students’ writing will improve in direct
proportion to the amount of time their
teachers spend on their papers.”
(Hairston, 2002)
We’ll disprove this - redistribution of time spent on student writing will result in better papers.
Thinking back on higher/lower concerns - spending more time on higher order concerns will help to eliminate many of the issues of lower order concern. If students feel more comfortable with course concepts, they are more likely to write more coherently and with less grammatical errors.

3. 3
Workshop Goals
Demonstrate how advanced planning simplifies the grading process
Review strategies for effective grading & minimal marking
redistributing time spent grading student work -
making more efficient use of time spent
Planning ahead will allow for a much smoother grading process

4. Activity
Read the text provided on pages 1-2 of your handout. Resist the temptation to mark.
What were some of the problems you found in the paper?
CHRIS
A the end of the 5 minutes, ask participants what do they look for when grading?
*what were some of the issues/things you noted?

5. Higher-Order Concerns
Lower-Order Concerns
Grammar (agreement)
Spelling
Formatting (font, spacing)
Citation
Punctuation
Sentence structure
Vocabulary/word choice
Style
Thesis statement
Quality of argument/ideas
Evidence used correctly
Logic of conclusions
Use of topic sentences
Organization of paper
 Follows assignment
Demonstrates understanding
of course material
Faculty often think of writing as a lower-order concern. YOU as a faculty are the expert in higher-order concerns, even if you feel less comfy w/ lower-order.
Higher-order concerns also discipline specific. (e.g., interpreting statistics are important for psychology but not literature. They would present evidence in a different way)
Talk about a couple as a comparison 
Higher order concerns must necessarily come first in the hierarchy. Lower order concerns aren't less important, they're just secondary to the higher order themes being in place

6. Advanced Planning Design an effective assignment Create a rubric
Identify purpose, audience, format, problem
Scaffold assignments
Create a rubric
Include it with assignment
Use it to guide peer review
Effective assignments- 
1) purpose of the writing
2) audience
3) format / genre 
4) task is focused on a problem 
Analytic rubric – score for each criterion (e.g, 1 – 10 on ideas, organization, use of evidence, style etc.). More time consuming but may create more consistency 
Holistic rubric – a score based on an overall impression. Saves time, but can be more open to subjective judgment 
Generic – universal rubric that can be applied to any kind of writing
Task-specific – a rubric designed specifically for that particular assignment
*Students need to be aware of the rubric when you assign the assignment 
Class discussion: maybe you show examples of past student work; discuss paper ideas
** my example: thesis brainstorming session
office hours
**receive better quality work

7. Use Drafts Multiple formats
Outlines, prospectus, abstracts
Goal is to provide useful instructions and encouragement
Feedback is targeted towards higher order concerns
Scaffolding – be mindful about how much feedback you want to give on each scaffolded assignment. The goal of feedback on drafts is to provide useful instructions and encouragement. Do not judge the paper at the early stages.
- These assignments are telling the teacher what the student knows and where they're going with their paper
- AND these assignments are an opportunity for the teacher to give feedback to the student about how they're doing 

8. Use Class Time Review expectations in advance
Address potential questions
Review an ‘A’ paper
Implement peer review
Peer review:
- Can be initial peer discussion to generate ideas together 
- Hold in-class workshop where you provide template about what you want the students to identify in each other's papers (refer to pages 8 – 9 on the handout)
- This can be done online through discussion boards 

9. Use Available Resources
Library Resources
Atrium Learning Center
ESL Writing Tutors in English Department
WAC Resources
Not “sharing the workload of grading” but sharing the workload of end-product improvement in order to receive a better end product and minimize grading time.
Encourage students to use these resources early in the writing process

10. How do students perceive feedback?
Students at Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA
Introduce movie:
Students are people with feelings
Our best-intended comments can antagonize students without our knowledge
Positive vs. negative

11. Instructor Feedback: General Themes
“At least do no harm”-- every mistake isn’t serious
Recognize that students interpret most feedback from instructors as criticism
Frame comments in a forward-looking way
Do no harm: ask yourself, what is the point of grading this? It is supposed to be a constructive exercise, not disengage the student.
Not a way of coddling students, but a constructive way of improving results AND student morale.

12. Roles of Commenting & Grading
Teaching
Motivation
Evaluation
Grading serves three roles:
Communicates with the student. Comments are a writing genre with a specific audience. Be clear and use complete sentences!
2) it Motivates how the students study, what they focus on, and their involvement in the course
3) it Evaluates the quality of a student’s work

13. Overmarking

14. Minimal Marking
Supports students in improving their writing (pedagogical)
Provides students with concrete ways to fix what has been marked
Encourages student accountability for the quality of their writing
Saves time!
Minimal marking has many advantages:
-encourages/supports higher order thinking and critical thinking
-models the editing process
Higher order and global improvements instead of local corrections.
For grammatical errors- can correct one paragraph thoroughly and then ask student to generalize going forward. Can reduce points for minor errors to encourage better proofreading. 

15. Strategies for Minimal Marking
High Stakes Assignments
Low Stakes Assignments
No marking
Have a conversation
Ask questions
Put the pen down!
Selective line edits
End comments
Develop a key
Minimal Marking Strategies can vary
--Discipline Specific
--Match Strategy with Assignment
example: in class conversation

16. Develop a Key Incorrect word Incorrect sentence Insertion Reversal
Delete
Redundancy
Yes!
Well Said
Upper case/lower case
Join
Provide more support
Awkward phrasing
Combine ideas for concision
New Paragraph

17. Supportive Responding
Ask questions
Use any color ink or pencil…except red
Write in legible and complete sentences
Vary and prioritize feedback
Use  neutral descriptions – this is what you did (I am aware of what you’re doing)
Can save time on drafts because you can re-read your old comments
Many students can’t read script
online/electronic comments (Blackboard, Google Drive)
*Sandwich negative comments between positive ones

18. Supportive Responding ct.
READ COMMENTS
Asks questions (starting a conversation)
points to ways of possible sources/new avenues
models correct citation
(Walk, 2007)

19. Types of Feedback Supportive Revision-Oriented Informational Technical
“You’ve done a great job at finding facts and quotes to support your argument”
“You have included facts that support your argument”
Revision-Oriented
“Your supporting arguments need some development, but your thesis statement is clear and strong.”
Informational
“Most states do allow a waiting period before an adoption is final—Do you feel that all such laws are wrong?”
Technical
“Your use of verb tenses is often confused. Please review paragraphs 1 and 2 on page 4 where those errors were corrected for you.”
You can use all of these on the same assignment
*acknowledges the student and their work
positive or neutral

20. Group Grading Exercise
LUCA
Follow the protocol from the packet
Present the two options for reading aloud

21. Conclusion Plan ahead Use resources Mark minimally and supportively
Establish priorities: what sort of assignment am I grading? How much feedback do my students need? Will I be supplementing this feedback with a one-on-one conversation?
Set boundaries and point to outside resources: your students owe you assignments. You owe them feedback. You don’t owe them around-the-clock coverage of their progress in your course.
Communicate clearly with students about what concepts and tasks are important to you and help them develop the skills to master them through your feedback

22. References
Bean, John C. Engaging Ideas. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Elbow, Peter. “High Stakes and Low Stakes in Assigning and Responding to Writing.” In Writing to Learn: Strategies for Assigning and Responding to Writing in the Disciplines, ed. Mary Deane Sorcinelli and Peter Elbow. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Harris, Muriel. “The Overgraded Paper: Another Case of More is Less.” In How to Handle the Paper Load, ed. Gene Stanford, Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, Walk, Kerry. “Teaching with Writing: A Guide for Faculty and Graduate Students.” Princeton Writing Program: 30-40, 2007.
PAMELA
(Update when PPT is finalized)

23. Next Semester in WAC... Stay Tuned! The Creative Classroom
Crafting your WI Syllabus
Stay Tuned!