Beyond the Pen:

Writing Assessment

Think back over your entire educational career to those moments that were truly transformational. Describe a class, a teacher and/or an activity that made an incredible impact on your learning. Reflect on why this particular experience created such a lasting impression.

Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning

• Begins with educational values
• Works best when...explicitly stated purposes
• Requires attention to outcomes
• Is ongoing, not episodic
• Promotes change

My Core Beliefs for Teaching Writing

• Students need some CHOICE in what they write
• Students need timely FEEDBACK that is specific
• Students need TIME to practice and apply what they learn

Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public.
~Astin et. al (1993)

Feedback is the breakfast of champions.

Writing Feedback:

Can we reteach in the margin?

Types of Feedback

• Evaluative
• Descriptive

"Descriptive feedback provides information about how a student can become more competent."
~Schinske and Tanner (2014)

Grades as Feedback on Performance

[This] work affirms an observation that many classroom teachers have made about their students: if a paper is returned with both a grade and a comment, many students will pay attention to the grade and ignore the comment.

—Brookhart (2008, p. 8)

Comment rather than correct.

Brookhart (2008) concludes, “the grade ‘trumps’ the comment” and “comments have the best chance of being read as descriptive if they are not accompanied by a grade.” Even when written feedback is read, there is widespread agreement that instructor feedback is very difficult for students to interpret and convert into improved future performance (Weaver, 2006).

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Changing My Practice

Go Paperless

Confer

Use Audio Comments

Encourage Self Assessment

What if students themselves used rubrics to examine their peers’ efforts and evaluate their own work, instead of instructors spending hours and hours commenting on papers? What if students viewed their peers as resources and collaborators, as opposed to competitors in courses that employ grade curving?

Utilize Peer Response

Kaizena to the Rescue

T.A.G.

• Tell something you like
• Ask some questions
• Give advice for improvement

The Process

• Share work with instructor www.kaizena.com/tthomas
• Share work with partner using Start Conversation button (+
• T.A.G. your partner's work