Still Handling the Paper Load:Alternatives to ‘Batch Processing’

for English Teachers

Hopkins, 1912:• When we decided that “pupils should

learn to write by writing, English composition, previously known as rhetoric, became ostensibly a laboratory subject, but without any material addition to the personnel of its teaching force; there was merely a gratuitous increase in the labor of teachers who were already doing full duty.”

“Can Good Composition Teaching Be Done Under the

Present Conditions?”

• Yes, if we try to limit the time spent in marathon grading sessions

• No, if we continue to treat time responding to student essays as a “side job” or “homework”

“Every year teachers resign, break down, perhaps become permanently invalided, having sacrificed ambition, health, and in not a few instances even life, in the struggle to do all the work expected of them.”

Hopkins, 1912:

Using Class Time for Response• Newkirk: “Read the Papers in Class”

(1979)– Treat writing classes as writing

laboratories

• D’Agostino: “Conference Class Sessions” (2005)– “Response is instruction.”– “Response time is instructional time.”

Sideshadowing Teacher Response

Nancy Welch (1998)

The Process:• Read through the first paragraph,

considering the following questions, and write back to yourself in the margins of your paper:   –What questions or hesitations did you have as

you wrote? –What were you thinking or feeling as you wrote? –Where did you leave out ideas or information? 

Why did you leave them out? –What lines or phrases don't seem relevant? 

Why? Questions from the PowerPoint Presentation: "Sideshadowing: Engaging the Student Through the Sideshadowing Response to Writing" by Jill Moyer Sunday, Waynesburg University. ftp://classes.waynesburg.edu

Students also Write an “End Comment”:

• After you have written back to yourself in the margins of each paragraph, read over all you have written. –What does this new material tell you

about your writing? – How can you revise taking this the

marginal text into consideration?

• While teacher comments “foreshadow” what a text should or must become…

• Student comments “sideshadow” what a text could or might become.

• Welch uses Bakhtin to theorize sideshadowing as a “centrifugal, diversifying force.”

• It makes the student and teacher focus on the “here and now” of the text rather than what the teacher wants it to be in the future.

Sideshadowing Alters Our Time Use:• Sideshadowing takes some class time to introduce

as a concept and about one class meeting per paper for students to complete the process.

• But it takes less time for the teacher to make his or her way into a text and discover what the student wants to address.

• The “work of locating the draft within a field of possibilities is no longer up to [the teacher] alone.”

Works Cited• D’Agostino, Karen N. “Conference Class

Sessions: Reducing Paper Load While Supporting Student Revision through Effective In-Class Response.” More Ways to Handle the Paper Load, on Paper and Online. Urbana: NCTE, 2005).

• Newkirk, Tom. “Read the Papers in Class.” How to Handle the Paper Load. Urbana: NCTE, 1979.

• Welch, Nancy. “Sideshadowing Teacher Response.” College English. 60.4 (1998). 374-95.

Cold Conferences

Positioning Writers at the Center of Response and

RevisionSteve Smith

Assumptions• The writing and all writing decisions

belong to the student.• Teacher is a reader, as well as a writing

resource and mentor, not an editor.• The student leads the conference.• Cold conferences can provide more

access to the student’s writing process and mental text.

Practices• Student delivers document with marginal

comments and questions inserted.• Questions are open-ended to encourage

discussion instead of easy answers and “fixes.”

• Teacher quickly reads revised draft, after peer review, for first time – cold -- during conference.

• Student leads discussion of paper, using inserted comments if necessary.

Process (cont.)• Teacher listens and addresses

student’s ideas and concerns.• Student and teacher discuss the

paper.• Student takes notes.• Student writes a revision plan and

emails it with conference notes to the teacher within 48 hours.

• Student revises writing.

Benefits• More student and teacher one to one

interaction.• Teacher is able to work with the

writer, not just the writing.• Encourages student ownership of

writing and self-identification as a writer.

• Supports teacher reflective practice.• Helps to manage paper load.

Using Screen Capture Software for Video Comments

Barrie Olson

What are video comments?

http://screencast.com/t/vikvOzsnVM

Why I Like Video Comments• Starts the conversation• Makes you focus on the bigger

picture • It limits how much you can comment

on• Shows your students that you’ve

really read their work• Allows you to do more with less• Makes you as a reader seem more

human

How does it work?• I use Jing though there are many

other free options available.• Once downloaded, you click

“capture” and it will record your screen as you talk

• Limited to five minutes• Once saved, it is stored on your

Screencast account and students can access it via a link.

Related Resources• Anson, C. (1997). In our own voices: Using recorded

commentary to respond to writing. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 69, 105-113.

• Anson, C. (2003). Responding to and assessing student writing: The uses and limits of technology. In B. Huot & P. Takayoshi (Eds.), Teaching writing with

computers: An Introduction (234-246). Boston: Houghton Mifflin..

• Sommers, N. (2006). Across the Drafts. College Composition and Communication, 58(2), 248-257.

• Sommers, N. (2012). Beyond the red ink. New York: Bedford/St. Martins.

Using Rubrics to Help Handle the Paper Load

Hollye Wright

Assessment: Formative and Summative

• Formative assessment is given throughout the learning process to measure how well students are learning the material. These assessments can take many forms but in all cases they provide feedback to the instructor on what students are learning and where knowledge gaps exists. These assessments also provide information for the students and allows them to see where they need to focus their attention in order to meet course goals and outcomes. Formative assessments are low stakes and allow additional learning to occur before the final graded assessments are administered.

Assessment: Formative and Summative

• Summative assessment is given at the conclusion of a unit of study to measure how well students mastered the learning outcomes. These assessments are high-stakes and end with an evaluation or grade.

Taken from: Cathy L. Bays, PhD, RN "Strategies For Using Rubrics As A Form of Assessment”

Holistic Rubric– A broad, overall, general assessment of

the entirety of the process

– Groups performance dimensions so that student performance is assessed as a whole across multiple dimensions

Holistic Rubric Informal Class Work

3 Clearly and successfully addresses all components of the assignment with unique insight.

2 Addresses all components of the assignment.

1 Addresses parts of the assignment.

Taken from: Cathy L. Bays, PhD, RN "Strategies For Using Rubrics As A Form of Assessment”

Analytic Rubric – Provides specific information abut

student performance on multiple dimensions so that their performance may be assessed on those dimensions across the scales

– Allows for separate scale assessment of student performance on each dimension

Criteria Goal Excellent Satisf.

Needs Work

Comments

Thesis and Purpose The thesis uses a clear set of criteria to evaluate films of this particular category and provides strong reasons to explain why these criteria were chosen and how they are weighted. The beginning of the paper establishes why this film is controversial

Criteria match The paper makes good use of evidence from the film to support the argument that it is/is not a good example of this type of film.

Use of Sources The writer uses other critics to support his or her argument and provides clear rebuttals of critics who might disagree with him. All perspectives are represented fairly and respectfully.

Organization A clear thesis and strong topic sentences help order the paper. Each paragraph contains one main idea and the order of the paragraphs is logical.

Mechanics The paper maintains an efficient style and contains few, if any, grammatical errors.

Works Cited The essay has a correctly formatted list of Works Cited.

Evaluation Argument Dr. WolfeWriter:

Tips for Using Rubrics Effectively

• Limit your comments to areas addressed on the rubric

• Comment on two or three areas and mark a score on other areas

• Write only on the rubric • Evaluate the rubric after grading and

note changes that you want to make in the future

Sources

• http://www.csub.edu/TLC/options/resources/handouts/Rubric_Packet_Jan06.pdf

• http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ • Angelo, Thomas A, and K P. Cross.

Classroom Assessment techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993. Print

Responding to Student Writing: Joys and Concerns

Shannon Howard

According to Nancy Sommers, This Method Isn’t Helpful for Them or You.

Consider Focusing on Three Major Joys and Concerns Per Student Essay.• Place no marks on the student’s actual

essay. Instead, write suggestions on an attached page/checklist/rubric (handwritten or word processed).

• List 3 “joys” or positive characteristics. List 3 “concerns” or areas for improvement.

• Keep suggestions clear, concise, but enthusiastic.

• Discuss revision expectations with the class.

Joys and Concerns are Used to Start Dialogue, Not Just to Identify Strengths

and Weaknesses.Joys:1. I had NO idea that you could use ____ to do that! Can you tell me how you learned about this?2. The part where you write ____ is the most memorable for me. What made you think of it?Concerns:1. Wait, didn’t you say that ___ never happens? Why do you talk about it on p2?2. Your point about ____ never comes up after the first page. Am I missing something?

This Method Asks Students to See Writing as Conversation.

• These joys and concerns can become the basis for conferences (see Dethier).

• They reflect your experience as a reader as well as your role as a teacher.

• They keep you focused on “big picture” ideas rather than just occupied with correcting errors.

Works ConsultedDethier, Brock. The Composition Instructor’s

Survival Guide. NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999.Sommers, Nancy. “Responding to Student

Writing.” CCC. 33. 2 (1982): 148-56. Welch, Nancy. “Sideshadowing Teacher

Response.” College English. 60. 4 (1998):374-95.