ABSOLUT ENGLISH
RESPONSE AND EVALUATION
As Susan and Stephen Tchudi write in their book, The English Language Arts Handbook, �gGrades often divert attention from true language development; they induce false competitiveness in students; and they force students and teachers to focus on narrow, �ecountable�f aims and objectives.�h But, although grades have many negative perspectives, I think they are very important and effective in students�f learning. So what is grading? Margot Soven shares in her book, Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools, that Proett and Gill define grading as �gthe act of assigning a letter or a number to represent the performance of a writer.�h I believe that only giving students a letter or a number to response and recognize their performances is impossible. It is too mechanical and cold, not humane and warm. I would like to try my best to be a humane and warm teacher in terms of �ggrading�h by responding and evaluating students before grading.
Best Practices:
I completely agree with what my professor says: �gteachers are to help and guide students write, they are not to finish and correct students writings.�h This is the idea of �ga process is more important than a product.�h As Susan and Stephen Tchudi remind us in their book introduced before, �gchildren develop language differently. Children learn at different rates and accomplish skills at different times in their development.�h It is not fair at all to set a standard and make all students accomplish the certain standard at the same time. There may be students who are learning English as their foreign language too.
Conferences:
I believe that student-teacher relationship is extremely important in students�f learning. When students are working on a writing assignment for their development of learning, it is natural for the teacher to support and encourage them warmly. Having conferences is one of my favorite approaches in guiding their writing, because it creates a chance to know where each student stands in their process of writing as well as their writing skills. It is also true that �gyou (teachers) can spiel out more words per second than you (they) can write,�h as Susan and Stephen write in the same book introduced before. As Margot Soven write in her book introduced before, �gall students need the encouragement and personal attention that are the benefits of the writing conference.�h
Portfolios:
In my classroom, I would like my students to develop their own writing portfolio as a product of their writing. And again, I believe that a process is more important than a product. I believe that portfolios are the best way to evaluate students�f writings, which enable teachers to emphasize more on students�f writing progress than accumulating grades on individual papers.
As a conclusion of this topic, I would like to always keep in my mind the words Margot Soven shares in her book introduced before. She shares that Paul Diederich said about guiding and supporting students�f writing, �gif a student concentrates on one error at a time, progress is possible; if he tries to overcome all his weaknesses at once, he will only be overwhelmed. I do not know where the scientific truth lies, but I have more faith in the value of a few appreciative comments than in any amount or kind of correction.�h I would like to be a teacher, who can let students develop their writing skills and love their writings.
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Absolut English: Response and Evaluation (11/17/01)