Currently I teach three courses at Brigham Young University. Each course meets the Advanced Writing requirements of the university, although each has its unique focus--scientific writing, workplace writing, or argumentative writing.
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Assessing writing
Writing classes are frustrating to students because sometimes the assessments of their writing seems subjective--it's just what the teacher thinks is good.
I tell my students, of course it's subjective! Every writing assignment is different!
When we write, we are adapting to our audience's values, expectations, standards, and goals. It happens in college classes, and it happens in the workplace. A good writer assesses the audience and context of a project. They know what the audience is expecting, and in what format. They will be assessed based on the opinion of their audience, so they adapt. In my classes, I emphasize that their grades will be based on their ability to follow the directions of the assignment. My assignment descriptions are clear and assign point values to each component I deem essential so students know what these directions are.
Despite Lynne Truss' call to fellow sticklers, for the majority of the semester I do not assess writing on sentence-level errors. I assess writing on organization, inclusion of essential argument pieces, depth of thought, and format. I give feedback to the students on each assignment, even the smaller ones, so they can become familiar with my expectations. For larger assignments with multiple drafts, I begin to assess writing on the excising of unnecessary words, clarifying pronouns and modifiers, use of citations, and internal organizational cues like transitions and topic sentences. By focusing on the larger aspects of writing first, students' papers at the end of the semester need less remodeling and receive more polishing. Laying that foundation of receiving feedback and adapting to directions helps students develop the flexibility they will need when faced with new projects based on subjective standards.
I tell my students, of course it's subjective! Every writing assignment is different!
When we write, we are adapting to our audience's values, expectations, standards, and goals. It happens in college classes, and it happens in the workplace. A good writer assesses the audience and context of a project. They know what the audience is expecting, and in what format. They will be assessed based on the opinion of their audience, so they adapt. In my classes, I emphasize that their grades will be based on their ability to follow the directions of the assignment. My assignment descriptions are clear and assign point values to each component I deem essential so students know what these directions are.
Despite Lynne Truss' call to fellow sticklers, for the majority of the semester I do not assess writing on sentence-level errors. I assess writing on organization, inclusion of essential argument pieces, depth of thought, and format. I give feedback to the students on each assignment, even the smaller ones, so they can become familiar with my expectations. For larger assignments with multiple drafts, I begin to assess writing on the excising of unnecessary words, clarifying pronouns and modifiers, use of citations, and internal organizational cues like transitions and topic sentences. By focusing on the larger aspects of writing first, students' papers at the end of the semester need less remodeling and receive more polishing. Laying that foundation of receiving feedback and adapting to directions helps students develop the flexibility they will need when faced with new projects based on subjective standards.
What students have said
"I like that the class was less focused on grades and more on showing engagement and learning. I felt like I learned a lot and loved that the activities we did were focused on really life arguments we might have. This has been one of my favorite classes."
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"I came into this class super nervous because of how much I hate writing and how much I am not good at English in general. She made this class exciting and fun and challenging all at the same time. The assignments she had were intriguing and fun. "
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"Professor Galley was a fantastic English teacher. She helped each of us become better communicators for the specific types of communication we will be doing (research, presenting, conflict resolution, etc.) She was very available to us and made coming to class enjoyable and uplifting. She is the kind of professor I would enjoy having as a neighbor!"
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