Assessing Writing in the Classroom

Assess Writing With Your Students!

Five years ago, I accepted my first teaching job. I was filled with excitement, bouncing up and down, and couldn’t wait for the year to begin. However, it didn't take long for me to realize the impact of grading on my life outside of the classroom. I was constantly assessing writing at home and writing feedback. I started to resent teaching even though I loved the job.

I started reflecting and realized I was putting in all of this time and effort, but students’ writing was not changing for the better. How could I put all of these comments and students didn’t take them to heart? I finally asked my students, how many of you honestly read the comments I put on your rough draft? My heart sank when only two hands went into the air. How do I help my students become better writers, and how do I make time for myself so I don’t burn out?

After quite a bit of trial and error, I finally figured it out. I started assessing their writing with them during individual writing conferences. It has been a game changer. I no longer assess any writing outside of the classroom. The students are actually showing growth in their writing, and I am back to a great balance between work and life.

Why Should I Assess in Conferences?

Think and Reflect:

• Why do you write on student’s papers?
• What is the point of your feedback? Is it for this writing or for them as a writer?
• Do your students apply your feedback to other pieces of their writing?

For many of us, we provide feedback because we want our students to become better writers. We want to help them grow. However, many students do not internalize our written comments. Instead, a lot of students see it as teachers criticizing their writing.

As a student, feedback from a teacher always overwhelmed me. I would get a paper back covered in red pen and feel defeated. I did not want to read all of the negative comments about my writing. It made me feel as though I was a horrible writer, and I dreaded any writing assignment.

As a teacher, I want my feedback to be helpful. I want my students to feel empowered and want to create change in order to get their meaning across effectively. However, the written comments on their papers have not done that. As I said earlier, only two of my students in the class raised their hands. We have to change the way that we are assessing writing if we want our students to become proficient writers.

As we confer with our students and assess their strategies, we must realize that the writing process is not the same for everyone. Many times when I write, I create a quick visual to organize my writing, draft, revise, draft, edit, and draft again. I do not follow a specific pattern every time I write. Critical Theory suggests that there is not a linear model for writing. Flowers and Hayes (1981) explain, “Common sense and research tell us that writers are constantly planning (pre-writing) and revising (re-writing) as they compose (write), not in clean-cut stages” (p. 367). We must keep this in mind as we assess our students. Do they have their own process that is working for them? If not, it is up to us to teach them strategies but not a one size fits all process.

In order to help our students continue to grow as writers, we must get out of the mindset that every writer can learn and write in the same ways. We need to help students set goals and create pieces of writing that make sense to them. We have to provide strategies and skills to help students reach their potential. Every student is going to write in a different way. We need to assess what they are doing as independent writers to help them become stronger and lifelong writers. In order to do that, we need to assess writing during conferences and give meaningful feedback.

Think and Reflect:

• Do you remember getting feedback as a student? Did you look at all of the marks and want to revise?
• If you were a student in your classroom, how would you feel about the feedback you are receiving? Would it make sense to you?
• How can you adapt your classroom to allow time for conferences?

How Can I Do This?

Assessing writing in the classroom has been great for myself and my students. However, it took me quite a while to actually figure out how to make it work successfully. There were many times I was ready to give up and go back, but I knew the positive outcome this would have. In order to help you achieve this in your classroom (hopefully with less setbacks), I have provided six tips to help get the ball rolling.

Tip 1: Explicitly Teach Classroom Expectations for Students and Practice

While it would be great for students to just be able to walk in on the first day and work on their own, that is not going to happen. Students need to understand exactly what is expected of them during this time. It will take a lot of explicit instruction and practice for students to be able to do this successfully. Most likely, the first time you try, it will not go as planned. You have to take that time and look at it as a learning moment for you and the students. It is going to take a bit for students to understand the routine. Do not give up the first time you try it. Instead, think about what the expectations are in your room while you are meeting with students. For me, the students should continue to work, revise, edit, etc. during this time. I give my students checklists and extra learning opportunities so they always have something that they should be working on. If they have questions that are preventing them from moving forward, they should ask a peer or fill out a Google Form to meet with me. If you do not have the students working, then chaos will take place while you are trying to meet with other students.

Ideas for students that are "done":

• Allow students to write their own piece outside of the genre you assigned
• Provide extension opportunities that allow students to get creative with their writing
• Create a multi-modal representation of the writing
• Create a podcast
• Create a video/movie

Tip 2: Strengthen the Writer, Not the Writing

The whole point of our writing assignments are to teach our students how to become lifelong writers. With that being said, we need to change our mindset from strengthening a piece of writing to strengthening the writer. We want our students to take the skills and apply it to all of their pieces of writing rather than just one. In order to do this, we need to think about the skills we are teaching the students. Reading and Writing Project explains, “Our teaching can then emphasize the patterns of need writers have and help us supply students with specific and transferable strategies to support individual writers, not individual pieces of writing. Consequently, students are constantly working within their own developmental zone, making approximations as they strive to get stronger as writers” (2013). During these individual conferences, we can offer strategies and skills that students can use during any piece of writing. Therefore, we are helping our students become independent writers.

Tip 3: Focus on Strengths, Not Deficits

When we are assessing, we tend to come from a mindset of looking for errors. We need to change this and assess the strengths instead. It is easy to label students as either good or bad writers because, “Most of our own teachers played this role with us when we were learning to write” (Anderson, 2005, p. 142). However, when we do this, we miss all of the things that students do know about writing. By finding out what students already know, we can use that to help them continue to grow as writers. For example, I had a student this year that was great at adding general details to her stories. I knew that she was able to come up with details and based on that we were able to discuss sensory details and how to add descriptive language. Together, we brainstormed different ideas to revise and strategies. By working through this process with students, they are able to internalize it and utilize these strategies on other assignments as well.

Tip 4: Let the Student Do the Talking

This is a big one. As teachers, we like to take over a conversation to make sure time is used efficiently. However, this can be detrimental during a conference. The whole point of the conference is to learn about the writer and then offer strategies and ideas on how to continue strengthening writing. In order to do this, we need to listen. We should ask students open-ended questions and allow them to lead the conversation. Anderson (2005) starts his conferences by asking students, “Why did you choose to write about this?” Quickly, he is able to see why a student has chosen the topic and whether it is of importance to the student or not. To help students with this process, you can start by giving them a reflection sheet. If you have specific objectives that you are wanting to address, you can put these on the reflection sheet to prepare students for the conference. It may help at the beginning for students to have that sheet. Eventually, you want it to turn into a free-flowing conversation.

Tip 5: Focus on a Few Objectives

As teachers, we have limited time to teach our students. We have many standards, but not enough time to teach them. What you must ask yourself though is why are you teaching? Are you teaching to touch on every standard or are you teaching to help students grow? While assessing this way may take longer, you are able to individualize your instruction for students. It is easy to look at a student’s paper and try to mark and address all of the problems. This is not the way to do it. You should address one, maybe two, items that are important to the student growing as a writer. Little mistakes will be fixed during editing and revising with peers and you later. In order to keep track, use a recording sheet to help decide what you’ve learned about the writer and teaching moments you would like to address later. This will help you stay organized and remember the different items you would like to discuss with the student.

Tip 6: Celebrate the Student’s Writing

Teachers tend to focus on the errors when assessing student writing. Do not forget to celebrate the amazing things these students are doing day in and day out. Our students come from many backgrounds and experiences. Do not let that go undervalued. When a student is using a dialect or language that we are not used to, we should celebrate it rather than fix it. Yes, we need to teach students how to write in order to get jobs, but we should also value where our students come from. Before you say it isn’t right, ask your student about their language. Understand their backgrounds and celebrate that we are all different. We should challenge our students to learn about different dialects and languages in order to help them grow. Always celebrate what your students are bringing to their writing. They need to know you care about them.

Conclusion

As educators, we have a lot on our plate. We have a lot to get through. However, we make time for what is important. I have found that assessing students’ writing during class has been valuable for myself and the students. I am able to learn more about my students as people and writers. My students are able to reflect on their writing and ask questions with immediate feedback. Assessing your students does not have to be stressful. It can be a wonderful experience with students. These tips will help you start to adapt this to your own classroom. Your social life and students will thank you!

Take Action!

1. Create and Teach Classroom Expectations
2. Focus on the writer, not only the writing
3. Build off of strengths
4. Let the student lead the conference
5. Pick 1-2 clear teaching points
6. Celebrate what the student is doing

References

Flower, L., & Hayes, J. (1981). A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing. College Composition and Communication, 32(4), 365-387. doi:10.2307/356600

Krulder, J. (2018, March 06). 5-Minute Writing Conferences. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-minute-writing-conferences

Teachers College Reading And Writing Project. (n.d.). Top 5 Ways to Become a Stronger Writing Teacher: A Book Study of Writing Pathways. Retrieved from https://readingandwritingproject.org/news/top-5-ways-to-become-a-stronger-writing-teacher-a-book-study-of-writing-pathways

Literature Cited

Anderson, C. (2005). Assessing writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.