Thursday, May 8, 2008

Teacher Gets Schooled

I am sure like me many of you have schools question the grades you give, point out mistakes, etc. Like my students I am a fallible person with weaknesses. I admit mine is grammar. I don't always have a firm grasp on the small technicalities involved in writing, however I like to think that my writing makes sense and I am getting my point across. (Regarding my Blog it is fortunate for me that this is not something I am graded on as it is written in a couple of minutes so readers will have to forgive my grammar errors!) So when a student comes to me wanting to discuss their grade I am usually willing to talk to them and hear their side of the story.

When grading papers and essays if my students are following basis rules of grammar and punctuation I am not terriabley picky. I find this acceptable as I do not teach English, and will leave this to those that do as they have a better grasp on the topic that I do.

One phenominon that I have experienced recently is a student whose paper was "okay". Their writing was reasonably proficient, I could read it (unlike some students, see Rocket Scientist Post), and while they hit on most of the required topics they did miss some important points in their arguement. The result of this student's work was a "C". As to be expected this student came to me stating they didn't think that the grade was fair based on the ruberic and the comments I left on the paper. This was one of my first classes, and I told the student that if they could provide me with written support of why they met the ruberic guidelines and were able to show where they provided the support I commented was missing in the paper I would look at their grade again.

I niavely thought this was the last that I would hear from this student. Needless to say I was suprised when I was handed a two page essay from them outlining what I had requested from the student. It had not occured to me that my student would spend so much time coming up with a two page arguement in support of their eight page paper! As I read their argument I was both pleasantly suprised at the level of thought put into their arguement, thought that had been missing from the orignial paper, and the improvement in the support for their stance. While I was schooled in how a student would rather put in effort after the fact than in the original assignment, I believe that it was an important learning experience for the student. Was I right or wrong to allow the student to argue their grade? Is this a good learning tool that I should impliment again when a student comes to argue their grade or is it better left in the gutter of academic mistakes?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I do this all the time. I tell students if they believe they deserve more points than I've given them, to write specific and detailed reasons (based on the assignment instructions and the grading rubric) and then I'll review their work again and adjust the grade accordingly IF WARRANTED based on their argument.

Few students take the time but those who do receive extra consideration and review. I usually end up changing the grade because they have shown growth and further learning simply by writing the argument :-)

Good for you!!
~VP~