Grading Standards

[Charlotte]

I've posted before asking for advice since I'm a new teacher at a community college. I'm curious how you al deal with situations like this:

I assigned a short written "journal entry" with four questions about a short article they were to read. I asked for 300-400 word responses. Essentially, the article said that X is commonly assumed to result in Y but in actuality there are many other factors involved, for example in author's personal life Z occurred and had an influence.

Three students did the assignment as asked, but missed the point of what the article was telling them. They insisted X results in Y.

Many other students skipped some of the questions required by the assignment and stated X will get you to Y.

Others stated Z is the factor that gets you to Y.

Some wrote 50 words total and I couldn't quite understand what they were talking about.

Some wrote disjointed, reworded sentences from the article and didn't answer the questions.

One of the questions the assignment asked is what other factors (not mentioned in the article) in your own personal life have led to Y. Every student stated X and/or Z. Nobody added factors that were not in the article.


I suspect they all did it last minute so I wasn't expecting really insightful analysis or anything, but I did think the article and the instructions were clear enough to help them see that X doesn't always lead to Y because other factors can have an influence as well. I also thought the instructions were clear that they needed to come up with factors that were NOT mentioned in the article.

Help a new teacher out! Since the whole class did poorly, I'm thinking my instructions were not clear or they did not read the article carefully.

When you have a whole class that does poorly on the assignment, how do you tend to handle it? I don't want to fail them all, but I also don't want them to think they did the assignment well.

[marshwiggle]

Help a new teacher out! Since the whole class did poorly, I'm thinking my instructions were not clear or they did not read the article carefully.

Students need much more explicit direction than beginning instructors realize. Although very time consuming, coming up with a sample of the kind of thing required will make things much easier. So, in the above case, show an article about something which is very familiar, and create questions and a written response of the type you're looking for. The best students will be able to get the idea, and many of the weaker students may start off by trying to duplicate your reponse as much as possible, but imitation is one of the ways learning happens for novices.

When you have a whole class that does poorly on the assignment, how do you tend to handle it? I don't want to fail them all, but I also don't want them to think they did the assignment well.

There are several options. A few that come to mind are:

• Give them a chance to revise and resubmit.
• Have another exercise on a different topic like that which can replace their grade on the failed one.(This can work for all kinds of things, and if you give examples and better instructions the second time, most will probably be satisfied.)
• If you haven't explicitly stated how much each item, including this, will factor in the final grade, mention that "Your best N of M will count, so this one won't necessarily count." Again, this is good for tests, assignments, etc; i.e. anything where there are more than one.

I'm sure others will have more options as well.

[downer]

I would fail them all. That will get their attention. Be nice to them closer to the time they are doing course evaluation.

[arcturus]

Give them the grade they earned. Do not award passing grades to failing work. Explain, in detail, during class (or as a class announcement - I don't recall if you are teaching face-to-face this semester) your expectations for college-level work. Then give them an opportunity to re-write (one-time only!!!!) this assignment, "since you know everyone is a bit rusty after the summer."  Do not fall into the trap of offering re-writes for every assignment, as you will just get bogged down in grading. Hopefully offering this single re-write will motivate them to do this and subsequent assignments well (which is also a time saver for you - it is much faster to grade good work).

[Ruralguy]

I agree with Marshwiggle more or less 100%. Show them examples of want you want and do a sample "homework" in class.   Then give them a chance to re-do or just assign enough things to water down the lower grade. Do explain this is one time only (you can go back on that much later in the semester if it seems appropriate).

[Caracal]

A lot depends on what the purpose of the assignment was. Did you assign it because you wanted the students to spend some time reading this article so you could talk about it in class, or was the point for them to demonstrate the ability to analyze the argument. If it is the former, then it makes sense to grade it on the basis of engagement rather than quality of analysis. Give good grades to the students who made a good faith attempt to figure out what was going on, even if they got some things mixed up and reserve the poor grades for the students who didn't actually even try to answer the questions or just repeated back lines from the article.

If this was supposed to be more of a paper then it might make sense to offer a rewrite or follow some of the other suggestions.

[ciao_yall]

I've posted before asking for advice since I'm a new teacher at a community college. I'm curious how you al deal with situations like this:

I assigned a short written "journal entry" with four questions about a short article they were to read. I asked for 300-400 word responses. Essentially, the article said that X is commonly assumed to result in Y but in actuality there are many other factors involved, for example in author's personal life Z occurred and had an influence.

I find with CC students it helps to ask them a very specific question about the article. "Tell me about a time X happened in your life, or a friend's life. Did it lead to Y? Why or why not?"

Then, accept their answers as their experiences that might be different from yours. Working at a CC I have been exposed to so many cultures, backgrounds, experiences and educational systems I have learned not to expect consistent results from students, but often honest and thoughtful ones that are surprising.

Three students did the assignment as asked, but missed the point of what the article was telling them. They insisted X results in Y.

Maybe they believe that to be the case and disagree with the author.

Many other students skipped some of the questions required by the assignment and stated X will get you to Y.

Which questions? Did you ask them in the prompt? Or were they implied by your reading of the article?

Others stated Z is the factor that gets you to Y.

Maybe, in fact, it is, in their opinion.

Some wrote 50 words total and I couldn't quite understand what they were talking about.

Some wrote disjointed, reworded sentences from the article and didn't answer the questions.

Were these ESL students?

One of the questions the assignment asked is what other factors (not mentioned in the article) in your own personal life have led to Y. Every student stated X and/or Z. Nobody added factors that were not in the article.

Some have been taught to not make any assumptions when reviewing an article, and to only go with what is in the text.

I suspect they all did it last minute so I wasn't expecting really insightful analysis or anything, but I did think the article and the instructions were clear enough to help them see that X doesn't always lead to Y because other factors can have an influence as well. I also thought the instructions were clear that they needed to come up with factors that were NOT mentioned in the article.

Help a new teacher out! Since the whole class did poorly, I'm thinking my instructions were not clear or they did not read the article carefully.

When you have a whole class that does poorly on the assignment, how do you tend to handle it? I don't want to fail them all, but I also don't want them to think they did the assignment well.

I tend to try to think about what was going on in their minds that made them answer the way they did. And this could be a really good debrief activity to have them share out why they answered the way they did.

[fishbrains]

I have found it's a good rule of thumb in CC teaching to assume that when an entire class doesn't understand what you are looking for, you should take a cold, hard look at how you worded/structured the assignment. If there aren't at least a few students who do it right, then something's gone wrong.

As someone else noted, a sample assignment goes a long way toward helping students see what you want.

I'm not a big fan of rewriting and regrading because it tends to move the class backwards and creates a serious time-suck for everyone. Instead, I would give them the grade they earned, review a sample assignment, and then offer the chance to replace the bad grade with the next similar journal assignment grade. This way, they are motivated to pay serious attention to the next assignment and the process involved with it, and you aren't doing extra work.

One big BUT! In over 20 years of CC teaching, I've had just one class (sophomore-level literature) where the students simply couldn't read and write well enough to do the work. There's a long story there about some peers/admins that just passed students along in something of a cohort, but my point is that if you have landed in a situation like that, you are quite f*cked. Let's hope it's you and just a sketchy assignment.

[Ruralguy]

I've never taught at a CC, but I have noticed that many students really need very explicit instructions even if they are fairly bright (maybe the top one or two students don't need it, but most others do).

[AvidReader]

I agree with most everything on this thread, but especially with Caracal's note that your response really depends on your goal for the assignment.

I grade journals generously, but look for whether they have completed all parts of the prompt. If you think it is laziness, write a note explaining what is missing and include it with the grade. If you think it is confusion, go over responses in class so they understand what is expected. In either instance, you may (as others have suggested) want to make your next prompt more specific, which will also make it easier to grade because you can point out specific elements they are missing. If writing skills are important, specify that you want correct, complete sentences. If length is important, establish a penalty for students who don't meet the set length or level of detail.

I don't know how new you are to college teaching or CC teaching in general, nor am I sure of your field, but I would be happy to send you the type of journal prompt I usually provide if you want a basis for comparison. I primarily teach composition, so all my questions revolve around writing elements (authors' effectiveness, style, use of sources, etc.)

AR.

[Hegemony]

I especially agree with Fishbrains here.

Sometimes it is hard to appreciate how low a level CC students are starting from.

I recently sat in on a CC class from an experienced teacher, and I noted how very detailed and explicit her instructions were. She also had a sample for every essay — especially wise, as I think many of these students have no idea what a good college essay looks like. I could tell that years of teaching underprepared students had made her very, very clear and detailed in all her instructions.

You may also have chosen an article that is simply too hard for them to read. Remember that the average reading level in the U.S. is 8th grade (unfortunately). They may have to learn how to read a more complex article, including looking for topic sentences. This may need to be a scaffolded assignment of its own.

You might engage the ones who thought the article said that X gets you to Y, in a sincere and curious manner, and ask them to lead you through their thinking. Maybe that could be assignment 2. Then you can identify what part they missed. Whatever you do, I'd do it in a spirit of curiosity and collaboration.

[polly_mer]

.

You might engage the ones who thought the article said that X gets you to Y, in a sincere and curious manner, and ask them to lead you through their thinking. Maybe that could be assignment 2. Then you can identify what part they missed. Whatever you do, I'd do it in a spirit of curiosity and collaboration.

There are graduate degree holders who can't do that kind of analysis for material that is outside their experience.  It's been hilarious and sad to watch that in public for Covid as well as other areas.

Several studies over the years on reading comprehension and critical thinking have indicated that knowing the subject matter tends to yield better results than knowing all the words.

[downer]

Has OP decided what to do or are they waiting for people to reach consensus?  How long should a person wait in this sort of situation before taking action?

My thought is that it is better to act fast and be decisive.

[Ruralguy]

You know, one of my fantasy jobs was just to change my research randomly every few years,and right a paper, competently,not just faking it, on the subject.  Then, I realize that no one much cares *if* I actually do that in my current job, so I sort of have. I haven't gotten past physical sciences yet, but I might before I retire...or maybe that can be my retirement project.  I decided that I absolutely don't want to do "1001 Permutations of my Dissertation" as my career. 

[Charlotte]

Thank you all for your advice! I apologize for not responding sooner but I was quickly trying to reword my next assignment instructions and grade the assignment.

I'm going to let them redo the assignment for a better grade and I've written an example for them based off of a similar article. I am also rewriting my other assignment instructions to try and make them as clear as possible and also include examples. Thanks for that suggestion! I'm hoping this will help in the future!

I'm thinking about taking time next week to spend a few minutes going over how to approach an assignment like this by offering suggestions on how to identify key points in the article and look more closely at the article with them in class before they do the assignment again. I haven't fully decided on if I want to spend time on this, but they may need it.

I looked at the class roster more closely and was surprised to find that only a couple students are freshmen. I knew that many students struggle with reading comprehension and writing but I think I expected a little more than they are capable of right now.

I'm trying to decide if I need to replan some of my assignments to better fit their level. I'm concerned that I may have set the bar too high.

Thank you all for your help! You've given me a lot to think about!