The grading thread

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

First day of classes over here. So far, it has been quiet and uneventful. Now that I've jinxed myself...

[wareagle]

We seem to be having a flurry of last-minute course cancelations - disturbing, since this should have happened prior to the first day of classes.  Did the provost think that enrollments would magically increase today?

Now we're dealing with pissed-off students who need to find other classes and adjust their schedules.

[ergative]

I had a problem with lots of students hyper-focusing on something that was valid and important but not terribly interesting in their early term assignments. I encouraged them to look beyond that issue, valid though it was, to engage with the material at a deeper level, and they obliged. Now I'm grading their final projects, and they have all looked so far beyond the issue that they've entirely forgotten it. Argh.

[Larimar]

Sounds like they may have used their amazing powers of subtle thinking to interpret your 'yes, that's important, but there's other stuff there too' as 'don't write about that anymore'. I have encountered something similar before.

[wellfleet]

I've hit the 50% mark for the pile of short essays I should have read and responded to last week, but (gestures at everything). . . .

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I'll have homework and labs to grade starting next week. Unfortunately, I already have a student who doesn't read instructions (one file only) and decided to submit five files to me for a lab report. I know it's minor, but it still annoys me. Instructions are in multiple places and bolded.

I basically told stu to resubmit one file if stu wants me to grade the lab. Too harsh?

[FishProf]

Harsh?  Not at all.

I would assign the Zero for failing to submit in the specified format and wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Only then would I point out the fail, and consider the resubmission policy depending on how long it took them to notice.

In my experience, good students only need one slap of the hand to learn the lesson.  Poor students never seem to learn it.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Harsh?  Not at all.

I would assign the Zero for failing to submit in the specified format and wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth.  Only then would I point out the fail, and consider the resubmission policy depending on how long it took them to notice.

In my experience, good students only need one slap of the hand to learn the lesson.  Poor students never seem to learn it.

I think we have too much 'hand-holding' at my campus and it's convinced me that I'm being a meanie. I'm all for cutting students a little slack, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Midterms at my place. Grading a (virtual) stack today.

[wellfleet]

6 more research papers to go!

[traductio]

Looooosing steeeeam......

My goal today is to grade 25 midterm papers (1000 words each), with feedback, at least in the form of a rubric, plus a few individualized comments. (I have about 70 people in the class -- if I get my 25 done today, I'll have about 60 total graded.)

But I'm 15 papers in, and they're starting to blur together.

[Charlotte]

Can I ask a quick question for those who have more experience grading?

I use a lot of writing assignments in my classes and I have some non-native English students in my class. Their writing is terrible. Now, I have been studying a second language and I know how difficult it is. I could not imagine studying other subjects in my second language and doing even half as well as these students seem to be doing.

But when it comes grading time, do I cut them slack because of this? If so, how much? I'm struggling because they are writing very poorly and not answering the writing prompts adequately. But from some of the things they write, I think they understand more of the material than they appear to be from their writings.

If it was a native English speaker, they'd be failing the assignments without a doubt. But how do you handle non-native English speakers?

[downer]

My view is that unless your department or school has some policy about the grading of non-native English speakers, you should treat all students equally.

Before COVID, i used to have a bunch of Chinese students whose English was pretty bad. They had a hard time with the writing assignments. They did have writing resources available to them. They generally got by even if they had difficulty.

[AvidReader]

In my opinion, one always grades all the students to the same standard regardless of native language. Passing your course with a "C" should mean that each passing student has achieved the same level of proficiency overall, and it's unfair to Native English Speaker John from the inner city if I grade him more harshly than Native Spanish Speaker Juan from Spain just because it is Juan's second language and John's first. However, the weight you give to language skills might vary by discipline.

I teach mostly composition classes. There all students must achieve comparable levels of fluency at each grade level, because the goal of the class is to demonstrate ability to write a clear sentence/paragraph/essay/proposal. A student who cannot do that should not pass.

In a content-driven class in another field, I still would grade all students equally, but you may need to look more carefully at what the expectations are for upper-level classes in your field and, by default, at industry norms. If, in future, your students will need to write instruction manuals for English speakers, then fluency is essential. If mastery of the mechanics or facts is more important than writing skills, then you can still grade the writing for its flaws, but your weightings might allow the students to pass regardless. If the writing is so bad that you can't tell what the student meant, that should be an F regardless.

There's also a big difference between garbled language and repeated/quirky errors. I once received an entire essay written in future tense. I commented upon it, but it didn't fail. Students from several Asian countries often struggle with articles because their languages don't have an equivalent (and the rules are bizarre and inconsistent in English).

Is it possible that they are writing in their native languages and then giving you Google Translate? Will that work in your field as they progress through college and into the workforce?

Finally, don't forget that your university should have resources available. I've taught both native and non-native students alike who have taken/sent every single essay to the campus Writing Centre before submitting it to me. Some have taken multiple drafts. Yours can too. If writing skills are important to you/your field, grade accordingly, and remind your students of the resources that can help them improve.

tl;dr: what downer said.

AR.

[ciao_yall]

Can I ask a quick question for those who have more experience grading?

I use a lot of writing assignments in my classes and I have some non-native English students in my class. Their writing is terrible. Now, I have been studying a second language and I know how difficult it is. I could not imagine studying other subjects in my second language and doing even half as well as these students seem to be doing.

But when it comes grading time, do I cut them slack because of this? If so, how much? I'm struggling because they are writing very poorly and not answering the writing prompts adequately. But from some of the things they write, I think they understand more of the material than they appear to be from their writings.

If it was a native English speaker, they'd be failing the assignments without a doubt. But how do you handle non-native English speakers?

No.

They need to go to tutoring and learn the rules of written English. Unfortunately, they will be assessed in the real world on the perception of their thinking.

People who don't write well aren't perceived to think well. Yes, it's dumb to think that a highly intelligent Chinese or Russian person, because of their clunky English, does not formulate and articulate complex thoughts in their native language. Still, our job is not to change the world. It's to prepare people for that world.