Have you ever made a student cry?
Unfortunately, I have. And it's one of my worst teaching moments ever.
You see, for years I had a tendency to mark up students' papers. I thought I was helping them by correcting every little grammar or spelling mistake, every run-on sentence, every little punctuation mistake. It took me hours and I loathed it. But I thought I was helping them.
Then one day as I passed back rough drafts, I handed one to Sarah (not her real name). She looked at her paper--which was heavily marked up with loads of suggestions for improvement (and honestly, it was a pretty well-written paper). Her face dropped. Then her head dropped. I finished passing the rest of the papers back, then went over to her.
"Hey, Sarah, do you have any questions about my feedback...?" She looked up at me with tears in her eyes and asked if she could go to the restroom. I said "yes," of course. It still hadn't hit me that I was the cause of her tears.
When she returned, I asked her if everything was OK. She looked at me and said, "Am I really that terrible of a writer?" I was horrified. I tried so hard to reassure her that she was a great writer...but the damage was done. She just pointed to her paper and said, "Look at this!" I was truly sick to my stomach.
I never wanted to feel that way again. I talked to one of my colleagues and asked her how she handled grading essays. She had several more years of experience than me and gave me some great advice. I vowed to never make a student cry over their writing.
A few years later, I sat at a conference in Springfield, Illinois and attended a session given by the children's/young-adult writer Avi (Edward Irving Wortis). He began his session by projecting an image from one of his papers in high school. It looked like this (sorry for the terrible quality):
So what is the answer? Here are some small things I implemented to help students with their writing:
• Have students read their first draft aloud to another student. It's VERY IMPORTANT that they read it aloud. They will notice their own mistakes when they read it aloud and whatever they miss, their classmate may catch. Four ears are better than two. 😁
• Have students read their papers aloud to you. This is a great way to see if they used AI. If they can't tell you what some sentences mean or what their main parts actually mean, chances are they may not have written it.
• Decide to only grade one area of importance at a time. For example, if you want to focus on grading for mechanics/grammar, only grade on that area. If you want to focus on supporting details, only mark the paper for improvement in that area. Use a different focus area per paper. (This was one of my colleague's pieces of advice.)
• Stop after five mistakes. (This was her other piece of advice.) After you get to five mistakes, hand the paper back and let them make those corrections and check the rest of their paper for similar mistakes.
• Let them write freely daily. Don't grade it (you can give completion points to motivate them). I use these daily journal prompts and if they don't like the prompt, they can write about anything. I allow them to keep it short--2-3 sentences is fine! I scan read them (because it truly helps to learn about them and build a relationship) then enter a completion grade. If it has mistakes, I don't correct them or point them out. I allow them to make mistakes without penalty. That's what learning is, right? The thing is, the more students write, the better they become. Even with short writing assignments.
• READ more. Just like daily writing, daily reading actually helps students improve. It's funny how the two things go hand-in-hand.
What would you add to the list?
I'd love to connect with you! Join my email list to continue the conversation, or find me the most active on my Instagram account.
Have a great week, Friends!
-Tracee
