tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post5264026962729050043..comments2024-02-28T18:29:41.120-08:00Comments on Not of General Interest: Theory and experience, or "but it looked good on paper"undinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-67041882803509745862010-12-06T11:40:18.128-08:002010-12-06T11:40:18.128-08:00Agreed, agreed. I use our departmental rubric, whi...Agreed, agreed. I use our departmental rubric, which we wrote together to generate tangible likert-scale numbers for the accreditation, to automate the little technical comments I'd otherwise write a lot without adding much intersubjective value. The numbers indicate a magnitude of performance, not a fraction of a final 'score' (no need for Jonathan's jiggering - I still explicitly grade wholistically). This means I can save my writing hand to address their content, which makes them feel attended to and sometimes even teaches them something.<br /><br />This semester I tried turning the first batch of papers back with only a grade on, and told them encouragingly that I'd like to say more about their papers than I could fit in the margins, so I hoped they'd come by my office to talk with me about their work. It turned out that they were so used to getting papers back with no substantive commentary and so uninterested in a long personal grilling that no one came. I must admit this confirmed two hypotheses, but perhaps it counts as a failed experiment even so?Carlhttp://deadvoles.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-39469946905129572142010-12-05T19:03:26.671-08:002010-12-05T19:03:26.671-08:00I once tried an annotation exercise that I thought...I once tried an annotation exercise that I thought would work well but fell flat.<br /><br />My advisor when I was new to teaching suggested that getting the students to create a set of footnotes or annotations for a difficult text was a good exercise. The idea was to get them looking up things they didn't know and then writing up an explanation (footnote) for two or three which then would be compiled for the whole class to benefit from.<br /><br />The students hated it. They thought it was make-work and they mostly just supplied dictionary definitions for the words and terms we'd identified as a class that needed footnoting.<br /><br />I still don't know why it didn't work - seemed like a pedagogically sound idea. But they weren't buying it!michelehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02872051454149767482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-41956109995838278802010-12-03T19:14:53.077-08:002010-12-03T19:14:53.077-08:00Dame Eleanor, that's the problem I have. I hat...Dame Eleanor, that's the problem I have. I hate to check that "good" or "adequate" (or whatever) box, since it seems more final and less nuanced than a written comment. <br /><br />Ink, I've found that, too. I really only use rubrics now for things that have a "countable" component (i.e., citations in MLA format?). <br /><br />Arbitrista--glad you liked it! It made me laugh, too, mostly at my own stupidity. <br /><br />Jonathan, I end up doing that, too. I end up with a score that doesn't seem to represent what the grade would be (and should be) if the grading is done by comments.undinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05589384016564587214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-90530244190116331132010-12-03T08:42:15.278-08:002010-12-03T08:42:15.278-08:00The way academics think is usually: 'Sure it ...The way academics think is usually: 'Sure it works in practice, but will it work in theory?" <br /><br />I don't use rubrics because I would just manipulate them to get the result that felt right to be for the paper anyway. It feels dishonest.Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-26894551366638273012010-12-02T13:06:58.417-08:002010-12-02T13:06:58.417-08:00I'm sorry, I just couldn't get past the ca...I'm sorry, I just couldn't get past the cat and vacuum cleaner part of the story. Tee hee.Arbitristahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14090122079098885856noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-85595769997465153202010-12-02T11:41:26.801-08:002010-12-02T11:41:26.801-08:00Rubrics plague me. For the same reasons both you ...Rubrics plague me. For the same reasons both you and DEH mention. I do think it helps them to be able to see at a glance where they're strong and where they need more work on the assignment. However, it does seems like way more work, and the students prefer comments, they've said, and also? There's always that one thing that somebody does that is so bizarre it doesn't fit into the boxes and I can't figure out how to address it, pointwise.Inkhttp://inktopia.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22001031.post-91342309294027171502010-12-02T10:23:08.949-08:002010-12-02T10:23:08.949-08:00This doesn't quite answer your question, but I...This doesn't quite answer your question, but I instituted rubrics as a way to make things easier for myself (as well as more transparent for the students), and now I find that while they do enhance transparency, they are a whole lot more trouble for me. I'd rather just read the papers, mark them up, and write a comment, than go down a long list of boxes trying to decide whether various aspects of a paper are excellent, acceptable, or whatever. But this is more "at home" than "in the classroom."Dame Eleanor Hullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06512884104691200975noreply@blogger.com