During my short time in using TOPIC to grade student papers, I haven't received much feedback. In fact, only 4 of my drafts have ever been rated by an administrator, and only 2 of those with any comments. So I don't think that I have really grown from the comments left for me at this point.
What has helped me to improve as a grader is reading the comments that the other people in my group, who have much more experience with grading and teaching, leave for the students. If I am unclear on how I should evaluate a certain assignment, I usually wait until another instructor has graded a few, and then I take a look at those comments to see what they, as CIs, have been stressing as important in the classroom. Reading these comments gives me a great insight into what the rest of my group is thinking and saying to our students, and helps me to get onto the same page.
In reviewing the comments of students, I have discovered who in my group tends to leave directive comments, and who leaves more formative ones, and who manages to include both. It has been great for me to be able to analyze all of these comments and think critically about which ones will really help the student and which will not. It gives me a fantastic place to begin as a grader, and has helped me with my confidence as a Document Instructor.
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3 comments:
Kim, I think it's wonderful you enter with such an open mind and an eagers to soak up all you can about the process and how to continue to grow and develop as a grader and educator. I too enjoy immensely seeing what other teachers have written on students' papers because it gives me a different perspective both as a teacher and how these other teachers think and grade. Sometimes, it even shows me the other teachers' strengths and weakeness, and where I fit in at this point in my fledgling career as a teaching hopeful. I would hope they'd give you more feedback, or at least some sort of evaluative assessment at the end of the semester. I still think one of the neater things for them to do would be have the students rate the comments they get back at the end of the semester - code them, say, as Dr. Rice mentioned, with numbers for each D-I rather than names -- so you can read or hear specifically how you helped the students or areas where they want more feedback or direction.
I like what you have to say about reading other DI comments and using those to frame your own commentary. I too like to read the comments others in my grading group are leaving. Most of the time after reading their comments I think "Wow, I had never thought of critiquing a paper like that!" I think reading other DI's comments is as useful to me as any other source I could find.
One thing about commenting that I miss in the current TTOPIC system is following a student's progress throughout the semester. I think it would be interesting to grade the same students throughout the semester to see how they grow and learn.
Enjoyed reading your post here, Kim.
I'm sure if you'd like more feedback from ADs or the WPA you could ask for it. Getting feedback on your comments from others' comments is very helpful. We could certainly take time during our class to investigate some, too, if you brought hardcopies.
Nice notes about managing both directive and facilitative commentary. Certainly that's the best solution if possible.
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