Choses Assignment: Rose and Me Chosen Piece: Student B
Dear Student B,
First off, I am glad to hear that you no longer suffer from writer’s block in the ways you did in high school. It is introspective of you to note that you used to be afflicted in the same way Ruth was in Rose’s study. That means you have given some time to reflect on your personal experience in relation to the article. It is curious how we as writers worry so much about grabbing the reader first, before we dive into writing.
In terms of your writing, it is interesting how you automatically felt the need to tell summarize the article in the beginning of your essay. If you refer to the prompt, there is no section that states you must first summarize Rose’s words. I wonder why you felt the need to do that. Were you thinking of your audience first before you wrote? What assumptions did you have about them? Maybe this need to summarize is a way to “get yourself writing” in a quick and easy way in order to avoid writer’s block?
The quotes you used clearly correlates to have you saw yourself in the text, and the quotes themselves are well supported. However, it would have been nice to see you dig a bit deeper in your analysis of each quote. Furthermore, that same care to explain more why the piece resonated with you could have been done in your closing paragraph.
Despite a lack of deep analysis, the assignment is complete. Keep pushing yourself to reflect deeper, and happy further writing!
Grade: COMPLETE
Megan
Wow. It is a different beast to grade the work of someone I do not know. I am realizing now how much I bring with me my personal knowledge of the student when I grade their work. Even if I were to grade the projects anonymously, I think I still would be able to use my knowledge of my students and context clues to grade their work. SO, is any of my grading purely objective? Probably not…I now wonder what allowances I unconsciously or consciously give to my students as I grad their work. Things like “oh I know she is having a hard week, so I will forgive the multiple typos”, or “I see this person turned in the assignment five minutes before the deadline–I bet this work is sloppily done…”. Those are assumptions I have caught myself thinking before, but now I wonder how often I am assuming things about my student’s work based off my knowledge of them without me realizing it.
I approached the grading process by reading through the prompt twice, and then drafting a rubric based off the information and requirements of the prompt. Using this mock-rubric I began to evaluate the essay. I would grade this piece as complete, but as seen in the comments I was a bit harsh in suggesting that there should be more in-depth reflection and analysis going on in the essay.
By the end of this, I found myself trying to construct a caricature of this student.
Do they resemble someone in my class right now? Are they a true freshmen right out of high school, or have they got some “worldly” experience with they they are bringing to class? I want to put a name to the writing. Alas, Roland Barthes would be shaking his head at me, instead of killing the author, I am attempting to resurrect a Frankenstein-esque author with pieces from my own students.