Reflections on Student Work Analysis

In one word: fantastic.

More? Ok.  

To begin with, I received an incredible amount of feedback that highlighted areas that I think my students should have developed and even mastered at this point in the semester when the essay was actually written.  Because this student has not, and s/he is not the only one, that tells me that instead of complicating the essay with elements such as literary criticism, that next fall I should focus on crafting issues such as word choice, develop of introduction, conclusion, transitions, and cohesion.

Considering that the student essay was a literary analysis and much of the analysis in the essay was surface level, between this discussion and my teaching demonstration, I have some ideas about developing more of a focus on low stakes writing that continues to develop this skill.  Emily suggested using double-entry journals for not only analysis but also developing connections to textual evidence.  I love this idea.    

I also appreciated the affirmation that the evaluations and observations I have of this student's writing are part of the consensus.  Comments confirmed the same strengths and weaknesses with the student's writing but also in the assignment.  Now I can consider what elements to keep and maybe provide more scaffolding or elements to remove all together. 

I also think that as Hannah noted, the process highlights the blinders and loopholes we develop as teachers of our students.  It's easy to sometimes make excuses for their choices.  Because as we all know, writing doesn't happen in a bubble.  Just because there is an essay due does not mean that all the teenage issues dissipate.  However, this process illuminated the constant need to be as objective as possible when grading but remember that there is a value in knowing how far this student has come. 

And lastly, the student work analysis activity helped me consider more ways of responding to the student writing --in terms of "I noticed" and "I wonder" so that the words are less about evaluation but more about a conversation.