Grading Conferences

I have been giving feedback on student writing for nearly 30 years!  Thousands of hours have been spent writing comments, asking questions, circling errors, and trying to grade each assignment objectively.  Of course, I always found it frustrating when students did not read the comments that I so painstakingly wrote.  Many just looked at the grade and continued on with their day.  Another challenge I faced was trying to give students feedback on how to improve without crushing their spirits!  How often have we said something in an email that didn't come off the way we intended?  I certainly don't want to hurt my students' feelings or make them feel they're horrible writers! 

After reading posts by Catlin Tucker and Marissa Thompson, two of my Twitter mentors, I knew that writing conferences were something I had to try.  I would meet with every student, discuss their writing (in this case, a narrative) and with them, decide on a score for each area.  For this particular assignment, we had four standards that I would be assessing:  1) precise language 2) sensory details  3) dialogue  4) reflective ending.  

I had been providing feedback all along, so students already had many comments from me that they used to revise their writing. However, in most cases, I had not read the last few paragraphs.  Here is what I did that made these conferences WORK: students filled out this document before meeting with me. This forced students to take another look at their work and come with evidence to support their scores.  Students brought their Chromebooks with them to my desk with their document open. I also had my Chromebook opened to each student's essay. I quickly went through their essays, pointing out what they did well, as well as any areas that could use improvement.  Then, I wrote down the score I thought they earned in each area. I did not show the student. Instead, I asked them what they gave themselves. As they told me each score, I would reveal mine. If anything, they were harder on themselves than I was! For the most part, we were within .5 of each other. My favorite part was when I asked  students what they gave themselves on dialogue, for example, and the student said, "I gave myself a one because I really didn't have any." Then we discussed how easy it would be to add it, as well as possible places in the narrative it would work.

For the most part, these conferences were a success. I was able to deliver any constructive feedback in a more personal, gentle way, as well as encourage students to revise.  I had the opportunity to say much more than I could in written comments. I was able to build students up about their writing and emphasize the positives!  I have already had several students revise, something that didn't happen much in the past.

Finally, I told students that just as I provide feedback on their writing to help them improve, I need feedback on my teaching methods to help me improve. I had them all fill out a Google Form on their Grading Conference experience. I included screenshots of their responses.  Here are some written comments:

You were very nice and you let me fix my essay over and over so I didn't get a bad grade. Thank You!

The meeting was really helpful and now I know what I am really good at and what I need to work on.

i liked that I got a chance to work on it rather than here's a grade

I like knowing what I did well at what I should work on

I really liked that you had a personal reflection with us. It made us feel way more comfortable and confident in our selves. Thank you

I prefer meeting with you so I understand what you want in my essays ;)

I am very glad to have Mrs.K because I feel like she has really enhanced my writing skills.

Thank you for helping me understand what I did wrong and what I need to do to improve my writing skills.

I liked being able to talk about my essay instead of people just writing stuff down about the essay.

Could you explain how to write a reflection

I like the talking part

I liked it when how you met with us because it gave us a better view of why we got that grad.

I like when we talk about the essay and how I can fix it, more than just giving me a grade.

What were the challenges?  TIME!  Fortunately, students were working on stations on those days, but it wasn't easy in my larger classes.   One of my classes is 35, and it was a bit loud at times. Based on student feedback, it was worth it, and I plan on doing it again! For the few that didn't like meeting with me, they will be permitted to just get a grade.