The last few years it seems like I completely redesign my courses, the assignments I give, the way I separate learning and grades in my courses.
This year all my classes did grading conferences. My composition students had 3 major writing assignments, and their writing portfolio, each of which counted as 25% of their grade. For each we went over what the assignment should include and based on that checklist they would present their work and tell me what grade they thought it earned and why. In general we talked about a "C" meeting the minimum requirements, an A or B doing more, a D or F doing less. For the most part this worked well. It seemed to strike a good balance with first year/beginning students. I assigned genres but they chose their own topics to write on so there was a lot of choice and freedom.
In my upper level classes I tried something new. They had two categories of grades, their writer's notebooks and their unessays. At midterms they showed me 5 pages from their notebook that focused on an idea or theme, and told me what grade and why. For their unessay they submitted a proposal outlining the topic and format of their unessay, again with what grade and why.
Talking with the students they like the unessays, although they say the choice freaks them out.
They hate the writer's notebooks.
I LOVE writer's notebooks/daybooks. I live by mine. I just started #41 and my closet is full of 19 years of them. I think they are wonderful habits and resources and I absolutely cannot get them to work in my classes. I have tried multiple variations- like an interactive notebook with specific guidelines, few guidelines but a general idea. Examples, images, photos. Nothing. They say they feel "babied" being told to keep a notebook, they don't know what it's supposed to do, they don't like it. Yet their images they share, what I see them doing in class is EXACTLY what I want them to be.
So I'm at a loss.
I guess I need to stop trying to make writer's notebooks happen.
So, sadly, when designing my classes for fall, I let the writer's notebooks go. Instead, I focused on designing several key assignments. In part I did this because there were some skill gaps I was noticing across my classes. So, below are the "standard" assignments I've designed, that with small tweaks, I plan on using across my upper level English classes. I also need to, as I build out my classes, build in the skills needed to get them to these major writing assignments. There will be flexibility, some classes, some students may not need all the mini-lessons, the scaffolding, but my classes are always flexible, so that will be fine.
I'm hoping that this introduction, revisiting, will help build these skills while still allowing students to choose their own topics, research interests, and apply them. I've also kept the unessay project since they really like that and frankly I love seeing the results!
Close Reading: You will choose a text then choose 2-3 lines in that text to analyze You’ll put the lines at the top of your paper Then you’ll write a detailed paragraph that does the “close reading” which goes pretty much word by word and talks about what each word means Then having done all that micro, close work, you step back and write a detailed paragraph on how those lines represent the work as a whole There is no introduction or conclusion, no outside sources. The focus is strictly on your analysis
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Unessay Project: You will choose a topic/format that we’ve seen in our course. You will then replicate/create/comment on that topic/format Formats include: quilts, collages, sculptures, models, recipes, drawings The topic just has to be related to the course If you Google “Unessay” you will see a variety of formats and projects from a wide range of classes
In addition to creating your unessay you will turn in a 1 page explanation explaining why the topic/format was important at the time, and why you chose to do this.
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Apply What You’ve Learned You will choose a text (short story, essay, film, novel) that you believe you have something to say about as it relates to our course Write a paper that analyzes a specific aspect of that text (scene, apply a literary theory lens, theme, close reading, etc.) It will engage critically with scholarly texts and use them to support your own, unique arguments MLA format, internal citations, Works Cited.
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Final Course Reflection: You will write me a letter that explicitly tells me what you learned in this course, providing specific evidence from class readings, activities, and discussions.
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This is a tweak.
But I am making a major change. In the syllabus section on assessment I have the assignments above, but before that I am putting this in:
Learning and Grades
For me what is important is that you learn in my class. I have designed our class to do this in three ways.
The first is I have designed major assignments that allow you to demonstrate specific skills.
I will provide an outline of what the assignment should include
You will choose your own topics to write about. I encourage you to use your assignments to explore and fill gaps in what we cover as a class, exploring narratives typically erased in the canon, LGBTQ+, Chican@, Black, Indigenous, People of Color.
The week the assignments are due you will come see me during office hours so we can talk through the assignment. It is a chance for you to share what you’re most proud of, what you learned, and for me to provide feedback.
The second is I then backtrack from those major assignments to design our day to day class assignments that are practice for those skills. The idea is that you have time to practice, receive feedback, and learn how to improve so that your work on the major assignment is the best it can be.
The third type of assessment has to do with grades. At midterms you will meet with me and answer the question “what have you learned?”
You will tell me what grade you think you’ve earned at midterms and why
You’ll provide evidence from class discussions, your notebook, assignments, etc.
At finals you’ll do something similar, but in a letter you submit.
If at any point you want to sit down and talk about how you’re doing, what you’re learning, what you need help with, I am happy to do that. I want you to be able to use this class to explore your interests and expand your learning. My role is to be a resource to help you do that.
At my institution I have to post midterm and final grades. I like the idea of having students telling me what they learned and providing evidence to support their statements (although it's not writer's notebook). This approach may not be popular. I can see and anticipate pushback. But for me this is a reflection of what I think is important in a classroom. It is a balance of what I am required to do and what I want students to get out of my class. I hope it empowers my students to be able to determine their own learning, present evidence, make their argument.
I am only doing this with my upper level English courses. My Composition and World Lit classes will still follow the 4 set assignments, but with grade conferences.
Anyway, I'm excited. I hope it works. In the past I've found that explaining why I do things this way goes a long way with students. And our English majors know I listen to them and adjust so I'm sure my students who take next year's classes with me will be grateful and happy to NOT see writer's notebooks on the agenda.
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