I have divided the papers into piles of ten--with two from each of my five classes.
I read my first set of ten papers are was perplexed because of the quality of some of the work. If I were to use the standard grading curve, students grades would have plummeted in some cases.
I became despondent because after spending as much time as we had on the paper, the results were disappointing.
I decided just to mark the papers with the categories "exemplary," "standard," "below standard." I thought, I'll figure out how to assess points to them later.
That has helped a lot!
It also help a great deal to know the the first ten seemed to be an anomaly. Papers since then have been marked in their improvement.
So, what does all this mean...
I have assessed about 30 papers. I am going to hang on to them until I can figure out how to attach points to them...
Trust me...you want me to do this!
PS. And for those of you who are wondering whose papers were included in the first ten, it's none of your business!
