June 2008 Weddings
Casperdy
member
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Profs/teachers-grading question
How do you fairly grade a paper (10 page research paper-student chose topic from list) of a foreign exchange student whose english is, well, just okay?
I offered to review and edit her paper in advance and she did not take me up on it.
The grammatical errors are abundant, making the paper difficult to get through in places. Do I grade with the same criteria as any other student or with an "understanding" of the situation?
Thoughts??
Re: Profs/teachers-grading question
Unfortunately that's why I offered to review in advance. This is the final and final grades are due Friday. No chance for a redo (which I made very clear to the entire class).
She's done well in the class so far as only one other assignment/grade was writing based and it was clearer than this. She's smart, the ideas are good, but the grammar is just really bad...
This was going to be my answer exactly. Never an easy situation.... good luck!
I was going to mention that as well. I teach 5th grade writing, so it's very different, but my rubric always has separate sections for mechanics and grammar so that it's clear where any points may have been lost.
I do-the rubric has 15 points for grammar specifically. I just feel bad I guess. I already made a note that she really needs to let me edit in advance next time as the errors were distracting to her ideas. It's very hard to read.
I am an ESL teacher, so obviously I'm going to say accomodations/modifications should be given to the student. Should she of had someone to look over her paper, yes...but maybe she didn't even realize it was grammatically incorrect. Do you by chance know how long the student has been in the country? Academic English takes anywhere from 5-12 years to learn, and writing is the last area to be fully developed.
edit: Just realized you said foreign exchange student, so I'm assuming she hasn't been in here very long.
Yeah, I know it has to be tough. I'm trying to grade her ideas fairly and not taking away points for ever error, but only when they are really distracting and unclear.
My honest assessment is that I think she wrote the paper in Japanese, then put it into Google translate or the like. It is SO strange. Weird word use, words out of order, past/present mix ups, plurality issues... etc.
I think based on what has been said above, you need to dock her points. It's specifically laid out as 15 points for grammar. You offered to help, which is awesome, and she refused it. It was her choice, this is her consequence. I understand you feel bad, I might also, but she refused help. If she had taken your help, this wouldn't have been an issue. Maybe she will learn that she needs to accept the help next time?
With that being said, she can loose a max of 15 points on grammar. If the paper is good, other than grammar, she can still get a good/decent grade.
You sound like a great teacher!
This. I feel that students have ample opportunities for help. Most big universities have an ESL writing center, and if not there are at least writing tutors that you can make an appointment with through campus tutoring. You offered her help, she did not take it, so this is a really great learning experience for her. If you give one student a break on your rubric you must do so for the rest.