Beyond Checklists And Rubrics: Engaging Students In Authentic Conversations About Their Writing (1)

By Author: Friendhdx
Total Articles: 47
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Please take out your rough drafts and turn to the person next to you. I want to give you a chance to share your writing with a partner." Ellen, the English teacher I was observing, smiled at her restless group of ninth-grade students. She held up a stack of papers. "As you read your partner's paper, be sure to answer each question on this peer response checklist. Then you can take your own sheet home to help you revise."

The sounds of chairs scraping and notebooks opening filled the room. I watched as most partner-ships got right to work, silently Thomas Sabo Bracelets reading through drafts and responding to each question on Ellen's checklist. Some students wrote only cursory comments, writing "good job" or "needs more detail," while others wrote out longer answers in complete sentences. When students began talking, most focused on explaining what they had written on the checklist.

As I observed Ellen's lesson unfold, I found myself in familiar territory. When I began teaching high school, I created files of rubrics for different writing assignments, ...
... each with corresponding peer-response worksheets or checklists. I had visions of students engaged in meaningful conversations, improving their writing and expanding their sense of audience beyond me, their teacher. I knew Ellen shared these hopes for her students. Yet, as I watched Ellen's students, and as I reflected on my early practice, I was struck by the lack of authentic discussion about writing. The talk I did overhear was heavily influenced by the checklist, with comments focused on the teacher's questions and purposes rather than the students' questions. Were these the sorts of authentic conversations we teachers had desired? Did these interactions resemble those of "real world" writers? Did they help students reconsider their writing or enter purposefully into the writing of their peers?

I struggle to think of when, as a writer, I have asked someone to fill out a checklist about my writing, especially when I am immersed in drafting and revision processes. When I write for my own purposes, and when I write for real audiences, I need more complex interactions to occur. As I wrote this article, for example, I sat down regularly with writing groups and partners who pushed me to consider my audience, asked me to clarify my purpose, and helped me to see how my writing decisions shaped their experiences with my text. Our interactions were dialogic in nature, grounded in inquiry, and filled with observations, questions, clarifications, and Thomas Sabo Charms responses. Much of the feedback I received was oral, with written comments on my drafts serving to focus talk, rather than replace it. I was an active participant in conversations, asking frequent follow-up questions and jotting notes on my drafts to help me revise.