Assessment Practices

If these latest chapters from Teaching Adolescent Writers could be summed up in a few words they would be model everything and practice, practice, and more practice.

I can admit to being one of the “once and done” kind of writers. I've found that it is difficult to go back and edit my work, and not just because of the additional effort and time that it requires. I think that for some people, it is hard to edit their work because of the personal nature of writing. I’m very meticulous when I write and sometimes feel that criticism is a kind of attack upon me, even though that isn't true. I can’t imagine how criticism, even constructive criticism, must feel for less confident writers.

Because of this, I really liked the examples Gallagher gave for modeling. Well, modeling done right. I can remember being shown a “Grecian urn,” being told that this was what was expected of me, and just wanting to give up right then and there. But I can also remember the first time a teacher modeled the editing process. He gave us an essay that I, with all my tact back then, characterized as “atrocious.” After letting us tear into the essay, my teacher revealed that it was his, a college paper he’d written at the last minute. I was shocked (and extremely embarrassed about what I’d said.) But the lesson about never letting the first draft be the final draft has never been forgotten. Turning the idea of assessment on its head, where students give feedback on a teacher’s work, is definitely an effective tool, and one that needs to be used more often.

With that being said, I found Gallagher’s 4:1 grading philosophy a little off-putting at first. However, when I started to think about it, it made sense. Students are already feel scrutinized enough by the red pen. This approach lets them have a chance to practice getting their thought and opinions onto the paper; they also can write without fearing that their work will be judged by another (audience) or that their work will be judged for a certain value (grades). I’m definitely thinking about using this grading approach for writing assignments.

Speaking of assessments, I found the authentic/objective assessment assignment for this week especially challenging. I dislike traditional tests to begin with, as I feel that they don’t fit the nature of literary study. Reading and writing is intensely subjective, and an objective assessment is the exact opposite of that. I also struggled because, when I read, I try to search for relevance beyond what just the text says. I like to make connections to current events, to history, to society, to anything really. How can a multiple choice test assess all that?

Part of my problem with the objective assessment might’ve been that my short story, “If I Forget Thee, O Earth,” was so short—only 3 pages. I chose the text because I thought it was written concisely and well, but also because I thought that it would spur on thoughtful discussion and that could connect to a variety of texts. Like in a text satellite, come to think….

However, I think that my difficulty with creating a multiple choice assessment was because it ran so contrary to everything that I think of when trying to create a unit. That’s why I’m enjoying reading and learning about alternative and more creative ways to assess students. Plus, I think that alternative assessments are much more fun (albeit more time-consuming) to grade than running Scantron sheets.

Teaching Reading / Promoting Literacy

I can certainly relate to the effects of readicide. Having been a lifelong reader, I’d be flummoxed when people would say, “Reading is boring,” or “You really don’t have TV?” Unlike most of my book-averse peers, I can look back and always had reading modeled for me by my parents. The library was a simple, no-cost (I learned quickly that late books came out of MY allowance), and rewarding place for my family to find some quality entertainment. I can remember wondering back then why my classmates didn’t like reading so much. Everything that I learned and loved came out of reading .

Back when I was in middle school, when reading starts to become “uncool”, I noticed that teachers who kept libraries in their classrooms and let us sign books out—either for required or recreational reading—had fewer complaints when it came time to do in-class reading. At the same time, I can remember my sixth grade teacher’s bookshelf. It was full of books. Problem was, most of those books were old, Newbury Award-winners. And even back then, I knew that what might be considered an award-winning book for a teen might not be considered enjoyable by that same teen. Other than those few blessed teachers that at least tried to keep books on hand (likely out of their own pocket), even my relatively well-off private school seemed to rarely ever restock the library or use anything other than the battered literary anthologies from 1994. Book deserts, it seems, are equal opportunity offenders.

I know that it isn’t fair to just blame the school’s lack of resources. I’ve recommended books to people that I just knew that they’d enjoy, talk to them weeks or months later, and they’d sheepishly say that they hadn’t read it. But lend the book to someone, and then they can’t put it down. Because of that, I really liked where Gallagher gave the example of how he got students interested in reading Who Killed My Daughter? It took getting the students interested, and then getting book into their hands to get them reading. It’s the extra step that we book lovers forget.

The parts of this reading that just made me shudder were the sections about how test prep is pushing reading out of the classroom. I think Gallagher summed up the illogic of this with the statement “in an attempt to raise reading scores, school districts are removing books from kids” (11). You wouldn’t attempt to raise math scores by handing students workbooks completely without context from the original concepts and terms. That wouldn’t be effective, even with the analytic, problem-solving nature of math. So why do schools use this approach with reading? I’ve observed PSSA reading prep classes and I think that if the student’s eyes glazed over any more in them they’d turn into Krispy Kreme donuts. It’s such a demoralizing environment, for students and teachers. Tell them that it was time to do SSR, well, that perked them up as if they’d just eaten a box of donuts.

Finally, I fully agree with Gallagher’s suggestion to do research to find out how much reading the students actually are doing in and out of the classroom. I’m planning to write a capstone paper that involves surveying adolescent reading in and out of the classroom, and think that it is not only a great way to get a feeling for where your students are with reading ability, but about them as individuals. Knowing what students read says a lot about them as people, not to mention what they find interesting.  

In short, I think that Gallagher has some great thoughts on what schools are doing wrong and what we as teachers can be doing right. I think that his main arguments center around all about modeling good reading practices and getting students access to books that they want to read, something that I see as effective.