Friday, May 6, 2011

Mr. Marshall's English Marking

A current goal of the school is to improve student writing.  One of the ways we have addressed this is to change the way we mark your writing.  Please respond to the following prompt:

"Having been assessed using both the 6-point holistic scale and the current rubric, tell which you prefer, and why?"

45 comments:

  1. I definitely agree with the previous post in that there is something valuable from both marking systems. However, I believe the rubric is more helping in learning what you need to do succeed. The only problem is that most people don't seem to be using that to their advantage.

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  2. More helpful when learning*

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  3. Thanks - please remember that "anonymous" comments will normally be deleted - I'll leave this one as an example. I will be asking all of my English students to respond to this post in class on Wednesday.

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  4. I don't prefer either, I have my preferences on both. The 6-point holistic scale was easier for me to get a higher mark, and although it's a little more difficult to get a better mark, the rubric helps you learn from your mistakes, which in that case, it makes you work that much harder on pieces of writing.

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  5. I think the rubric is a better way of marking our work. This is because on the rubric you can see what you have done well on, and see where you need help in certain areas.

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  6. I prefer the rubric because you are able to see the mistakes you made and learn from them much easier compared to the 6-point holistic scale that just tells you whether you did well or not

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  7. I like the rubric better. With the 6-point holistic scale, you get a mark out of 6 and that's that. With the rubric, i can see what i did well on and what i need to do to improve. So I would like to stick to the rubric.

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  8. I think the 6-point scale is easier to follow, this way you know roughly were you are, and how well your doing, But i also like the rubric because you can read what your doing wrong, and improve easier.

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  9. i think both would be nice so you know what you need to improve on and you get your mark.

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  10. I agree with the first comment. I seemed to also get higher marks with the 6 point, thus I'm a little biased towards it. But the rubric does help people learn easier and find out what they are missing, although certain things that are in the rubric shouldn't be used to mark every essay. My vote on the hollistic scale.

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  11. I think the rubric is better for people to learn and progress in their writing. It shows me where I can improve and where I'm really excelling. I know its helping me a lot. The holistic scale didn't help me at all. I was always marked with a 4 and it was very discouraging when I would get my writing back and after thinking I did a really good job, ending up get another 4. It didn't really show me why I got the mark I did. I believe the Rubric is better completely.

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  12. I like the rubric better because it allows me to see in a chart where i stand and what i need to work on. At the beginning of this year i started as a low developing writer. from reading what i need to work on it has brought me to high developing.

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  13. I prefer the rubric because with it you know what you need to work on to improve. I think being able to understand what you need to do to improve is much better than getting a number on the top of your work, wondering why it's so low and having no clue what you need to do in order fix it when your teacher tells you to redo it.

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  14. I like the rubric a lot better than the 6 point holistic scale because it shows you what you need to work on instead of just giving you a mark. Before with the 6 point scale I would look at my paper then put it into my binder and with the rubric i actually look at what i have done wrong. Then for the next time i go to write i try and make sure i have corrected what i did wrong the last time.

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  15. I prefer the rubric style because it tells you what you need to improve on. Where as the holistic scale is just a number, what am I suppose to do with a number. A number isn't going to help me realize why I got what I got. I mean sure they give you little comments on your work when doing the holistic scale but the rubric actually says it straight out You might say that people should know what they have done wrong and what they need to do better but a rubric is a good help.

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  16. I prefer the rubric, because it helps me see what I need to work on for the next writing we do. I've also noticed that my writing has improved sense we've started using the rubric and hope everyone else has too.

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  17. The holistic scale marking may be easier in some ways to determine how your writing is, short and simple. Though when compared to the rubric, the holistic scale seems like a shortcut in marking, were-as the rubric has more involved and is more complicated. Having four different specific categories to be marked on, seems to be able to pull more out of writing since we can actually see what we are being marked on.

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  18. rubric is more involved*

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  19. I feel as though the rubric scale is way better for those that want to take advantage of it. It is in perfect sense, a helpful way to succeed... It breaks things down into a more descriptive manner to help you with what points you need to improve on. Thus being better for us students to help us achieve our goal for what we really want out of our writing. It is a hard progress to get into the swing of, but once you begin to understand the rubric, it is more helpful in the long run.

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  20. I agree with Parkers comment,"I think the rubric is a better way of marking our work. This is because on the rubric you can see what you have done well on, and see where you need help in certain areas"

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  21. In the beginning I didn't like the rubric and wished we could go back to the 6 point scale but I learned to like it. I like the feedback it gives me rather than just a number that told me what I got, but not why. Nevertheless, while I prefer the rubric, I still don't like the peer editing part of it. I don't feel that we are prepared enough to mark our friends work, or our own.

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  22. I feel that the current rubric is quite a lot easier to understand and it goes into more detail. I prefer the rubric because you learn a lot more then the 6-point holistic scale. With the holistic scale all you get is a mark. With the current rubric you get to learn more and you also have a chance to sit down with the teacher and talk over what was good or bad in your writing assignment.

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  23. I prefer the Rubric because It lets you know exactly what you have done right and what you need to work on. With the 6 point scale it was nice to see a mark but I honestly believe my writing has improved because of the rubric. I have a better understanding of what makes a good paragraph or essay and i don't need a grade to know if i am doing well, because in my opinion as long as i am improving i feel confident. I also Enjoy English a lot more because of the Rubric. Booo Yeahhh. :)

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  24. In terms of getting higher marks on the holistic scale, it might be important to note that different teachers were marking you when you received your holistic marks in the past. We teachers try to be fair and consistent, but there is subjectivity involved in our assessment. I think that the rubric helps to make writing assessment somewhat more "transparent."

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  25. I like the rubric. It helps me see where I need to work on my writing. It is really helpful to my learning, and from what I can tell everyone else's to.

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  26. At first I preferred the holistic scale, because I liked being able to see clearly what my mark was. After using the rubric, and getting used to it, I realized that it was in fact better than the 6 point scale for an abundance of reasons. With the rubric not only can you see what areas you're doing well on, but also the areas that need improvement. You can set goals for your writing and see the improvement as your writing develops. The holistic scale may be quicker and easier, but in the long run the rubric is definitely more beneficial.

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  27. I much prefer the rubric scale way of marking. If we are trying to improve our writing, having the rubric is what helps us. I could easily have the scale sitting next to me as i proof read my own work and have the teacher give me a percentage on my writing but that wont tell me what I did and didn't do properly. You can't use a read pen to correct everything that is mentioned on the rubric. When I can see what it is I need to improve on, I am able to focus on those categories and increase my writing to a much higher level. If I wanted to know what my percentage was, I can estimate it with which category I fell under. The rubric marking, in my opinion, is the best way to improve writing.

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  28. I feel the rubric scale provides helpful information on how to improve our writing, it pin points our area's we need to focus on, and also shows where we have improved. However, the rubric can be confusing in some ways, such as which coulomb on the rubric scale represents which letter grade, or if our wrighting has improved from a developed writer to an exemplary writer, what does the teacher base his mark on? the first assignment or the last? It may look as if the student has improved in writing when maybe he or she just blew the first couple essays. i find the rubric has its pro's and con's but the holistic scale provided a letter grade for each essay. This was convenient when wanting to know our "Mark" on the assignment.

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  29. Remember, if a student's writing steadily improves, she will receive a writing mark that reflects only the higher score at the end of the reporting period. If the writing is inconsistent and the scores go up and down, the mark will have to be averaged (as in the past). If, however, the marks go steadily down, the lower score will be recorded. The bottom line: don't get worse or submit anything but your best work.

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  30. the new rubric is more efficient because it breaks down the test and reveals the problems that you have in parts not just a basic mark

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  31. i would rather be graded by the rudbric. it tells me what im good at and what i need to work on, as well as telling me where i am at like high developing and such.

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  32. Joel prefers the writing rubric because of the more in-depth responses and feedback one can obtain from it. The rubric does have its cons though, such as Mr.Marshall having to spend more time marking writing than spending time with his family and kids. Overall the rubric is much better for the students than teacher.

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  33. I prefer the rubric because it helps students understand what they need to improve and what they are doing well on. It also doesn't bring down your mark if you are always improving where as the six point scale does. The rubric is a better way to improve students writing because it shows them what is done wrong, and will help them on their next piece of writing.

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  34. After reading other people's posts I must say that I dont like how the rubric takes the score that is most consistent because some people write differently depending on how interested they are or how well they understand the topic. Therefore I believe I like the hollistic scale more because for those people who dont do as well at the end of the year because of stress or fatigue, it potentially doesn't effect their grade as much as the rubric.

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  35. I think that the rubric works better in ways to improve peoples writing and the old method was a bit out of date and was only good for fast marking witch makes the teacher not always interpret the writing and its own significance. The rubric has helped me this year with my writing and still is.

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  36. I think the writing rubric is a much better way of marking our work, because it clearly shows our strengths, and what we need to improve. I also like the way that our beginning, weaker work is ignored, because it encourages us to improve our writing. =)

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  37. but i also like how the rubric is more clear about how you can improve your writing.

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  38. I honestly prefer the rubric scale because I feel that it gives me a better understanding of how my writing is and what needs work like many other students have said. There are more options for marking instead of just one to six and the occasional half mark.

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  39. i also agree with Jfieldington

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  40. I prefer the holistic scale for a concrete mark but I agree with Allison, that the rubric is "better for those that want to take advantage of it." I think that the rubric is confusing until you break it down and really read and understand what was flawed and what was well done. The rubric is better for improving, but I never seem to read it all, therefore I am always unsure of my actual mark.

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  41. I prefer the rubric method of marking versus the holistic way. I find it easier to see what I need to improve in my writing, through the rubric. I do not like the holistic way as much because I'm better with words than numbers. If I see a numeric score, it doesn't sink into my brain as much as a rubric score does.

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  42. I like the rubric better because I can see what i got wrong. I used to always get the same mark but now i can tell that when I read the rubric and try and correct what i got wrong I do better. I also think that I do better on a topic that I'm interested in.

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  43. I think the current writing rubric is a better marking system because it shows where we need to improve as well as our strengths. And it gives time for improvement unlike the holistic scale.

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  44. I like to receive my work back with more information on how I can improve in future assignments but I also like to know my mark. I think that if the rubric is going to boost my writing skills further it's more helpful. Instead of having an averaged out mark it's better to improve and receive the mark for the work you given your best on.

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  45. I like the rubric the most because you are able to see you mistakes and know what not to do the next time.

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