Appreciative feedback > standardized rubrics
"While numbers work pretty well for communicating certain kinds of precise information, we have kept words around for their evocative, emotive, associative power." (Wilson, 63)
Throughout this week's readings, Woodard, Coppola, and Wilson discussed the importance of using words and reflective feedback rather than standardized automated rubrics. Woodard and Coppola discuss the benefits of appreciative feedback in response to students' poetry and spoken word performance. Using poetry and spoken word performance, students were able to explore "various aspects of students' cultures and identities by positioning contemporary and canonical poetry alongside one another" (Woodard and Coppola, 62). This transition from traditional poetry with a silent audience to a performance which fosters audience engagement and asks for active feedback from fellow students. How does incorporating fellow students' appreciative feedback prove more beneficial for writing pedagogy?
"Opening up writing spaces for adolescents to share their secret lives matters by helping to disrupt, problematize, and complicate the singular narratives that students are often boxed into in schools." (Woodard and Coppola, 65)
Throughout the program, I have had many opportunities to reflect upon my own school experience while comparing and contrasting with the information we are learning. I agree with the authors on the importance of allowing freedom within students' writing and limiting the use of rubrics which "prematurely narrowed and cemented my vision of good writing" (Wilson, 63). Are we doing a disservice to our students by guiding their writing and using rubrics for which they can follow? In More Than Words: Student Writers Realizing Possibilities through Spoken Word Poetry, Sujaya was more comfortable approaching conversations regarding aspects of her culture and how it was met with racism through spoken word poetry. In order to be a culturally sustaining educator, we must provide opportunities for students to "explore the multiple, layered, and fluid dimensions of their cultures, identities, and linguistic/literate practices" (Woodard and Coppola, 64). How do you plan to incorporate lessons involving culture and identities in a way that empowers students to be advocates and provide active feedback to other contributions?
Additional Questions:
- Have you experienced "writing to a rubric" and how do you feel it impacted your education and writing identity?
- What are some alternative approaches to provide feedback that benefit the students learning and encourage critical consciousness?
- Do you plan to use multimodality and additional poetic forms, such as hip-hop music, to encourage students to explore their culture and identity? If so, what are some ways you've seen or have thought of?
- How do you plan to bring fellow students into assessment in order to share "their readerly experiences, such as emotional reactions, personal connections, and lingering questions"?(Woodard and Coppola, 62)
Finally, I would encourage you to look into the Louder Than a Bomb website and trailer video to highlight students bringing critical issues to the forefront through spoken word poetry. This could be beneficial to understand how poetry is used to create activism and promote cultural relevance within your classroom.
References:
Wilson, M. (2007). Why I won't be using rubrics to respond to students' writing. English Journal, 62-66.
Woodard, R., & Coppola, R. (2018). More Than Words: Student Writers Realizing Possibilities through Spoken Word Poetry. English Journal, 107(3), 62-67.
Thanks for your post, Sam. After reading the Wilson (2007) article, I have been thinking more about evaluating student work. I think every writing assignment I’ve ever turned in has had a rubric. Before taking these courses and reading the Wilson (2007) article, I never thought that it could have had a negative impact on my writing identity. I always got good grades in writing, so I never thought there was anything wrong with the system. As I think about it, I’m can recall several instances where writing to a rubric felt constraining to me. I’m currently writing a paper for another class with a very strict format and rubric. I consistently feel that my professor’s rubric is keeping me from writing as well as I know I can and from expressing what I’ve researched in the most effective way.
ReplyDeleteWhen giving personal, appreciative feedback, I think it is important to remember that feedback on writing should not be applied without thought by students. Wilson (2007) addresses this in her section on subjectivity. I also really liked her wording in comments to Miranda, “think this idea through, and try it if it seems like it would accomplish what you want” (Wilson, 2007, p. 65). This makes it clear that the teacher’s comments are suggestions. And although they come from the ‘expert,’ the student is still positioned as having agency in her writing. I have had teachers who felt that their feedback on drafts had to be fully incorporated into revisions. I often chafed against these teachers’ grading because sometimes their feedback didn’t match what I wanted to portray in my writing and I felt constrained by their expectations.
I had a very similar experience during my sophomore year of undergrad. My professor actually had a layout that you had to follow for each sentence of your paper. It felt like I was just filling in the blanks with information rather than creating a paper on my own. I can now see how detrimental this was to my writing identity and didn't allow me to grow as a writer. The subjectivity of writing as always been my biggest concern as a student. I feel its important to allow students to identify why they wrote a certain way or on a certain topic in order to give them the best opportunity for progress in their writing.
DeleteGreat post, Sam. I think it is so important that we rethink the way we evaluate student work. For me growing up, I was always given a rubric beforehand and given the tools to create a paper, project, etc that modeled what would give me the most points. I think we have become so used to the ideas of rubrics being something students have no say in, but I think that is harmful for the students. I feel that we, as educators, should work collaboratively with our students so they have a say in what their work will be graded on. The students may view the work differently knowing they had some part in creating how it will be assessed.
ReplyDeleteI also think that grades should not be the main focus of students. Even now in this program I find myself always searching for a perfect grade, and therefore it is sometimes restraining me from putting more individuality into the work. I think we get so used to how our teachers grade us, we learn what it takes to achieve a good grade early on. I think that if students were included in the process of creating the rubric, it will allow for more individuality to shine all around.
I love your idea of working with the students to create "rubrics" based on what they want their work to look like. I agree that rubrics have become sort of a clutch for students to lean on in order to get a good grade. I often find myself looking a the rubric before I submit a piece of work making sure I'm hitting all the components within the A category rather than creating a meaningful and individualized product. I would love to hear some ideas from our class on ways to incorporate students into the reflection/grading process so we can hopefully incorporate those into our own future classroom.
DeleteI do think we're doing a disservice to our students if we provide them with a standard writing rubric. The main reason being that this type of rubric is limiting. Woodward and Coppola emphasize that more traditional approaches to teaching literacy are exclusive to students and cultures from Eurocentric backgrounds. We've discussed at length implementing culturally sustaining/relevant pedagogies. While this is great in theory, it only goes so far if our rubric or assessment is still based on a more traditional model. If our norm for grading is still based on expectations that accommodate white students, then how can we ever expect to create a more equitable environment.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea from the Woodward and Coppola article of students having opportunities to share their distinct voice. Throughout school, students' writing is oftentimes critiqued and honed in a particular way that preferences standards and testing. The end result is that students all sound the same. Growing up, I loved to write. It wasn't until I got to college that I realized despite the numerous writing assignments I'd had over the years, not one of them honed my particular voice. My screenwriting teachers would encourage us to advertise our voice or brand of writing. However, this was something I always struggled with because I'd been encouraged to write in a fairly emotionless, detached manner. Instead of forcing students to write and speak in such a uniform way, we should celebrate the ways in which their distinct personalities come through.
I really appreciate your thoughts on the effects rubrics have specifically on students from non-eurocentric cultures! I think this is a critical issue, especially at Enlace where students come from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds. Its important to not only talk about being a culturally sustaining educator and creating lessons that highlight all cultures but its also vital in how we grade and assess our students to provide equal opportunity for all students. After your experience with your screenwriting teachers, do you have an idea of how you will encourage voice and identity within your students work?
DeleteGreat post Sam! I also agree with the authors on the importance of allowing freedom within students' writing and limiting the use of rubrics which "prematurely narrowed and cemented my vision of good writing." Your question "Have you experienced "writing to a rubric" and how do you feel it impacted your education and writing identity?" made me think about my writing experience in school. I always felt like my writing, or any work in school, was limited due to rubrics. I do appreciate guidelines that rubrics give, but I always felt like I had to do what the rubric said and would give the teacher what they wanted. I think giving suggestions or other guidelines to students that aren't rubrics would be more beneficial and would encourage students to risks in their writing without fear of losing points or failing. Giving specific and thoughtful feedback to writing would be much more helpful and encouraging to a student than a rubric with no thoughtful feedback.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you completely! While giving students a guideline to loosely follow can be helpful for students struggling to get started, setting them up with a strict rubric can limit their identity in their work and lead to creating the same product over and over again from different students. Personally, I would hate to read the same paper 30 times because they followed a rubric that didn't allow for personality and voice within their writing!
DeleteWill, I can relate to your experience with "writing to a rubric". I too really enjoy rubrics in that it gives me guidelines for structure and expectations for writing. Yet, when it comes to content and having a unique voice and perspective rubrics can be very limiting. I found myself in high school and even college simply meeting the requirements of the rubric, and more often than not it was piecing together quotes and very generic thoughts to create a piece that would get me the "A". However, if I were to read back through it it wouldn't make much sense to me, and I would have no idea what my thoughts, feelings, perspective, or position was on whatever the topic was. I absolutely think there is a place and importance to guidelines, however I think allowing for student's unique perspective to come through in their writing is equally important. I think being able to participate in open, honest dialog about your writing and meeting the writer where they are in their work allows for a much more complex and engaging piece. I would much rather read something and write something I'm invested in than putting together the puzzle pieces that will earn me the "A".
DeleteThanks, Sam.
ReplyDeleteI really don’t like to share my writing with others. I have kept a journal since I was in elementary school so I may just associate writing with privacy. During undergrad, I begrudgingly submitted papers to my instructors but hardly ever looked at the feedback once I saw my grade. I still struggle with sharing personal experiences but I realize that they are a source of knowledge worth sharing. Usually, I loathe peer reviews. However, for our literacy narrative, I found the feedback from my peers useful and gratifying. I felt like it helped strengthen my final draft. It also helped to develop a sense of community with my peers. I learned that we had common experiences.
While I agree with much of what Maja Wilson said in her article about rubrics, I feel they are still necessary to mitigate biases teachers may have. I would like to see room for collaboration with rubrics. What really stood out to me in her critique of rubrics was that, “ the standardized criteria didn't capture the nuances of students' writing. More importantly, I found that my values shifted as students approached writing in new ways and we talked about their work and purposes (Wilson, 2007, p.63).” I would like to have an opportunity for a rebuttal of sorts from students. Perhaps they had a valid reason for constructing their writing as they did. Rubrics cannot be a “one size fits all” approach. What marks an improvement for one writer may not be useful or relevant for another.
Thanks for sharing amber! I loved hearing how the feedback from your literacy narrative was helpful but also enjoyed your varying experience during grade school and undergrad. I think because you have struggled with sharing personal experiences and allowing for feedback from peers and professors, this can be helpful in identifying with students who come from a similar mindset. I think we often just assume students are okay with whatever we ask them to do but being aware that some students may not feel comfortable sharing is definitely beneficial for creating an inclusive environment for all students.
DeleteHonestly, I'm a bit torn on if rubrics are beneficial or a hindrance. While I understand many of the arguments in Wilson's article...saying that rubrics aren't responsive enough, flexible to student's writing, or overall limiting for both student and teacher...I like rubrics because they can give clear expectations. Now, I'm coming from a more limited experience dealing with rubrics (I only began to see rubrics being used since I returned to college in 2015), but they gave me a clear list of what to include. I do understand that looking at it from this point of view could be limiting to writing as a whole. I mean, I would make sure I hit all the points on the list, and include no more. However, if it was a piece that I felt personally invested in (challenged me emotionally or allowed my creativity to thrive instead of merely making me write a boring, standard paper), I would write more than what was called for.
ReplyDeleteSo, again, I feel torn: being a "check-list" person, I like them. For creative writing purposes, they may be limiting. I see both sides!
Sam, thank you for your post and engaging questions. I especially liked your point on the importance of feedback from fellow students. This lends to Wilson's idea of the necessity of "subjectivity and disagreement". I think when you're only getting feedback from your teacher or a standardized rubric the depth of your writing gets cut short due to their limited experience and reaction to your writing. However, when you can get feedback from your teacher's experience with your writing, as well as your peers who can bring different perspectives, experiences, and interaction to your piece you get an opportunity to create a much richer story. This lends itself to having open and honest communications and disagreements with your audience. I like how Wilson put it as, "disagreement leads to its own insight, and we should teach students to look for the meaning and purposed behind different reader's differing perspectives" ( 2007, p. 65). Even if you don't agree with someone's feedback it gives you a chance to clarify your purpose and maybe bring that through in your writing.
ReplyDeleteGreat post and good points Sam! I struggle with the idea of not grading students using rubrics because I think they do provide some guidance and structure. I have felt in the past that when I'm given very little to work with for what a teacher is asking of me, I really struggle to come up with ideas for writing. But on the flip side, if I am given a lengthy structured rubric, it stresses me out to try and meet all the possible points and I end up throwing it off to the side and writing how I want to write. Can't there be a happy medium where we provide students with a frame for what we want, but they have to build everything within or around the frame? I think the idea of prompting students to guide their thinking is okay as long as we as the teachers have an open mind with what students provide us. "I suggest that we make ourselves transparent as we read-that we pay attention to what goes on in our minds and try to put our reactions and questions and wonderings and musings and connections and images into words-that we give students the gift of a human response" (Wilson, 2007, pg. 63). I think transparency is super important for us as teachers, both allowing ourselves to be transparent and to ask our students to be the same. To be given many opportunities to become vulnerable enough to allow us to see who they are and all of their potential. I will definitely be introducing spoken word, and poetry, and hip-hop into my classroom, not only because things I enjoy personally, but also because I think it gives students a chance to see how emotional and text can be powerful and reverent text can be relevant and applicable to their lives. And to give students the "power of text selection to
ReplyDeleteprovide opportunities for students to grapple with their trauma" (Taylor, 2018, pg. 463)