{"id":2750,"date":"2014-08-15T06:45:11","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T11:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cft.vanderbilt.edu\/?p=19697"},"modified":"2014-08-15T06:45:11","modified_gmt":"2014-08-15T11:45:11","slug":"grading-writing-assignments-in-less-than-a-lifetime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.vanderbilt.edu\/gradleaf\/2014\/08\/grading-writing-assignments-in-less-than-a-lifetime\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading Writing Assignments in Less than a Lifetime"},"content":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Nancy Chick<\/a>, CFT Assistant Director<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>One of the greatest stresses experienced by new faculty (and not-so-new faculty) is the amount of time spent on effective teaching. Parkinson\u2019s Law\u2014the notion that a task expands to fill the time available\u2014seems more true for teaching than many other responsibilities. During Wednesday’s Teaching at Vanderbilt<\/a> orientation for new faculty, I met with 18 faculty members in A & S humanities departments, the Divinity School, and Blair School of Music<\/strong> for a brief session on making our most time-consuming teaching activities more effective and<\/em> more efficient.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly for these disciplines, the new faculty cited grading as the greatest challenge to managing our time for teaching<\/strong>. Essays and essays exams are key assignments in our courses,* <\/span><\/strong> and–as one participant noted–grading a single, five-page paper can take 30 minutes or more, if we let it. (This is Parkinson’s Law at work.)\u00a0 Several participants mentioned using a timer to set limits on “the time available” for grading each essay.\u00a0 An excellent idea!\u00a0 During that bounded time, though, what are some strategies for making it most effective?<\/p>\n

Randy Bass encourages us to parse how we think about what our students are learning (1999, p. 8). We primarily attend to “content-knowledge<\/strong>,” or the concepts, texts, theories, and information of our field. However, “method-knowledge<\/strong>” involves the processes required in understanding and doing the field. During the conversation with new faculty, I drew our attention to the relevant “method-knowledge”–the student processes leading to the product of the essay and our processes in producing the graded<\/em> essay–as a site for time-saving strategies.\u00a0 For instance, having students write a cover letter or other framing piece articulating what they did well, where they struggled, and where they continue to struggle (in response to clear criteria, such as a rubric) not only helps them self-assess their own work; it also helps us better identify what they understand (or don’t) and directs our attention to specific issues while grading.\u00a0 Notice the effective efficiencies here:<\/p>\n