General Group Inquiries

[TTUEngl...@gmail.com]

Please bring up general group questions in this forum:

[TTUEngl...@gmail.com]

Hello, all,
Sorry to send this via email and not the Google page, but I don't
think we made a space to talk about Draft 1.1.

I've graded at least 40-50 BA4s (I think) and I'm almost a week ahead
quota-wise. Should I start grading Draft 1.1? I kinda don't want to
work through all the BA4s, only to have to go back and grade a bunch
of Draft 1.1s. I think doing so might end up giving me quite a bit of
extra grading this week, even though I'm technically ahead. Any
thoughts?

I hope this makes sense...

-kw

[TTUEngl...@gmail.com]

Students are required to do two critiques, but I am unsure if TOPIC
will supply two drafts in a single assignment, or if students will
receive two separate assignments. Anybody know?

On Oct 8, 8:22 pm, TTUEnglish1...@gmail.com wrote:

[Ryan]

Mark,

When you click on "Submit Assignments" in TOPIC there are two "Do a
Peer Critique Links."

-Ryan

> > Please bring up general group questions in this forum:- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Walki...@gmail.com]

Hey, everyone,

This is probably a "duh" question--but I want to make sure I do what
I'm supposed to. Do we do second reads after all of the Draft 1.1s
have received first reads?

-kw

[Ryan]

Hey Katie,

I'd "mix it up" a bit -- just to keep life spicy! I usually do a
second read when it's made available to me so that students can
receive their grades and comments faster.

-Ryan

> > > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Amber]

Just FYI -- as soon as the first reader submits the comments, the
student can see these. The grade, however, is withheld until the
second reader assigns a grade. The two grades are averaged.

Also, if there is an 8-point difference in grade, TOPIC will send the
draft to a third reader and will average the two grades closest in
points.

Last semester, graders in my group included a rubric comment to help
the student better understand how these essay drafts are graded --
because students were wondering why the comments seemed to suggest a
higher grade than the actual grade or vice versa.

We simply stated something like this: According to the grading rubric
for this class your essay meets most of the criteria for the [x-grade]
range: "[copy & paste the rubric paragraph from TOPIC/textbook]". My
assessment of your paper is based on these qualities, but the second
grader may have a different stance. Keep in mind that your essay grade
is the average points assigned by two graders.

In some ways, it defeats the purpose of having two graders because the
second reader can somewhat guess what grade the first reader provided,
but it helped the student to understand where the first grader was
coming from in his/her written comments.

What do you think about using this strategy?

Amber

[Walki...@gmail.com]

Hey, everyone,
I think my last post didn't send (but if it did I apologize). I've
been grading students quite harshly who didn't meet word count (if it
was significant, like 500 or 600 words). I hope this okay. I feel like
the length is required for a reason--so students will have to provide
ample support for their assertions. I've seen a number of students
that didn't really add that much to their BA #4 assignment (since I
graded both of them)!

Plus, the prompt offers students a sample structure, which helps if
one doesn't know how to flesh out one's ideas.

If this is a problem, let me know. I'd be willing to be more lenient.

-katie

[Shelley Alvarez]

Katie and Amber, 

I agree with both of your approaches.  Katie, I've also been grading students harshly when they are significantly short of meeting word count requirements.  I think the highest grade I've assigned for students meeting word count requirements by about half is a 65. 

Shelley

[Walki...@gmail.com]

Sweet! I've been deducting almost exactly the same.

-katie

On Oct 15, 9:30 am, "Shelley Alvarez" <chiparo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Katie and Amber,
>
> I agree with both of your approaches. Katie, I've also been grading
> students harshly when they are significantly short of meeting word count
> requirements. I think the highest grade I've assigned for students meeting
> word count requirements by about half is a 65.
>
> Shelley
>

[Walki...@gmail.com]

Hey, guys. I am now able to grade in my other grading group, but I
can't get Topic to show me how many drafts, critiques, etc. I am
supposed to grade. I was wondering if one of you who is teaching two
courses/grading two hours could tell me what the totals are. Thanks so
much!

-Katie

[TTUEngl...@gmail.com]

Just giving everybody the heads up that you may see some assignments
from earlier in the semester from my sections. I've had a lot of
problems with the TOPIC system with drafts being locked out, students
enrolled in multiple sections, student enrolled in wrong sections,
diagnostic test errors, etc.

Some drafts have already been graded by the group, but the transfer of
some student profiles have led to a "loss" of grades. Rob is working
on preserving any grades that were originally assigned, but to make a
long and complicated story short, it may come to regarding some
drafts.

mr