Dear CHAT Writing 2 Students & Parents,
I've just finished calculating the grades for the Spring semester, and you will be finding them in your inbox by the end of next week. As tutors, these are suggested grades for you as homeschooling families to consider.
For those who are new to my classes, let me share my thoughts on grades. As I homeschooled, I didn't give my children grades. I felt that grades were far too subjective. I taught my own children for mastery. We didn't proceed with a topic until they were ready no matter how long that took.
Letter grades are a funny thing. For some students, it becomes the only motivation for doing well. For some, it becomes a measure of their worth as a person or as an academic learner. I personally don't like these "side effects" of the grading system. On the other hand, grades can be a valid reflection and reward for working hard, being diligent, and understanding the materials.
When teaching students to be good writers, I give a lot of consideration for growth and improvement. Each student has a starting place; over time I look for him or her to learn the mechanics of grammar, good writing techniques, and analytical thinking skills.
For this class, I gave points for attendance, participation, short assignments and longer essays. We also did a few grammar exercises. I tend to be an "easy grader" and like to see my students encouraged to do their best. For this class, the final drafts were graded using a rubric that divided the papers into the following categories: focus, content, organization, and mechanics.
About the Categories and Percentages
When you look at the division of scores for you students grade, remember that the quantity of points is significantly different between categories. The "Assignments" section includes Quick Writes for a total of 70 points. The "Writing" section has 290 points. The "Grammar" section has 217 points. Finally, the "Literature" section has 272 points. In other words, you can't average the percentages from the 4 areas to get a score. Engrade takes the total number of points to get to a whole class percentage. The value of breaking down the class into sections is that you can see that a student might have struggled with grammar but did really well in literature or writing. You get a more holistic picture.
About the Categories and Percentages
When you look at the division of scores for you students grade, remember that the quantity of points is significantly different between categories. The "Assignments" section includes Quick Writes for a total of 70 points. The "Writing" section has 290 points. The "Grammar" section has 217 points. Finally, the "Literature" section has 272 points. In other words, you can't average the percentages from the 4 areas to get a score. Engrade takes the total number of points to get to a whole class percentage. The value of breaking down the class into sections is that you can see that a student might have struggled with grammar but did really well in literature or writing. You get a more holistic picture.
Each student (and parents) will receive an e-mail with percentages and suggested grades for this semester. I’ve seen each student improve with each paper. Good Work!
Blessings,
Tammy Prichard
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