As a teacher, nothing is more frustrating than when your students do not follow directions. This is especially true if you have gone over the directions and expectations MANY times!
My students were preparing to take a ELA benchmark test. I had reiterated the fact as to what their short answers should look like and how they should include text evidence, explanations, etc. We talked about how long it should be around and what an example would look like. We did the exact same thing for the essay question that is required at the end of the test. I spent an entire block of time, just going over expectations and the general directions they would be assigned. My students were pumped, I was pumped and thinking "They've got this!"
Last night I began grading the short answer and essay questions and I went on a rollercoaster of emotions. It started with "Okay, this is decent..." and went to "What were they thinking?!" and then a few light bulbs "Yes they got it!". I knew I had to do something to get their attention, because apparently lecturing and class discussions weren't cutting it. (Lecture... duh... terrible idea x.x)
Today during our ELA block I explained my rollercoaster of emotions with their answers last night and that today THEY were going to grade the answers of their peers. I put together a Google Doc and had put the passages, questions, and anonymous answers on it. I selected a range of answers that took me on the rollercoaster of emotions, so the kids could see some great answers but also see the ones that were frustrating. I told the kids that if they recognized their answer they should not say anything, but LISTEN to what the other students were saying. The best type of criticism and critique is when it completely unbiased.
As a class, we went over the rubric and the exact questions from the text. We went into detail as to what the question was asking and what the answer should have included in it. We had a great discussion and I really feel, them knowing they would be grading their peers (or themselves) really helped put a different spin on things. The kids were a lot more involved in this discussion than previously.
Once we had everything established, the students got into peers and began to re-read the passages and grade the answers of their peers. They were so critical! It was refreshing though because they began to see the same type of issues I had seen, but it felt like they knew these problems were real and I wasn't just exaggerating. The students worked together, leaving comments on the answers and giving them a score. They then put all of the information into a Google Form, so I could compare their scores to mine.
It was definitely an eye opening experience for them and they enjoyed it a lot. I was impressed by the conversations that were going on in the partners and groups as they were grading. Several kids exclaimed that they totally understood why I had gotten so frustrated grading and how ridiculous it was students could not follow directions.
I would definitely do this again with the peer grading to CLEARLY set better expectations and make it more personal, rather than looking over exemplars from a book.
