"What grade would you give this draft?"

[nugget]

I only read the initial post made by the OP. That being said, I would give feedback on anything written and areas for improvement without giving the students the answers. If the ideal points aren't mentioned on the paper you could point this out, it is up to the student to figure out what is missing.

 

In undergrad, I wanted to do well on a particular course that I was having trouble with. So the prof agreed to read my drafts and she said she would comment if anything sounded off base or if I was off track, but she would not tell me what to replace it with to make it better. I think it was a fair approach to take.

 

As long as the instructions are made clear and students have the ability and tools to do well, it is up to them to do the work.

 

I might also tell the student to do their best and you will do your part by grading it thoroughly and fairly. If their best is A quality work, they will get an A. If it isn't A level work, they will get a fair grade and they should be proud of it because they tried their best and you can't expect any more from yourself than that.

Edited April 16, 2015 by jenste

[Sdeeq]

Hi....

 

I do agree with Macchiato......

[twentysix]

If a student does not know how to write a proper college paper of any sort then something is seriously wrong.  I mean, who wrote their admissions essays/SOPs? 

 

If I were in the OPs shoes I would tell this student that if s/he wants to be cuddled and walked-through everything to go back to high school. 

 

Couldn't disagree more. You are demonstrating what my university would call a "gate-keeper" mentality. When you are in freshman courses, you should not already know everything there is to know about being a successful college student. If you can already write on a highly functional level the BA is kind of a waste of time. If that were the case, the student might as well have applied to PhD's out of high school. Humanities degrees are more or less all about learning how to develop highly functional critical thinking skills and developing the ability to write in a clear academic manner. State Universities often take in students who did not receive a world class high school education. Some of those students will eventually attain PhDs if they aren't given restrictive defeatist instructors as freshman. My university had no such "admissions essay or statement of purpose," this is not something that all universities have.

 

If the student has the initiative to seek out the instructor and ask for feedback, try to help them. They might not have asked for the feedback in the best way, but they are little kids who don't understand that they are going about it in the wrong way, or that there is even another way to seek feedback.

 

If you can't help the student send them to a writing resource on campus.

Edited April 20, 2015 by twentysix

[_kita]

I teach an English Composition class, and I have had that question asked several times. Use to drive me nuts, and I eventually found a way to respond by reflecting back, "what grade, based on the rubric, do you think this draft deserves?" It's a good way to learn what they actually know in a critical thinking way. 

 

Usually I found that there was a disconnect, or misunderstanding about what the rubric was looking for. Many students can't explain to you what they "don't know" so, testing them on the spot lets you identify their weak-spots.