In the past, when teachers had assigned rough drafts, they were always a little too rough. Instead, we added a new step: an “advanced” draft, turned in after the rough draft and before the final. This plan wouldn’t replace the essay planning that teachers already did in English classes, such as the prewriting process or the peer-edited rough draft. Students would then need at least a week to participate in the feedback cycle and revise the paper. For this to work, feedback would need to be front-loaded, motivating attention to the teacher commentary itself. The small group of 10th to 12th grade teachers I worked with to develop this system agreed that we wanted all students to revise major written assignments as a response to teacher feedback. Students now have more opportunity to incorporate edits and grow as writers within each assignment, rather than teachers assuming they will demonstrate progress in the next assignment. This school year, our English department adopted a policy that focuses on feedback as a part of the writing process rather than the outcome. How often do we pull up the last paper a student wrote to see how much he or she has grown? Maybe sometimes, but I would argue it’s rare.įor meaningful writing instruction, teachers should consider another paradigm. I’m not even sure I did that as an undergrad.Īs teachers, we make the same mistake. If I am honest about my high school experience, I can’t say I looked at a previous paper before starting the next one. When work piles up before a due date, they’re not likely to look at the feedback on their last paper, especially if they have misguided excuses justifying the grade they received on it. My colleagues and I hope that students will review past mistakes in order to prevent future mistakes, but high schoolers are busy. “Advanced” draft felt aspirational and conveyed what we expected of our students under this new system-that they would turn in the best work that they could at that moment in time for teacher feedback. Considering something better than a “rough” draft, we discussed some potential terms for what we were trying to name. Grading the rough draft was not an accurate impression of how far the student was from the final draft. In our classes, rough drafts were always a little too rough.
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