Responding, Evaluating, Grading

MIKE HAEN WRITING ACROSS THE CURRICULUM UW-Madison’s centrally-supported learning management system Canvas (adopted in 2018) offers a feature called SpeedGrader, which provides convenient and efficient options for responding to student writing. This guide synthesizes material available …

  Cindee Giffen, Course Coordinator Introductory (Biology 151/152) Course coordinator Cindee Giffen explains why Biology 151/152 evaluates biology students’ drafts, reviews, and final products together in one portfolio. In Introductory Biology 152, all students engage …

  Brad Franklin (Math 130 ) TA Brad Franklin’s Portfolio Project asks students in a course for future math teachers to reflect on their own learning process during the semester by preparing a cover letter, …

Professor Virginia Sapiro (Women’s Studies 640) This course was about leadership. An important part of leadership is taking responsibility for your own actions, holding yourself accountable, and being able to evaluate yourself in a serious, …

Professor Robert L. Jeanne (Entomology), Dr. Lillian Tong (Center for Biology Education), Amber Smith (Horticulture),& Bruce Barton (DoIT) To ease the time and effort involved in giving feedback on student writing, Professor Robert L. Jeanne, …

  English 207 Instructors Sometimes instructors find themselves writing the same comments on almost every student paper. This example shows how an instructor gives an entire class collective feedback about the most common problems she …

  Professor Jim Raymo (Sociology) Professor Jim Raymo responds to electronic versions of his students’ papers, using the comment function in Microsoft Word. Note how engaged he is with the substance of his student’s research, …

Professor Caitilyn AllenPlant Pathology Professor Caitilyn Allen from the Plant Pathology department demonstrates how a grading sheet can help keep instructor comments focused and relatively brief, but still helpful for the student  

  Professor Chuck Cohen (History) On the final draft of a revised paper submitted for an upper-level undergraduate history course, Professor Chuck Cohen carefully balances his recognition of the writer’s continued hard work with a …

  Dr. Elise Gold (Engineering) Paper 2: Proposal/Annotated Bibliography  AUTHOR: ____________________________________ Below you will find the various elements on which your paper will be evaluated. The Y (Yes), S (Somewhat), or N (No) by each …

  Professor Katy Culver (Journalism 202) Below are two examples of rubrics from Professor Katy Culver’s intermediate journalism course, where she covers a range of genres. By using rubrics to establish unique grading criteria for …

  Beth Godbee (Writing Across the Curriculum) In my teaching, I’m deeply committed—philosophically and pedagogically—to listening to and learning from students. Part of this commitment is asking students to take the lead in developing evaluation …

  Jocelyn Johnson (Philosophy) Name:_________________________________ Topic:_______________________________________________ Poor          OK            Good             Very Good             Out­standing Well-Defined Thesis Logic and …

  UW-Madison Libraries The Communication-B requirement specifies that students should learn to use the “core library resources specific to disciplinary inquiry.” This includes how information is produced and disseminated, as well as how to find, …

  Jamie Sutherland, Math 130 A good part of your Math 130 grade is determined by your writing five problem reports and eight reflections. These two types of assignments are intended to help you practice …

  Matthew Pearson, Writing Across the Curriculum

  Dr. Michelle Harris & Dr. Janet Batzl, Biocore Receiving Feedback. Writing is a process and even very experienced writers spend a lot of time rewriting. Your TAs will give you feedback and suggestions on …

  English Department, UW-Madison Students often complain that their grades on literature papers are “subjective,” and they struggle to please each professor, feeling as if every new class demands some arbitrary new set of criteria …

  Professor Steve Kantrowitz, History We will grade your papers on the following criteria: 1. STRUCTURE: Begin your paper with a brief description of the narrative, or a brief episode from it that suggests or …

  Program in Writing Across the Curriculum, UW-Madison Students really benefit from having instructors share explicit evaluation criteria along with the assignment instructions. These evaluation criteria or rubrics sometimes take the form of a simple …

  Annette Vee, English It’s relatively easy to record an audio file and send that to your students as an attachment to an email, to post that file to your course management software or course …

  Elisabeth Miller, Writing Across the Curriculum There’s no denying that students sometimes do not put enough effort into their writing: busy schedules full of obligations from work, social or personal engagements, and demanding course …

  Brad Hughes, Writing Across the Curriculum Frontload your efforts so that what you have to respond to is better than it would be otherwise and so that students learn more: clarify your expectations and …

  Brad Hughes, Writing Across the Curriculum A key principle for teaching writing: Research shows that students are often confused by what we—their writing teachers—want them to concentrate on in their writing and in their …