Thursday, February 12, 2009
Speaking Hypothetically
What would happen if I didn't give you a letter grade for your upcoming essay on The Crucible? (Some options: I give everyone a completion grade or you and I agree on a grade after I read it.) What impact would that have on stress level, learning, and quality of writing? Consider how you think you would react and how you think others would react.
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I think if our next essay was graded then most peoples essays wouldn’t be what they usually are like and would a much poorer quality. If my essay wasn’t graded then I mostly likely would not put in nearly as much time into it because I don’t have to worry about getting a good grade on the assignment I do well as long as I pass it in. I would still work hard because I take pride in my work and the essay would change that much. I just wouldn’t go all out on the essay like my other graded essays. My stress level would go way down because I wouldn’t be worrying how well I did and if my essay was going to get a good enough grade for the time I put in it. I think a lot of people would be much happier and stress free in English because know they don’t have to worry about dealing with grades. Most people would still work hard because they would feel that they still have to put their best work forward. If essays weren’t graded in English then essay quality would go down slightly but people would be happier in class and more active in the class during the period.
If our next essay only received a completion grade, I don't think any of our essays would be as good as they normally are. The stress level would go way down, though, because I would not have to worry about working as hard on my essay because it would not be getting a letter grade. It wouldn't matter if I spend half an hour or five hours on it, it would still get the same grade. I agree with Ryan that everyone in the class would be much happier than normal and everyone would feel more relaxed in class. Right now, I am attentive in class because I want to make sure I hear everything that I might need for my essay, but if it was only graded on completion, I wouldn't have to be as attentive because if I missed something that was said in class, it probably wouldn't make much of a difference. People would also be more active in class discussions because they wouldn't have to stay up all night trying to make their essay perfect, like they do now. If the next essay was only graded on completion, the overall quality of the essays would decrease but everyone's attitude in class would greatly increase.
I think that if we weren’t given a letter grade on our next essay there would be positive and negative reactions. The positive reactions would be that students probably wouldn’t be as stressed out about writing the best essay they are capable of. It would make writing essays much more enjoyable. The negatives would be that if students knew all they had to do was complete it, they probably wouldn’t work as hard on it. This probably wouldn’t help them become better writers because they aren’t pushing themselves. Another negative would be that if my essay wasn’t graded, I would probably want a little more of a sense of how well my essay was written. Letter grades give students a clear understanding of the quality of their essays. It tells them when they need to step it up and when they are doing a good job. I also agree with Luke that it might decrease the amount of attention from students during class. They might think that they don’t really have to listen as much because their essay is not going to be graded. If students paid less attention, they would learn less. Not having grades on essays would definitely relieve stress on students, but it would also probably decrease their development of writing skills and decrease their learning.
If you did not give a letter grade for our next essay, many people would ease down on the effort and time that they put into it. They would do this mostly because they do not have to worry if they do badly. This relates back to being motivated by fear. Since the students do not have to worry about their grades, they put less effort into it. The stress levels would also drop precipitously. This would cause many of the students to not even worry about the essay and perhaps forget about it. A completion grade would also encourage procrastination. The students may think that since it is graded by completion, that they will not have to spend as much time on it, and wait till the last minute to do it. Another negativity would be that the students would lose skill in writing essays. This could end badly because when it comes time for the next essay, the students would be in trouble because they wouldn't know how to write a good essay. However, some students may put just as much effort into the essays as they would if the grade did matter. They would do this because they enjoy the subject and would want to improve their writing stature. I personally would try to put the same amount of effort into my essay so that I could improve the way I write, but my essay would probably be worse than it would be if it was graded. Those are my thoughts on what would happen if you didn't give a letter grade for our next essay.
I agree with Ryan and believe if our next essay was not graded, these essays would be very poorly done. If you gave us a completion grade, everyone would know that they automatically passed and thus, would do a poor job on the essay because they wouldn't care. When people are not tested as hard as they should be tested, they do not care about what they are doing because they know they will pass easily. However, the stress level would decrease because everyone knows they will get a good grade. When you really grade our essays, many strive to do well because they want to get good grades and not fail. The quality of the essay would be much better than the quality of an essay easily graded because it puts pressure on us to do well.
I also agree with Ryan and Luke that many in the class would be happier because their stress level would be down. If you graded our essays very easily, many students would not care about listening in class because they know the class is so easy. Since you grade our essays very hard, many students are attentive in class and want to gain as much knowledge as they can in that class period. They do this because they want to do well in class. I think our essays should be graded hardly because then, the quality will be great and we will learn much more during class time.
I agree with Luke when he says that the quality of our essays would decrease dramatically because it is only being graded based on completion and not on what you say. The work ethic would go down and people wouldn't try hard but writing the essay would be more enjoyable. I also believe that the stress level would rapidly decrease as well because we wouldn't have to worry about what we say and just focus on writing something, even if it doesn't make sense. I feel that the learning level would also decrease due to the fact that no one would care about what they are writing or what it's about so there would be nothing learned from it. People would probably be extremely happy because they can focus there effort in other classes in order to do well and will take less time doing English. The students would be less stressed and it would be a more pleasant environment.
I agree with Ryan, Luke and Celia. If our essays were not given a letter grade, the quality of writing would most likely go down. I would not put as much time or effort into my essay if I was not going to receive a letter grade. This should not be the case, but generally, people always look for the easiest way out. However, I like Ms. Zeuli's idea of everyone getting a completion grade and our letter grade would be determined after we meet and agree on a grade. This would geatly reduce my stress level, and the quality of writing would remain the same. I agree with Celia that letter grades give the student a clear understanding of how well they are doing. They tell you if you need to imporve your writing skills or if you are at where you need to be. I disagree with Luke that you would be less attentive in class in our essay did not receive a letter grade. I would be just as attentive if I were being graded for completion as a letter grade. The quality of writing would go down, but class participation would remain the same.
-conor polianites
I completely agree with Ryan that the quality of everyone's essay would go down. I also think that people's stress level would decrease as well because they are only getting a completion grade. On the other hand, if they were getting a letter grade, most students would give a full effort on their essay. I also agree with Ryan that many of the students would be more relaxed and stress-free. On the other hand, some students might stop listening because the teacher wasn't grading their essays to full potential. Personally, I too would stop listening in class just because my essay would only be getting a completion grade. I would most likely write a few paragraph, not relating to the question at all. Overall, giving only a completion grade would be bad news for the teacher and good news for all of the students.
I think that if our next essay, was not graded, and received only a completion grade then a lot of students would not put in all of their effort. If it's not graded then they would write in random things so that it's completed. I agree with Andrew when he said this relates back with fear. I believe that every student wants to do well, and if an essay is being graded they will put in all their effort into getting a good grade because if they don't they'll fear of lowering their quarter grade which will then harm their gpa, and then not being able to get into a good college.Overall, I think that many of the students would not put in as much effort on something that is graded than just being able to get a grade on completion. The stress level would decrease dramatically because we aren't stressing out to make it perfect. I agree with Ryan when he said a lot of people would be much happier and stress free. If the essay wasn't graded, students wouldn't have the great quality of a well written essay. Paying attention in class is key because we usually discuss how to write well written essays. If essays weren't graded then not as many people would be focused on the discussion. I believe a completion grade will result in less effort, and less stress, but a graded essay will result in great effort, and a lot of stress.
I agree with Ryan, Luke, Andrew and everyone else that argued not getting a letter grade for our next essay would result in less effort. Getting letter grades has always been the school system, a system students are aware of and are used to. Changing the system to getting grades from completion is not fair. It is not fair if a student who spends long hours writing a paper receives the same grade as a student who puts no effort into a paper. With the work load students receive nowadays, handing something in to get just a completion grade would result in very poorly written papers. I know from experience that when I have a project or paper and homework assignments due all in the same day, I put more effort into the paper or project because ir will be graded, whereas a homework assignment is just a quick check and it does not count for as big of a grade. Some students would prefer getting a grade for completion because they don’t have the time or they don’t feel confident handing in papers. However others, who enjoy writing would like to receive comments and an actual grade to improve their writing. Writing papers is stressful because of the specific focus areas that are needed to be identified, but at the same time writing good quality papers will help us not just in an English class, but in other classes as well.
If everyone was just given a completion grade, than the quality of the essays would most likely be less than average. If the essay that I wrote was not graded, I'd still put in the same amount of work but probably with less detail than normally. I would feel less pressured to get a good mark versus just getting a completion mark. My stress levels would go down significantly because I wouldn't have to worry about getting the a bad mark and then feeling bad. If I didn't have to worry about this, then my enthusiasm for the class would go up because I would not feel as pressured to cram/ focus in on every little detail to put into the essay. There would be a much more relaxed feel for the class. I would be so happy if this was the case for grading essays and I'm sure others would feel the same because less stress equals a more enjoyable life.
Jarad
if you gave a completion grade instead of a letter grade on the crucible essay i would be alot less stressed out about writing my essay. I would probably write better because i wouldnt be so worried about if it was fact or opinion or if it was right or not. I would learn alot more and probably get a better grade then i would on all my other essays. Other people would mostly like it. It would make people be alot less stressed and maybe do really well on it. But some people may not like it if they really needed to boost their grade. Some people may slack if it was only a completion grade.
lacey
Like Bonnie, i agree that if you didn't grade on the quality of the paper, then we wouldn't try as hard as we should. However, it's not a purposeful thing, we would just subconsiously not see the importance and not put as much effort into what we would be writing. Howver i completely agree with Clabe in that if we didn't recieve a grade, my stress levels would decrease significantly. Luke is right when he says that the lowered stress levels would make students happier, and I know that I could probably think cleary because there wouldn't be the stress occupying my thoughts. I probably would understand the crucibe better if I was not stressed about my essay grade. The only thing I would have to worry about is doing it. However, the completion grade methode shouldn't be taken advantage of by students who blow it off and only write a sentence. There should be a mandate for each essay about how much you must write in order to recieve the completion grade. I still believe that you should grade on how well it's writen ond the completion because the quality reflects more on ones ability to write and improvement. If you couldn't see those things then what would be the point of writing them in the first place?
If you did not give us a letter grade on our upcoming essay it would have both positive and negative effects. It would lower students stress level because they would not have to worry about failing the paper, which is a positive. The negative side to this is that with students not worrying about their paper they will not put as much effort into it. Less effort would be put into to paper because no one would care about the quality of the writing since there would be no grade. This would also have a negative effect on the learning. Students would no care to learn in class to try and improve their writing because they would not care about the essay and instead focus on other subjects. If you were to do this it would have a more of a negative effect than a positive. The only positive effect that it would have is it would relieve stress but in return the quality of the essays would drop. So although this could create a more fun class environment it would stunt the learning of the students making it a bad idea
If there was only a completion grade for the upcoming essay I would not have a good reason to put effort into the assignment. I would write pages of dribble that was basically meaningless. Also I would not edit or revise my work. If it was based on quantity not quality then the actual writing would not matter only the length would. In addition my writing skills would not improve. I would have no reason to improve my writing in order to get a better grade and therefore I would not be able to write a better essay. If there was a grading system where we talked about the grade, than it would result in the teacher having a grade for the paper in their head and the student trying to negotiate a higher grade. Therefore I would still feel the same stress and fear because the quality of the paper creates the starting grade.
I think that is the essays were to be graded for completion or on what we write I think that the quality of the essays would go down mainly because we wouldn’t feel obligated to try our hardest. I don’t think we would purposely not try hard, but I think we just wouldn’t feel the pressure, so our work would automatically decline. I agree with Sean when he says that the stress level would go down and it would give us a chance to enjoy what we are writing instead of stressing over the quality, because once grades come into play it becomes less about enjoying writing and more about getting a good grade. I also agree when he says that people would be happier not getting a grade on writing, because often essays take up all of the homework time, but if it is not graded it wouldn’t take as long and people would be able to do homework in other subjects as well. Things would be much more pleasant and enjoyable if essays were only checked for completion
I believe that if we did not recieve a letter grade for the essay on the Crucible then nobody would try as hard as they usually would.I feel that without grades people wouldnt try as hard as they normally would, because students would feel that there would be no point. I agree with Luke that if we were not being graded on an essay the stress level would go way down. The reason it wouldnt be so high is because there is not reason to be stressed out over something that isnt going to effect your average grade. Not grading essays would also effect the quality of them. The reason most people write good essays is because they want to get a good grade but if it`s not being graded then nobody would try as hard to make it as good. I know that I would be kind of mad if I had to write an essay and it wasnt graded because I would put all of my time into it for nothing. I feel that some people might also feel this way.
I really like this idea Ms Zeuli. I have always believed in a different system for grading essays and i think if you allow us to go over it with you that would be a fantastic idea. The new grading system would greatly relieve the post essay nerves and I personally would feel much more confident about my grade. I don't think you can give an essay just a completion grade however because it almost doesn't seem fair that we would spend all this time on a what sounds like a homework grade. The quality of everyones essay would drop. However by allowing the students to talk about your reasoning for there essay grade and if you make specific points about the essay and in person show them what they did wrong or were doing well on in the essay it would be much more beneficial. The points made on the rubric i often times have trouble seeing what I did wrong and i know at least for me you going over the essay and talking about the grade and why i got it would greatly increase my knowledge about essays ad the english language.
Connor Steckel
If our next essay was graded on completion I agree with what everyone is saying how the quality of the essay would go down. It wouldnt matter what you say because as long as you did it you would have a grade. I dont think anyone would put any effort into the essay. What would be the point to put a lot of your time in when you could work on it for ten minutes and get the same grade as someone who worked on it for three hours. I agree with what Ryan was saying about the stress level. It would go down a lot. No one would have to worry about if their essay was good because as long as you had something written you would get good grade. It would make people all around happier because of the reduced stress.
My thinking about if you didn't give us a letter grade for our next essay, is it would releave a lot of pressure. the fear of getting a bad grade gose away and the urgency and the need to succed might lessen. this is my honest opinion, the other senario would be that the pressure is eliminated like befor but the will and drive to do well remains. the problem is the concequences are removed so there isn't a "bad" alternative. this leaves room for people to get upset as well because at this point someone could try really hard and do just as well as some one who blew it off and wrote some garbage. there are many ways this could play out.
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