How to Grade a Freshman College Essay

Teaching college is a rewarding endeavor, but sometimes it's difficult to know how to grade students with no former college experience. At the beginning of a semester, freshmen have only a high school comprehension of grammar, punctuation and structure, yet must show understanding of more detailed expression of the English language and of core concepts in a given subject. A basic checklist for grading college essays is below and can be tailored for any subject.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine what each letter grade on your scale will actually mean in terms of student comprehension. For example, rather than 70 percent being a 'C,' think of 'C' as a certain basic level that has been reached that is sufficient for the level of the topic. Benchmarks for each letter grade will provide both students and professors' clear understanding of goals.
2. Decide how much importance you as a teacher will place on grammar, punctuation and spelling. Often points are deducted for poor spelling to encourage more care from students choose a point or percentage amount (usually between 1 and 5) and use it uniformly.
3. Provide students with clear questions and assignments. If essay questions are clear, with distinct subsections, it is easier to check them off as you read the essay. For example, Joe may have written about the American constitution, but he didn't address Freedom of Speech as outlined in the question.
4. Give Students clear instructions on margin size, font style and size, citation style and page length. Again, this provides another checklist that teachers use to grade essays. Following instructions, all instructions, should be key to a student's grade, encouraging thought and critical editing.
5. Allow for simple mistakes in first 2 class essays or forgive first 2 grades at the end of the semester. Giving students time to catch up to college writing requirements will make grades more reflective of overall work. Students can't be graded too harshly in the beginning if professors expect them to try harder.
6. Curve grades only if necessary. Grade curves allow students to rank themselves among classmates, but freshman need to concentrate on self-improvement first. A curve can be inflationary or discouraging to students and is certainly not necessary the first semester.
7. Choose, implement and stick to your grading system. Once you have finalized your system and used it a few times (those first 2 essays will also be your test), stay with it. It will quickly become second nature, allowing time to focus on detailed written feedback for your students.

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