Standardization of Writing through Rubric (Not Rules)

So Tuesday was all about student writing and how we assess those pieces of students' writing. It is obviously very difficult to assess something that we know is so personal to our students. I think about my own writing and how frustrating it can be for someone to tell me that I didn't "put in enough time" or "this isn't clear enough" when I spent hours upon hours working on the assignment and it is clear enough to me. Those comments may have had some elements of validity, but they didn't help me grow as a writer, rather it was those quotes that made me want to shut down. As I shared with the group, I seldom look at feedback from professors (I'm sure they would hate to see this!) just because I feel like it is always so critical. If I got an A on the paper why is there so much red ink?!

In our discussion after Kendra's awesome demo there was a lot of talk about giving students voice when it comes to rubric, recognizing the flexibly nature of what is considered "good" writing and again, the difficulty of assessment. I was reminded of a quote from my history teacher fiancé:

I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that. 

—Justice Potter Stewart

For those unaware, this is a quote based on a case determining what is considered pornography but I think it is also applicable to our discussion we were having on Wednesday. Determining what is good writing is hard, but I think we would all agree that we know it when we see it. We try to determine what it is by creating rubric because we want our students to understand the lens we are looking through. Throughout our discussion I felt like we were wobbling on whether or not that was a good thing for our students.

For my personal inquiry, I've been thinking a lot about this...I want to explore how the Common Core/MSL assessments promote a standardization of language which privileges a language that is not the same as the language of our students and their communities. Dialects and language variations all include rules and structure, so how can we label them as incorrect. If the purpose of language is to communicate messages, meanings and ideas can someone be incorrect if others understand them? This has been recently discussed on NPR when discussing the Trayvon Martin case. When his friend testified she used language that incorporated creole elements as well as African American English. The defense lawyers noted that they could not understand her...leading to an explosion of comments and fury on social media. Some claimed that her speech showed a lack of education and composure while others pointed to intellectual snobbery of the defense team because to them she was speaking clearly. Who is right?

This issues of standard language highlight class and race struggles that this nation has always grappled with. Standard language distinguishes who is the upper class from everyone else. To move up in our society you often (though not always) have to speak the language of the upper class. This leads to an alienation on two levels. There is the idea that even when you move up, your not really part of the upper class from some arbitrary reason and if you don't speak the language of the community you have "sold out." How can we get students to accept the standard when it isn't the language they're accustomed too? How can we tell them the standard is important without bowing down to its privilege?

This brings me back to our discussion of good writing and what I think about now that I will be teaching language and comp....good language. I think rubrics exist to take out the subjective nature of grading writing, but it is important to communicate that rubric only exist in one context...grading a paper based on the academic restraints. I will be playing with rubrics as I continue to map out my class. I can't imagine grading without rubrics and I think they serve a great purpose, they show students what I'm looking for in terms of style without necessarily dictating the content. Still thinking on this...more to come in the future.