Report #3
FIPP Activity Report
Funded by the Basic Skills Initiative
Name Greta Hendricks
Date 11/23/09
FIPP Partner Julie Land
Section #6211
Activity /Strategy Self-evaluation of essay #4
Category providing feedback and evaluation
Briefly describe the activity/strategy.
1. Introduction I use an evaluation rubric to score each of five essays that
students write in this class. Even though students are provided the rubrics at
the same time that they are given the essay assignments, they often lose
points in areas that are listed on the rubric. By requiring students to turn in a
self-evaluation, which is identical to the rubric that I use, I was hoping that
students would take more responsibility for correcting errors and ultimately,
score higher on this essay than on previous essays.
2. Set up & Supplies one copy of the self-evaluation rubric for each student.
3. Directions When essay #4 was assigned, I explained to students that their final
papers would be turned in with a self-evaluation rubric which they were going
to be completing once their papers were finished. Students read the rubrics
and I explained the purpose of the activity. I pointed out that the selfevaluation rubric was identical to the one that I would be using to score their
essays. On the day that the papers were turned in, I gave students time in
class to complete their self-evaluations . Self-evaluations were turned in with
essays.
4. Conclusion As a student, I would have LOVED to have been provided with a
rubric when I had to write an essay. When writing essays for college English
classes, I often had no idea what grading criteria the instructor was using.
However, my students didn't seem to LOVE (or even appreciate) having this
information. This activity yielded mixed results and left me wondering once
again, "What are my students thinking?"
What worked well? Some students appreciated having the rubric to use as a guide when
they wrote and revised their essays. Also, the self-evaluation checklists were printed on
yellow paper and the evaluation checklists that I used were printed on white paper.
Students were instructed to staple the white teacher's rubric to the top of their packet,
with the yellow (self-evaluation) rubric right underneath. That way, when I finished
grading the papers, students could compare how they evaluated themselves with how I
evaluated them.
What would you change? Definitely require students to bring their self-evaluation rubric to
their lab conferences with their 1st and 2nd drafts. That way, they will use the selfevaluation rubric as a guide during the revising process, not just as a rubber stamp selfevaluation that is filled out quickly at the last minute with no time left to make changes to
the essay.
Would you use the activity/strategy again? Why or why not? Yes, but only with the
changes mentioned above. I believe it is important to get students to take responsibility
for their revising and editing and not just rely on Writing Center tutors, and I think that a
self-evaluation of their essay can help them with that responsibility.
Please describe any student learning outcomes/changes that you observed after the
implementation of the activity/strategy. None observed, sadly, although sometimes a
change in a student's awareness or attitude is not outwardly observable even though it
might be an attitude or awareness shift that serves to enhance student learning.