Week 1B: Tompkins: Assessment

Chapter 1 of Tompkins outlined the writing process. Presenting not only the elements of the writing process but also touting the value of direct instruction in the various parts of the process.  It is very obvious and clear to educators that direct instruction and ultimately varied and frequent opportunities for students to write is the key to helping students understand and apply the writing process to authentic writing that takes place outside of school.  Yet what message are we sending about the importance of writing and this process when it is not part of regular assessment.  Virginia SOL's do not regularly assess writing.  AP's incorporate writing however place the bulk of the weight on MCQ. When writing is assessed the process is not evaluated only the final product.  Students when "tested" in writing do not have the opportunity to draft, edit, revise, even pre-writing is short changed as many of these standardized tests are timed.  If educators want to send the message to students that writing and the process of writing are in fact valued then they need to regularly assess student writing. 

The next question then is are our schools set up in such a way to make this in fact possible?  Are teachers provided with the time in their curriculum to allow students to have choice in writing?  To work through the various elements of the process SEVERAL times a year?  Are teachers schedules and class sizes set up to accommodate writing conferences? Opportunity to provide thoughtful and motivational/encouraging feedback that also challenges student growth?  I would argue our public school model does NOT accommodate writing.  Teachers are given impossible curriculum's stuffed with content that needs to be "covered" because that is what is assessed.  Teachers are given class sizes that make it difficult to apply classroom management techniques in a way that allow for student writing conferences to take shape.  Teachers are given class loads that make it daunting to collect 100+ essay's for a draft to then turn around and edit reread for revisions and then turn around and re-read the final product once more.  This is why teachers turn away from writing assessment which sends the message that because it is un-assessed writing is unimportant in comparison to the knowledge and content. 

In addition I would like to add that I REALLY appreciated the simple rubric (Figure 1-8).  It will certainly help me organize student tasks and various stages and places of the writing process student may be in.  This will ultimately help in the differentiation process that needs to take place when providing instruction in writing.