Researchers have interviewed college students about their writing tasks, and one of the biggest complaints of students is that they are unsure of what their teacher`s expectations are (Herrington and Curtis 387-388; Thaiss and Zawacki 142-14). Even if teachers incorporate their criteria into a commission application or topic, students often do not know how the teacher concluded that their essay deserved an „A“ or a „B“ or any grade. With respect to the contract score, students are judged primarily on whether they have completed activities and not on the basis of their compliance with a list of criteria for an „ideal text“ (Brannon and Ail 159), which are clear to the course director, but less clear to the students. I am not going to explain here why I moved on to the contract note, nor am I going to replicate the way I explain it to the students. You can find my philosophy – largely suited to the wise models of others – as I explain to students in my school programs: although the student decides what to accomplish throughout the course, such as a contract, the student and the teacher must agree. After the students have submitted their initial contract or proposal, the teacher can make changes or request some changes before reaching a final agreement. Like a contract, both parties must sign a contract note confirming the agreement for a specified rank. However, the contract evaluation system is not as restrictive as a commercial contract. The student may resubmit the contract in the middle of the semester, subject to the teacher`s agreement. [2] 2. Rating of commands seemed to be a potentially useful tool to combat student fear on grades, placing the control of scoring firmly in the hands of students. When it comes to reducing fear, the anecdotal reports of the students were also promising. While there was a period of adjustment, the students seemed to appreciate that the contract favoured their work as much (or more than) the discrete note at the end of each task.
This seemed to apply particularly to students who considered themselves to be wild writers and who expected low grades in the tasks themselves. While they still often rated „Under Proficient“ (at least at the beginning of the semester), the rating contract offered a way to achieve – by additional letter – that many wanted to follow. It also had the non-devastating effect that students had to write more throughout the semester. [3] My motivations for the rating contract were multiple.
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