How do we get kids to actually worry about the work they produce? How do we get them to work through draft after draft of a paper in search of perfection? This is something that’s plagued me since I began teaching, and I think I may have come up with a solution. It’s simple, and it’s something I learned from a college professor. The Red X.
The Assignment
The students are to write a paper. In my case, the students are to write a compare/contrast paper discussing the similarities and differences between the historical novel Jacob’s Rescue, by Malka Drucker and Michael Halperin, and the play “The Diary of Anne Frank,” by Fraces Goodrich and Albert Hackett.
The students have been supplied a prompt.
An outline has been supplied, as has a series of questions to help outline an introductory paragraph (including questions to help formulate a thesis statement).
The Red X
As I read through each paper, I mark a red X at the first sign of a problem. This is as difficult as it gets.
- If the first mistake is a spelling mistake, I mark a red X and hand it back to the student.
- If the first mistake is a punctuation mistake, the student gets it back.
- Should the first mistake be a factual problem, so be it. It is marked with an X.
And if everything’s perfect, then no X. No markings. It will be the perfect paper.
What does it look like in action?
The case example I showed the students today came from a student who wrote her paper before class. She knew it was coming, and so she wrote it before it was due. She handed me the paper, and before I could even read it I marked it with an X.
She’d forgotten to indent her first paragraph.
Simple as that. It’s a problem with the essentials of writing. If she’s 13 years old and doesn’t know to indent her paragraphs, doesn’t know how to offset one item from another, then I need to help her correct this problem.
This student corrected her error before class finished by rewriting a good deal of her paper. She handed me the second draft, and within a few seconds (within the first two lines of the paper) I noticed a spelling error. It was marked with a red X — albeit a little farther down the page this time — and handed it back.
She corrected that and gave it back to me. The difference this time, though, was that she took the time to re-read her paper. It’s something most students don’t do. They don’t care about the content or value of their overall work; they’re merely trying to complete an assignment and forget about it. I noticed, though, that on this third try she’d actually gone back over her paper and sought out all the misspelled words. She revised.
And that’s important.
She revised her entire paper. Revision is part of the process we teach, but students never adhere to it. Generally (and I dare you to find a student who doesn’t believe that “revision” doesn’t mean to ‘rewrite with a pen’), kids just actually rewrite the paper. They don’t reread, and they don’t care what’s happening in their work. They don’t care about the worth of their work, or about the value of their thoughts. They simply do the same thing twice, and don’t worry about balancing the strength of the initial effort against the second; there is no difference.
Sadly, the next mistake came in the naming of the two written works she compared. She didn’t underline the title of a novel; she didn’t put the title of a play in quotation marks. It’s a small problem, but I’ll venture she won’t do it again.
The Value — for Students
They write a paper. It’s good (as far as they’re concerned). They turn it in and expect a grade. Within a second or two, they find everything’s not perfect. Someone detected a problem. The problem is made clear, and they are shown exactly where the problem happens. The revise the problem and hand it back.
And if your students are like mine, they’ll hand it back within a minute.
But then they’ll probably find another red X on their papers, because the person looking for problems knows his/her stuff, and the paper is returned again. Now the student is angry. He or She will try to stay away from this red X again, and will seek-and-destroy whatever happened on this second go round. My case student, on her second time around decided to fix all spelling errors, to fix all indentations, and to revise the trouble with underlining and quotes.
At this point the whole process of revision becomes a chess game with the teacher. Sort of a “Well, I’ll get him. I’m gonna fix everything!” game, when in fact the whole process here is a tennis match. There is no opportunity to actually begin the game and win within a second or two. The students’ adversary is well aware of their abilities, and, needless to say, he’s wily.
Eventually they’ll try to flex their writing muscles and will write, read, re-read, and re-read, and re-read their papers until they know the content by heart. Until they understand the expected level of work by rote. Until they make no mistakes.
The Value — for Teachers
One: Quick grading. You’ll notice mistakes within a second. If the student isn’t willing to revise, then you can give a failing score on the work — and by that I mean you can assume that nothing was turned in, because you the teacher are trying to teach perfection and since perfection wasn’t given to you, you have no grade to give.
You might give a lower grade for effort, but ultimately, you will be dealing with a student who isn’t concerned with bettering himself or herself. A student who doesn’t seem to care that the rules of writing apply to everyone, and that there are expectations within any type of communication. The student who does not fix his/her errors isn’t willing to learn how to communicate.
Two: Individualized Education
Here you’re working with each student and helping him/her focus on personal weaknesses. Oh, and you do it quickly.
Three: Failure is an Important Part of Education
You cannot learn if you never fail.
I showed a few other student examples today, and after the first example, the kids seemed quick to pick up on what went wrong. I think for now I’ve got them focused on three of the major problems I see in their writing every day: Paragraphs, Spelling, and Punctuation (of titles). In addition, they’re focused on playing this game and are trying to outsmart me with their work.
If they do that, it’ll be a first. And if they do that, I’ll be the proudest teacher on the face of the earth.
Filed under: Expectations, Students, Teaching, The Writing Process
Damn! Excellent. If I were still in the classroom, I’d be trying this out on Monday. For real.
Hooray! You’re back! And with more amazing and awesome teaching stuff.
Not only am I stealing this — I have NEVER seen anything so simple and so potentially effective — I am copying it and sending it to my department chair. Imagine a school where kids are assessed (and taught — this isn’t just give-a-grade-and-be-done-with-it — to write this way.
Thanks –
Thanks to the two of you. This really seemed to work with the students who came to class with their work done; they worked and reworked and reworked their papers, each time handing it to me with s smile that said: “Let’s see you find something wrong with this one.”
And the way their friends hollered in laughter when I handed it back actually helped the situation. They’d shout, “HA! What’d you do wrong this time?”
They’d find the red-X together, figure out why it was there (“You didn’t put your quote in quotes, idiot.”) Then the group would actually go over the paper looking for other instances of the error.
This actually happened.
Do your students really turn it in again & again? I am lucky if I can get a paper from them the first time.
But this old dog can learn new tricks. I am willing to try this on our next assignment. I do think the students need to know what is coming; it is not fair to spring it as an after thought.
Well yeah, there’s that. A good number of my students don’t turn in their work in the first place, either. Don’t know how to fix that, other than to truly get them and their parents working together, and both knowing every step of our process.
Hi, do you recommend this for community college classes, too? I teach Applied Ethics; I assign several smaller essays, rather than larger mid-term and final papers.
I’d say nearly 80% of them write their essays the day they are due…and it shows. I’m at my wit’s end figuring out how to make them care about what they write, how to make them revise and re-read what they write. I LOVE this idea.
Has anyone tried this at the community college level?
Thanks! Great site!
I’d definitely use this for a college course — the students are older, and might be a little more able to endure this. My students are 8th graders, and so far they’re doing well with it.
I told a personal story to my students today about the fact that I , too, wait until the last minute to work on a paper. The difference between me and them is that I spend hours revising it. As a college student I walked the hallways at night, outside the computer lab, reading my essays aloud to myself to see if they made sense. I sat on the ground and marked up my problems; I edited them with pen in the stairwells. When I had no pen, I used the lit end of a cigarette to mark an error.
Ok, I didn’t tell them that last part (even though it’s true), but since you teach college kids I’ll let you use it.
[...] this is the second part of my RED X exercise. The students will visit the computer lab to type up their essays. I’ve already gone [...]
I love this.
Without trying to be abrasive, though (I’m not) – don’t you ever wonder if they might resist writing less if it’s not doing comparison/contrasts about books? I know our standards and curriculum value that, but for the life of me, I find myself more and more wondering why.
I guess a more constructive way to ask the question is, is there something students might write with more engagement, if only schools would assign it? And – here’s the hard part – that still satisfies the demands of the curriculum?
Nice new home, Bud. Thanks for giving me directions
Not abrasive at all, Clay. It’s a great question.
The real truth behind this grading strategy is that I just finished reading my students’ research papers, and they were subpar. Subpar meaning: it didn’t seem as though the students cared about the topics that interested them.
The assignment asked them to write a paper about a band, a person, an activity, a movie, a song, etc… They were allowed to write about anything, as long as they found it interesting. The paper topics were great, but the writing showed a disregard for effort; a disregard for communicating affection of, or even knowledge of, each student’s preferred topic.
The paper satisfied curricular requirements. The kids didn’t seem to have any interest.
Inasmuch as this new assignment is bookish, I hope it’ll help springboard another student-selected paper. One in which they can discuss something personal while still meeting the communication and writing requirements.
As for comparison/contrast writing — I too think we could do it better. The strength of this paper lies in how each student approaches it, and so that RED X shows up when I think a student could think things out more clearly. This isn’t simply about grammar and spelling. This is about playing a game to ensure each student finds success and stretches his/her thinking past those simpler goals.
Thanks for the question, Clay. I hope this helps make things clearer.
Bud, I love the response too. You nailed the weak assumption of the most open and student-directed assignment: that it will increase engagement.
And we both see, over and over, that it doesn’t. It’s the laziness factor, the switched off, “sort of, dunno, nothing” reality that slaps us in the face when we try our hardest to get them to care about communicating well. (If you haven’t seen that video John Larkin found, it’s wonderfully funny about this sad developmental stage).
So yes – as somebody who has again and again designed writing launchpads with tireless hopes the little fledglings would use them to enjoy flight, only to see them over and over again treat it like a question at the end of the chapter, I hear you. I must have been in denial
I wonder: do you set a limit on how many X’s they get before the final grade? A limit on how long they have to resubmit?
Tangential: I urge my students after handing back work with feedback, comments, grades: “I beg any of you who want to spend one on one time after school or during lunch to make an appointment. I’ll give you as much attention as you want.” I’ve had one student take me up on it. All year.
But it’s a beautiful spring out there! And I’m about to watch Finding Nemo. Thanks for the response.
Doofus time. I just realized you’re not Bud. But you’re equally rewarding to read.
Regards,
Doofus
I’m curious about limits on resubmitting, too.
In fact, I could see some of my students putting in an error on purpose, just to buy more time on an essay. How do I get their assignments back in a timely manner with this method? And do you think it’s unfair to the students who turn “A” work in on time?
Thanks!
Karla
Yes, there is a limit. Some students are working their way through general spelling errors (capitalizing the word “Holocaust,” for example, and making sure they underline the title of the book and putting in quotation marks the title of the play), while others are working to answer questions I asked them to answer for their final drafts.
I don’t think my students are putting in errors to buy time. (‘Least, I hope they aren’t.) Those students who have given me their papers are actually looking to finish, and have a good deal of the work done. For the most part, the kids are telling me they thought I’d pick up on a different error. Maybe I beat them to the punch.
As for students who turn in “A” work, this whole process is about getting them to strengthen their writing, which shouldn’t be too unfair.
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Brilliant!
As I see this, this shows the benefit of feedback which is both quick and repeated. I’m coming at this as a teacher of Maths, not English, but I can see great potential for something like this in my classroom as well.