Re: students grade themselves

[Lynne Belcher <lrbelcher@saumag.edu>]

Marcy points out that grades are motivators and that in classes where 
there is some other motivation, "grades seem superfluous or even 
silly."  Though I know I can motivate some students by means other than 
grades, I can't reach nearly enough of them.  How do you motivate first 
semester college students taking a required course they don't think 
they need?  I'm really not arguing in favor of keeping the status quo; 
I agonize over grades.  Grading is the only thing I really hate about 
teaching.  I just don't know what to do instead of assigning grades.  

Some of you have suggested collaborative writing projects, but when I 
was a student I hated collaborative projects because a few people did 
all the work while the others did nothing.  The upper division writing 
courses I teach always contain collaborative projects, and students 
always complain about having to do the work for others.  I'm anxious 
for some solutions!

Lynne Belcher
Southern Arkansas University