Re: Formulaic Writing

[Katherine Fischer <kfischer@keller.clarke.edu>]

I agree, Jon.  I've read for the AP exam (I was one of the high school
teachers who used to read every summer).  Basically the way they do that
is to have a full day of "norming" in which readers in small groups score
1-9 "practice" essays and then discuss those scores.  It's a pretty
remarkable process -- reminds me a lot of what Sommers, Bill C., Yancey,
and I just cannot remember names right now, but a project they did a few
years ago holistically scoring fyc application essays across the country.
Difference is taht they did it online. There is a general rubric for the
AP scoring.  We used it a lot back when i taught AP but interestingly
enough, not one item on it refers to thesis statement;-)

Katie

On Fri, 5 Jun 1998, Jon Olson wrote:

> At 10:29 AM 6/4/98 -0500, Katie Fischer wrote, in reply to Robin Wright,
> under the subject line Re: what's in an age or a name?:
> 
> [snip]>I remember when our son came home from h.s. one day angry at his
> AP>English teacher, "Can you believe this, mom?  Mr. B. gave me a C- on
> this>paper and wrote on it 'nice structure, Jason, but this paper needs to
> go>so much further.'" [snip]
> --------------
> "AP" jogged my memory of a conversation this afternoon.  The initial
> message in this thread was about how teachers read essays in holistic
> grading sessions, right? (I think Wendy Smith brought it up--some of her
> colleagues wanted more 5-P essays.)  I chatted with a colleague this
> afternoon--let's call him Mr. B.--who will go next week to Daytona to read
> AP essays with seven other readers (four HS teachers, four college), as
> he's often done in the past.  I asked if they reward formulaic writing and
> if they especially like the 5-P essay.  "Never heard of it," said Mr. B.  I
> asked if they actually like innovative thinking, even if structurally
> unpredictable.  "Yes.  We like it."  If they have their own formulaic
> habits of reading, it's to like arguments that are supported and to dislike
> argument by mere assertion.  FWIW,  --Jon, Penn State, jeo3@psu.edu
> 
>