Even before reading Williams’ chapter on evaluating and assessing writing, I already knew the task of grading student writing would be a difficult one.

Although I have no experience with grading papers yet, I think the hardest part is how not to be subjective when reading papers. With a writing assignment, there are no concrete right or wrong answers. It’s not like a mathematics problem where there is one definitive solution. On page 297, Williams states that writing evaluation “involves comparison on two levels: the standard set by other students in the class and by some preestablished standard of good writing.” A preestablished standard seems like a very vague concept to me. Who gets to decide what “good” writing is? Williams gives several different examples of how the standard could be set, but I still find it confusing. If you’re a teacher at one school who uses a certain set standard, and then you get a job somewhere else that uses a different standard, it must be difficult to adjust your grading style.

When I was in school, I’m pretty sure only teachers evaluated my writing. The papers I got back always had comments and then a letter grade assigned to them. I’m also pretty sure the letter grade was placed next to the final comments. Williams states in this chapter that teachers should avoid placing the comments and the grade next to each other. I wish he elaborated on this concept a little more in the chapter. He mentions that some students will ignore the comment and just focus on the grade. I wonder if there are any other reasons for this.

I know it increases the teachers’ workloads, but I am interested in the idea of evaluating rough drafts. Sure, the comments on students’ writing can help them on their next assignment, but I think the comments are more helpful if students can apply them to that same piece of writing.

I had never heard of the holistic grading method until I read this chapter. I’m not sure how I feel about. As a middle school and high school student, I don’t think I would have liked having that responsibility. However, I do think hearing different comments and point of views about your writing can be very helpful. I could also see the holistic method working better at the university level, where students have had more experience with writing. It would be interesting to hear from students and teachers in classes that use this holistic method.