Things That Work: Student Self-Evaluations

Mid-Semester "Self Report"
The "self-report" or evaluation is something I have students do when I return their folders after midterm folder review. I ask them to take a few moments to re-read their first three papers along with my comments on these papers. When they are done, I ask them to write a short 'report" evaluating their writing. I ask them to write what they have learned about writing, what they believe their strengths are, and what continue to be weaknesses that they need to attend to.

I have always found this to be an enormously useful exercise and my students always say that they get a great deal from it. The self-report allows students to re-group and recharge. It comes at that point in the semester when many students are feeling glum and resentful: they may continue to be "stuck" at a particular grade level no matter how hard they try or they may feel that they have "learned nothing" all semester. The self-report allows them to go back and see their early papers and see that they have indeed come a long way. Many students write, "My first paper was ALL summary. I can't believe I didn't see it at the time." This really helps their attitude at this point in the semester.

The self-evaluation also allows them to articulate what our criteria are and position themselves within those criteria. This makes them more active learners in the process and more independent, rather than passively waiting for me to be re-iterating their writing strengths and weaknesses each time. Finally, in asking them to re-read my comments, they get a fresh sense of what I am asking them to do. Many students write, "I didn't understand your comments on my first paper when I first read them. But now I really do see what you mean." Every time I have done self-reports, there has been an almost magical buoyancy and renewal in the class subsequently (perhaps I exaggerate, but only mildly!).

-- Priti Joshi