October 9, 2006

We spent the day discussing the six point rubric. I wanted to show the students the basic idea of how an essay is scored since they receive a score when they submit their essays on GoMyAccess. Then we read an essay that the computer scored as a six. Interestingly, the essay we read would not score a six if a human read the essay. So we discussed the difference between a computer scoring and a human scoring. We thought about what a computer was capable of scoring and how they could improve their essays tomorrow to increase their scores. Tomorrow I will take the computer score and give it to them as a 25 point grade; a six will be an A. I think that is fair even if the computer isn't perfect. We are all being scored by it.

I am revising my essay as well. I scored a six. I had 1500 words and a readability of grade 6.4. After having a friend read it and make suggestions, I improved the flow of the essay, reduced the size by 500 words, but I only raised the readability to 6.8. I must find a way to improve my vocabulary. I enjoy writing for all the prompts I assign.

Homework: The students should be done all of unit 3 for Tuesday. The quiz will be on Wednesday. We haven't really discussed the words, so this unit is one that they have been almost totally responsible for. I will take that into consideration for the quiz.