Assigning grades for CW work

[Jennie]

Greetings,

I posted this on the e-mail loop, but was directed here for a response. I did not see a board that was general discussion, so I will post here.

I will be using CW (Homer A) next year with my son (and the other
children). He is the one I am concerned about because he will be a 9th
grader. I was wondering how you have gone about assigning grades for
the written work in CW. I didn't do this in the past, but for his
transcripts I feel it is necessary at this point.

Thank you,
Jennie~home educating 4 (ds14, dd12, dd8 and dd8) in WNY

[Lene Mahler Jaqua]

It is very hard to assign grades for writing. Many people in the United States generate rubrics in order to be objective about the assignment. I was not raised in this country and have yet to adjust fully to the rubric methodology when co-teaching in a class, but it does have its merits in that one has quantified what it is that one is looking for and how one has evaluated the performance on the essay.

A rubric could look something like this, where each entry (1), (2), (3)... etc. can earn a maximum of 10 points each.

You would give 9-10 points for Excellent, 7-8 points for VERY GOOD, 5-6 points for Adequate, 3-4 points for Weak, and 1-2 points for Poor... for each entry, so a perfect essay would give you 100 points.

(1) Responds fully to the purpose and spirit of the assignment EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(2) Presents the narrative identifying the chronology and details EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(3) Exercises sequential thinking throughout EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(4) Expresses its tone and setting of narrative persuasively and consistently throughout EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(5) Depicts characters consistently throughout EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(6) Provides adequate supportive description to make the story interesting EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(7) Story is focused, well organized, and unified EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(8) Uses language that is appropriate for the audience EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
(9) Invokes direct speech when appropriate EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR
10) Is free of errors in grammar, punctuation, word choice, spelling, and format EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR

BONUS POINTS -- (11) Displays originality and creativity EXCELLENT VERY GOOD ADEQUATE WEAK POOR

Then grade on a scale where 100-90 points is an A
90-80 B
80-70 C
70-60 D
60 and under E

Does that help? And if others would like the same scheme for the other books, we can generate those for each book easily enough.

Lene