"Monsters" & Assessment

Following a unit on Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon period, my cooperating teacher asked students to complete a two-page essay in which they identified and described a "monster" in their lives that they have overcome. Yesterday, most students handed in a draft of their essay for my cooperating teacher and I to look over and provide feedback on. As I read the first draft, I was amazed at the eating disorder that one of my male, yes male, students is currently facing (and has been facing for over two years). That paper was only the beginning of my journey into the problems that my students are dealing with. Just as other students in the program have confessed, I felt completely overwhelmed. What are the lines between being a teacher, a parent, and a friend for our students? The "monster" papers haunted me the rest of the day.

When my thoughts had finally settled from the students' papers, I began to think about assessment. This paper served as an outlet for many students to reveal their deepest thoughts and feelings about struggles in their lives, so how would I, as a teacher, grade this assignment? I found Griswold's idea of assessment lists to be a great way to assess students with an assignment like the "monster" essay. If I were grading the "monster" paper, I would make it clear to students that I was grading how they wrote the paper not the details they discussed in the paper. Assessment lists provide students with the exact elements that they are expected to include in their assignments so there is no guessing or confusion. I really like Griswold's idea of distributing the assessment list at the same time as the assignment is given because it helps get students have a clear direction from the beginning. Assessment lists are flexible, yet students know they must meet each assignment expectation, as the list serves as an "assignment contract" between teachers and students.