I recently read an article about written comments versus grades on student work. Written comments refer to those annotated notes that we teachers make on work that a student has turned in. The article discussed the importance of these written comments to growth and basically argued that ALONE they are powerful. It also suggested that when paired with a letter grade or score serve virtually no purpose. If done properly written comments can give good feedback on what a student is doing well and where growth needs to occur. Of course, the problem with written feedback is it is time consuming to provide and it is also highly subjective. Written feedback can also be taken out of context or be misinterpreted. The article suggested to try writing comments on a students work and not actually providing students with the letter grade. If students are provided with both written comments and a grade, they tend to only look at the grade and not thoughtfully read the comments.
I decided to try as the article suggested and only write comments on the most recent DBQs students completed as well as give them an opportunity to re-write the DBQ based on those comments. When I handed back the DBQs I told students to read all the comments over carefully and that their grade would become clear as they read the comments. This seemed to motivate the students to carefully read over all the comments. I then handed out a rubric with student's grade. As I handed out the rubric with a grade I asked them to predict what grade will be on the rubric based on the comments they read.
The written feedback separated out from the grade served as a great tool. The rewritten DBQs were the best I have ever received. In the past, when students have rewritten DBQs it seems very few changes are ever made or the DBQ doesn't change at all.
Certainly, key to written comments being successful is making sure they are straight forward and honest without being judgmental.
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