Scoring Student Writing

Using the Six Traits of Writing Model

Some ground rules

Know the correct terminology:

• Anchor papers

• Sample papers

• Inter-rater reliability

• Norming

Levels of Writing and Scoring

Identifying Anchor/sample papers and norming are activities usually associated with LEVEL 3 writing, whether it’s multidraft or writing-on-demand.

Levels 1 and 2 can be normed, but usually they can be scored by simpler criteria and/or rubrics

Holistic vs Analytic Scoring

• Reminder: ISTEP (and most grades we give) are HOLISTIC SCORES, combining many aspects of a task into a single score

• The 6-Trait Assessment Model is ANALYTIC, intended to check progress in EACH skill required for a task.

ISTEP & 6 Traits Compared:

:6 TraitsI/C OV

WCSFC

ISTEP

I/C

O

V

Style

C

Student Scoring Sessions

• Some teachers find this so successful, it’s the main strategy they use to teach the traits!

• Some use it as a bell-ringer activity, others formalize it in longer sessions

Some Flexible Ground Rules • Don’t use sample papers from student

writers in your class• Teach students how to use a rubric!• Use samples that are noticeably very

strong or weak in a given trait• At first, work on one trait at a time with

students• Read all samples aloud while they look

at the text• Score all papers yourself ahead of time!

…more Ground Rules

• Don’t worry about grade levels!• After reading a paper aloud, give

students a minute to talk/record with a partner their comments by trait

• Share comments with whole class• Combine all scores on chart• Encourage students to be specific,

expansive and articulate in explaining reasoning for scores!

Goals of a Scoring Session

• Create a professional learning community

• Engage in conversation about student achievement in the kind of writing the session addresses

• Create inter-rater reliability• Accrue data regarding current

student mastery of skills assessed

Student Scoring Sessions

• Some teachers find this so successful, it’s the main strategy they use to teach the traits!

• Some use it as a bell-ringer activity, others formalize it in longer sessions

Some Ground Rules• Don’t use sample papers from student

writers in your class• Teach students how to use a rubric!• Use samples that are noticeably very

strong or weak in a given trait• At first, work on one trait at a time with

students• Read all samples aloud while they look

at the text• Score all papers yourself ahead of time!

…more Ground Rules

• Don’t worry about grade levels!• After reading a paper aloud, give

students a minute to talk/record with a partner their comments by trait

• Share comments with whole class• Combine all scores on chart• Encourage students to be specific,

expansive and articulate in explaining reasoning for scores!

REDWOODS

Last year we went on a vacation and we had a wonderful time. The weather was sunny and warm and there was lots to do so we were never bored.

My parents visited friends and took pictures for their friends back home. My brother and I swam and also hiked in the woods. When we got tired of that, we just ate and had a wonderful time.

It was exciting and fun to be together as a family and to do things together. I love my family and this is a time that I will remember for a long time. I hope we will go back again next year for more fun and an even better time than we had this year.

Group Scoring Grid

Trait 5 4 3 2 1

I/C

O

V

WC

SF

C

• Redwoods

• GRADE 11, NARRATIVE

• Ideas: 2 Organization: 3 Voice: 1-2 Word Choice: 2-3 Sentence Fluency: 3 Conventions: 4

• Comments. This paper is classic in its total restraint. It's safe. It's impersonal. The writer is barely here. It is pleasant in tone but says almost nothing because the language is masterfully vague. What about this "wonderful time"? How was it wonderful? What is the brother really like? Is he kind? Imaginative? Comical? Pesky? Rude? Clumsy? Insightful? What happened on this trip to delight, surprise, annoy, thrill, or appall this writer? We never find out. It's a greeting card essay—bright side only, keep it short, make it general. Readers are often surprised to learn that this is a high school student. Both vocabulary and sentence structure suggest a younger writer. The real problem, most likely, is significant lack of involvement in the topic. It's a quick response. Conventions are not faulty, with the exception of some minor problems with commas (which many readers do not even notice). The one point is taken off because the text is too simple to show the control or skillful use of conventions we hope to see from a high school junior

MOUSE ALERT As soon as school was out we left on

vacation. Nothing went the was it was supposed to. Dad backed into a tree on the way out of the driveway, pushing the bike rack through the rear window and nearly scaring my sister to death. She was cranky the rest of the trip. We had to take our other car, which is smaller and you can't hook the bike rack up to it. Now my sister and me were crowded together so much she kept complaining about me breathing on her and taking up all her air and foot room. Plus now Dad knew a big bill would be waiting for him when we got home. It put everyone in a lovely trip starting mood.

We were supposed to go to Yellowstone Park. Well, actually, we did, but just barely. I think we hold the world's record for shortest time spent in the park. This was all due to my mother's new attitude toward animals. The night before yellowstone we stayed in a cabin on the edge of the park. It had a lot of mice but most of them had the good sense to stay hidden in the walls. One poor furry guy had a death wish and showed himself. The whole family went into action. My father got a broom, which looked like an oversized weapen for a mouse.

My mother hugged her pink flanel night gown around her knees, jumped up on a wood chair and started shreiking "Kill him! Kill him!" Her eyes were as big as her fists. I had never seen her quite so blood thirsty. My sister spent the whole time dancing on the bed crying her eyes out and yelling "Don't kill it Dad! Don't kill it!" It was up to Dad and me to trap it. We got it in a pickle jar and took it down to the lake and let it go. It seemed really happy to get away from us. I thought I knew how it felt.

The next day we raced through Yellowstone and then headed home. My Mother said she had enough of animals. For weeks afterwards, this was the big story she told everyone who asked about our vacation. You'd have thought the whole point of our trip was to go on a mouse hunt. Dad said all the money we saved by not staying at Yellowstone could go to pay for the broken car window, so for him the trip worked out perfect. As for me, I'm still planing to get back to Yellowstone one day. I want to see something bigger than a mouse.

Group Scoring Grid

Trait 5 4 3 2 1

I/C

O

V

WC

SF

C

• Mouse Alert

• GRADE 9, NARRATIVE

• Ideas: 5 Organization: 5 Voice: 5

• Word Choice: 4-5 Sentence Fluency: 4-5 Conventions: 3

• Comments. We love this story. It's deliriously crammed with tiny acts of everyday heroism. Nothing much goes right, but everything from Dad backing into the tree to the mouse hunt, the big release, and the race through Yellowstone is extraordinarily visual (this would not be a boring home movie) and a tribute to the pitfalls of planning. These people are ex tremely human—unlike the people in "Redwoods." They breathe. They argue. They worry over money, mice, and the allocation of air in the car. We can picture Mom in her nightgown and the mouse in the pickle jar. We are sorry this piece is so short, and that is one of the best compliments we can ever give a writer. Conventions need work, yes, but we do believe this writer will find a professional editor one day.

Interesting Facts about Smoking Many teen-agers from 12 to 18

smoke every week if not every day. In 1987 along, lung cancer surpassed breast cancer as the leading cancer killer of women.

Cigarettes are one of the most dangerous drugs that is legal in the U.S. Almost 3 million packs of cigarettes are sold illegally to minors every year. People who began smoking as minors have a really hard time stopping.

Numerous cancers, heart disease and a lot of other ailments are blamed on smoking. Infact, 90 percent of all lung cancer is attributed to smoking. if people know all this why don’t they stop? Though many wish they could but it is not that simple. Cigarettes are very addictive, though. You can become addicted in about four to five weeks even if you only smoke two or three cigarettes per day.

People usually start smoking because they think it is cool and it is just a temporary thing. But, studies show that, almost everybody who starts cannot stop Most of the people who stat are young women. Although more young women are smoking some students show the number of blacks who smoke is declining. Who smokes depends alot on who the advertisers are appealing to in their ads. If you smoke, just remember you may not be able to stop.

• "Interesting Facts About Smoking"• GRADE 10, EXPOSITORY • Ideas: 2• Organization 2 • Voice: 3• Word Choice: 3-4 • Fluency: 3-4 • Conventions: 2

• Comments: This writer has a lot of information to work with but has not focused or organized it to create a centered paper with an important point. Platitudes (smoking is dangerous; smoking is addictive) are allowed to usurp attention that could be given to more interesting issues (advertising is primarily aimed at young people; tobacco is one of the few drugs that remains legal—why is that?). There is no clear introduction; we have the feeling of having turned on the TV in the middle of the news report. Further, the paper meanders mercilessly, barraging us with facts and forcing us to make our own sense of it. The potential is all here.

• The writer only needs a strong theme; for example, smoking changes a person's life, or people who begin smoking as teenagers cannot stop. The conclusion suggests—perhaps—what she wanted to say most. Despite the lack of iocus, this writer speaks with some conviction, and this forcefulness gives the piece more voice than it otherwise might have. It's also more fluent than it looks; if you do some mental editing and fix the punctuation (her real problem), most sentences are sharp and to the point. Some transitions are awkward (Though many wish they could but it is not all that simple. Cigarettes are very addictive though.) Conventions need quite a lot of work, especially considering that the text is so short and simple, and a bibliography is needed.

Scoring Session Logistics

• Analytic Scoring lends itself to a format for deepening understanding of each trait.

• Try this: establish 6 “stations” for each trait and assign a small group to them. They are the experts in their assigned trait. Sample papers are then rotated through each station for commentary.

Station 6Conventions

Station 5SentenceFluency Station 4

Word Choice

Station 1 Ideas & Content

Station 2 Organization

Station 3Voice

• Feedback Sheet Essay #____

• Group 1 Ideas/Content 6 5 4 3 2 1

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• Group 2 Organization 6 5 4 3 2 1

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