In recent weeks, I’ve added two new wrinkles to my Masterclass offerings: a self-paced course as well as an Alternative Grading Workshop that includes the self-paced course and lifetime access to the Masterclass Library. I should state that the self-paced course also includes access to the Masterclass Library, which has a course on alternative grading practices.
Jim Callahan took the alternative grading method workshop; and his wife, Jill, took the self-paced course. Here, in their own words, are their experiences with both courses.
[Jim] “As far as my backstory, I’m in my 23rd year in the classroom, and if I never see another essay to grade in my life, I’d give my right and left and middle kidney. After twenty-three years of doing this, and having seven more to go, I’m fried. I quite literally recoil when my students place their essays on my desk. There are two things I hate about my job: all of the bureaucratic “stuff” we need to do and the endless demands to grade papers. Between the two, I’ve lost all my hair.
Kristian and I met last Saturday on Zoom for a workshop on alternative grading methods for an hour. I swear to God … my mind was blown away. The guy is a genius for being so far outside of the box. Example after example was a eureka moment. I wish I had these ideas going into my career. I would have saved a half a lifetime. Not only is it a huge time saver to grade this way, but it actually advances learning 100 times more than traditional ways of grading. With my 9th graders, we did Kristian’s Rock, Paper, Scissors writing workshop – worked like magic. In three periods, I got 78 essays graded. But it’s more than that. The students clearly saw their strengths and weaknesses. Their grades made sense to them and weren’t arbitrary and they had clear expectations for revision. With my dual enrollment class, we did the Bob Ross coloring workshop. Damn. Brilliant. Seriously wish I had this in my arsenal years ago.”
Like Jim, I spent a few years of my life playing the role of red-ink-hawk … I’d scrawl endless editorial comments in the skinny margins thinking that the task was quite necessary. And then one day it hit me – this is a ginormous waste of time, because not only am I giving up my evenings and weekends, but students don’t grow and mature as writers through my ocean of red ink. It’s ineffective, if not futile. So, over the course of my career, I have developed fifty alternative methods to grade an essay. Not only do I never take work home with me, but most of my students flourish as writers because of these approaches.
Jill took the self-paced course. Here, in her own words, is her experience.
[Jill] “Given that I’m so much younger than Jim, I’ve been in the classroom for twenty-two years 😊 Writing instruction is not my strong hand, but I have held my own. But one thing I’m guilty of, I have done very little research on how to do it better. I’ve never taken any PD on writing. So, it’s always been my way of doing things – the “stuff” I’ve developed over my career to get by and not inflict any harm. Two of my colleagues took Kristian’s Masterclass, and I’m super impressed with the transformation of their teaching and their kid’s ability to write. So, I had to see what this is all about.
I spent a few evenings going through the self-paced course and loved it. His templates are amazing and so much make sense. I saw the lightbulbs go off over my student’s heads the first day I rolled out the declarative and inverted thesis. I teach the young ones so we did the literary sandwich instead of the syllogistic method. Love it. Every single kid did better. They were engaged like 9th graders usually don’t engage, especially three weeks before summer vacation. The writing showed improvement. That’s all I ever want to see. Improvement. And voila … there it was. I love these templates.”
I hear testimonies like Jill’s often. Writing instruction needs to be scaffolded until students can write cogently on their own. Without workable templates and heuristics, you’re most likely going to see a lot of students get lost along the compositional journey.
The enrollment doors are now open for my June Masterclass session. We will begin Sunday the 13th and meet for five consecutive Sundays. But if time is a factor, there is always the self-paced course and the Alternative Grading Method Workshop.
Reach out if you’d like more information. I will also host sessions in July and August (times TBD).
Here’s the link to my webpage if you’d like to take a browse: www.teachinghow2write.com
Happy teaching and happy writing!
Kristian
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