It is very typical to focus on things like grammar, punctuation, and spelling when teachers grade writing, and these things are important. However, just as important is the thought process that students demonstrate when writing. This is more difficult to assess, as students need to first be taught how to demonstrate their thought process in writing, then the teacher needs to understand how to identify critical thinking.
What the Thought Process Looks Like
You'll know students are showing their thought process in written form when you see students making predictions, asking questions and later answering them, and making evaluations or judgment calls. They'll move past simply summarizing and start giving ideas such as "If I had to make this choice, I would..." Simply put, the reflection should show critical thinking skills of analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.
The question is, how do we get them there? Start by providing students with copies of Bloom's taxonomy. The verbs we use as teachers to plan our lessons can be used by students to demonstrate critical thinking. Asking questions and creating hypotheses is a great way to demonstrate that they're really "getting it." Teach students that making judgment calls and explaining their answers shows you that they can apply the information and understand it at a deeper level.
Tools like Microsoft Office Word's Readability Statistics can also assist students in writing a more thoughtful reflection, as it will level the writing ability of the student according to Flesch-Kincaid grade levels. This encourages students to write with more purpose and detail, essentially, competing against a computer for a higher score. Sound familiar?
And finally, the development of a sound rubric that assesses beyond mechanics and word choice will provide students with your expectations.
Getting Students Involved in Creating Assessments
We can be a little afraid of this sometimes, but often, students are harder on themselves than we are on them. Also, by creating their own assessment criteria, they'll be more clear on what is expected of them and more likely to "own" their learning, therefore perform better.
So the question is, what should students be assessed on? That's how to begin. Ask the students, "What do you think I, as the teacher, am looking for in your work?" As students provide ideas, guide them towards what you are looking for by asking leading questions. These ideas will become the indicators of assessment, and a rubric would be the best way to adequately measure success. From this point, assist students in developing specific criteria for each indicator. Here is an example of a reflection scoring guide created by 4th grade students in a hands on science class:
The teacher led students to create this, but essentially, students developed it together as a class. This assessment is detailed enough to measure critical thinking by the student but vague enough that it doesn't limit students to only using the tool for hands on experiments or to "punch out" the same type of reflection as everyone else in the class. The emphasis for this type of writing is on the thought process, not the length, grammar, or punctuation.
Because students are holding the assessment criteria in their hands as they write, they know exactly what type of information must be included to show proficiency. Additionally, this assessment tool is multi-disciplinary as it requires students to show proficiency in detailed writing and word choice along with demonstrating life skills of participation and critical thinking in the thought process.
These steps can move your students' blogs and journaling activities from simple summaries to more reflective, authentic writing, which will encourage collaboration and critical thinking. Additionally, it meets the needs of the 21st Century Learner in assessment because of the feedback they'll receive from their audience - the whole world.
