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a High School English Teacher
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That’s the age old conundrum, isn’t it? If you mark every single thing, it’s overwhelming for them, but not showing them their errors seems counterproductive as well. We have focus areas for each piece they write, especially shorter pieces like paragraphs. I hold them responsible for all required writing elements like topic sentence, text evidence, explanation, concluding sentence, transitions, etc. Then I mark a focus skill like commas or agreement.
Sandwich- find one good thing(there's always something), give example/recommendations of " another" way; then another positive.
I enjoyed reading your story. Watch run on sentences...[add reference and correction example]. Looking forward to your next creative piece.
Good writing comes with patience as well. A little at a time.
This is what I say to my students “I like how you started this, now I want you to give me a little more details by rearranging this part…” this is how I get them to see their writing in a different perspective and I get more out of them as well.
I can always identify if they gave me ideas that support the topic or answer the question, if it is organized (minimally), if they are using appropriate language mechanics. I ask them to revise and add in XYZ or next time can you give me one more idea, or specific details thst support that idea, or additional focus areas. I know that they cannot grow into Mastery sriters overnight, but want them to demonstrate growth.
You have good/great ideas here. However...
Build rapport first (at the beginning of the year/semester), and be totally honest.
Explain on day one that you WILL always be totally honest, otherwise you are not helping them. Explain that it's never personal, it's only about THIS piece of writing, this time, but the skill of writing is all about process anyway.
Note: I teach high school.
I try to find a sentence, phrasing, or even just line of reasoning I can see developing that is good or at least salvageable and offer that this is a good place to return to and build off of/replicate to express other ideas. It can definitely be difficult at times!
You should have maybe 3 specific primary goals for the assignment.
Should they be building an argument? Using imagery in a narrative? Analyzing author's choice,?
Look at what they did on just one or two goals.
Maybe "It seems like you have some interesting characters. Your plot was a little difficult for me to follow. Let's talk about it so you can make your next draft a little more clear."
Depending on the genre I do begin with a short and genuine noticing (effort, creativity, grammar, etc.) and then suggest tweaking 1-2 main elements to focus on based on a rubric, so the expectations are standard class-wide. Lastly, I always push the nonnegotiable CUPS (Capitalization, word Usage, Punctuation, and Spelling).
I also like to create a culture of error in my classroom, where mistakes are normal and as a class, we evaluate different pieces of work as a starting point for reflection on their work.
I tell my students that they have made a good start. I then encourage them to build a solid essay on this solid foundation.
Remember, we writers are vulnerable, especially to harsh criticism. We function much better in an environment of support & honest encouragement.
When I was a student, I would sometimes get a see me written on papers. That meant a conversation and a conference about what was written. Then the teacher would go over the points on what needed to be corrected, and handed me a check list. I guess that would work for drafts, not the final grade. I think rubrics would be a way to point out where in the grading scale that student would fit
I always say “good start…” and then ask them a question like “how could you add punctuation here to make it flow better?” Or “how could you connect your evidence back to the thesis/claim?” And then usually I offer a link to a supporting document related to their need (luckily we use canvas in my district so it makes it easy, as I have many canned comments with the corresponding helpful links all saved to use again and again)