Dear Ms.

Valentina,

For writing project one I decided to write about how the classic grading and marking

system for essays affects students' confidence and their writing. Using a fictional narrative I

presented my research in an entertaining way to keep my audience engaged. The story is

based upon a conversation between students and their teacher in a classroom discussing why

they did not want to turn in their papers. This form of storytelling allowed me to add in my own

personal narrative while still presenting the research I found.

Since the first project builder assignment I have been focused on this idea of writing

confidence. During PB 2, I worked to find what impacts a writer's confidence and what other

information and ideas I can connect to this base question. From that point on it was easier to

stay engaged in this conversation and find ways to connect my sources together. Also, during

the research the idea for my narrative came to me organically. As I started to write for the actual

project, I allowed my thoughts to flow openly on the page knowing that I would be able to clean

it up later. With multiple revision processes, and the assistance of the peer review, I developed

my narrative to what I believe to be a good point. I hope you enjoy it.

Julia Joseph
Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021

Walking into the fluorescent-lit classroom my legs were shaking. No part of me wanted to

hand in this essay. Despite weeks of editing draft after draft and a multitude of conferences with

both my teacher and peers, I had no confidence in my writing skills. I knew that when it came

time for my paper to be handed back there would still be the common sprawl of red ink telling

me “this sentence is too repetitive” or “stick to one tense” and more mistakes I should have fixed

during the first editing round based on years of teaching. I felt defeated. However, walking into

the room I overheard the voices of other students. “I just don’t want to write anymore,” said the

girl who was considered the best writer. “I always feel so confident,” she continued, “but then

when I have to submit it I get so worried even though I still get a good grade at the end.”

Everybody must have been feeling the same way as me.

Our teacher nudged the door open and entered the room towards her desk with the

anxious whispers of my peers still lingering in the air. Ms. Hatcher was a short lady who wore

pastel kitten heels that click-clacked on the floor as she walked around the classroom. Her long

blonde hair was tied up in a clean top knot, making her look sophisticated. Collecting the

papers, she noticed the looks on all the students' faces and frowned. Ms. Hatcher was aware of

their concerns and felt compelled to help. Reaching her desk at the front of the room she

cleared her throat and started to speak, “I couldn’t help but notice the scared look on each of

your faces as papers were handed to me.” Smiling sweetly and with a glimmer of excitement in

her green eyes, she continued, “Let’s cancel our original plans for the day and discuss this issue

instead. I need you all to know that you are amazing writers and that it is completely normal to

feel this way.”

“You just have to say that,” piped Alya, one of the girls in the back of the room. “I’m sure

if we truly were good writers you wouldn’t have to reassure us all the time”
Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021
“You’d be surprised,” started another girl, Fiona, “In his paper on writing anxiety, Lynn Z.

Bloom talks about how many graduate students face this same problem.”

“That’s exactly right,” agreed our teacher. “Many writers are procrastinators and strongly

dislike writing. They often dread any sort of evaluation on their papers and share your fear of not

meeting standards established by their professors, and even by themselves. Bloom's research

showed that many students have difficulty with confidence especially when there is not a lot of

instruction around the theme for writing, so clear goals and deadlines are usually deemed

necessary.”

“So you're saying that even the most skilled writing students face similar problems as

us,” asked Alya.

“Totally,” confirmed Fiona.

“In his paper Notes from the Ground Up, Nick Tingle also writes about how the lack of

rules in his job as a TA caused him to have a lot of anxiety about the quality of his work. The

loss of a clear set of instructions led to a lot of self-depreciation and confusion when bad results

were received,” Ms. Hatcher explained. “It can become very easy for one to lose faith in their

abilities and many teachers understand why students lack interest and confidence when they

have too much creative freedom. He and Bloom use their own experience to stress the

complications with an absence of structure and rules.”

Some of the students' faces started to lift at this information. Knowing everyone had the

same difficulties with self-confidence in writing made them feel validated, but deep down some

of the students were still confused and concerned. “So how does one fix this,” questioned

another student, Francis.

Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021
“Well, actually a lot of these issues come from the major miscommunication across all

writing classrooms,” voiced Ms. Hatcher. “Sonya Armstrong and her coworker E. Paulson

explained that the lack of common terminology and various meanings to certain practices

creates a lot of confusion and therefore anxiety in writers. Their strongest example is that all

classrooms have different approaches to peer review.”

“I read that this ambiguity has been around since the early sixties,” piped Alya excitedly.

“I’m guessing that if all English teachers and classrooms had common definitions for

their terms a lot more students would feel confident going into new classes,” concluded Francis.

“It sometimes is very confusing when we start a new year in school and the teacher grades

writing differently, so you never truly know what kind of writing will get you the best grades.”

“Totally,” agreed our teacher. “A lot of the anxiety can be tied to the way teachers grade

as well. There have been multiple studies surrounding this theory, including one detailed by

Rebecca S. Anderson in her journal Suggestions for Responding to the Dilemma of Grading

Students’ Writing. Anderson and her co-worker, Bruce W. Speck, discuss a conference focusing

on inspiring teachers to become agents of change at their schools and how the idea of letter

grades diminishes a student's confidence, hence why it was necessary to find a version of

grading that uplifts students.”

“I feel like co-grading between student and teacher or student self-revision could be

helpful,” expressed Fiona.

“What about a combination of oral and written feedback? Like the conferences we did

when we were younger,” mentioned Alya.

Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021
“Those are all great ideas! Grading is quite subjective and deeply depends on the

opinion of the teacher. The ultimate goal is to eliminate any tension surrounding the process of

grading,” responded Ms. Hatcher.

Like many other students in the class, these words comforted me. While co-grading can

be a stressful situation for all, being able to collaborate with a teacher and discuss why one is

getting the grade they earn eases tension and establishes clarity. Understanding the meaning of

a score would help students like me revise and create better work in the future.

“Do you think it would be beneficial to only give students positive feedback,” questioned

another student Charlie.

“Great question Charlie! In an essay by Hansun Zhang Waring, he explores this idea.

Ultimately he concludes that in certain circumstances these types of assessment limit

opportunities for exploring what we mess up on and learning from mistakes. It still is important to

make easy displays of student work and comparisons between peers and this lack of negative

feedback can unfairly put students on the same level,” responded the teacher. She went on to

explain how grading is important, even if annoying at times. “Without grades we would have

nothing to work towards and never improve.”

“Oh. Well I guess that was rather stupid of me to ask,” spoke Charlie somberly.

“No no no! There is no such thing as a stupid question,” Ms. Hatcher blurted out.

“Conversations about changing grading systems are sparking everywhere, not just in our

classroom. There was a UCLA study researching the best ways to grade student writing

showing that students thrive more when they receive more than just a letter grade as feedback.

The study ended up showing that students have a higher chance of success when they receive

more than just a standardized grade from their teachers.”

Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021
“That does seem as if it would be helpful during the revision process,” piped Fiona. “If

there are a ton of studies and conversations going on about this, why do students still feel this

way about their writing?”

“Honestly,” started Ms. Hatcher, “it comes down to ethics. Neal Bruss talks about this

issue in his essay Writing without Confidence. He recognizes that many teachers face students

who never realize their full potential and how these types of students commonly do not complete

a course, write childishly on their essays, stray from the assigned topic, answer questions

appropriately, or need lots of extra encouragement.”

“How is that an ethical dilemma,” asked Francis.

“Well there is only so much a teacher can help students with before it crosses a line.

Many confidence issues can be deeply rooted in personal problems and students who need

help with building their self-worth tend to require a lot more one-on-one time,” explained our

teacher. “Bruss believes that nothing shows a teacher's frustration more than giving students a

failing grade, but there's only so much one can do to help their students with this issue.”

“It makes me feel a lot better knowing we aren't the only ones having this conversation,”

said Alya. “I’m not sure if my confidence in writing has completely improved, but I like the idea of

switching up the way we grade essays in this class.” A lot of the other students nodded their

heads in agreement with what Alya was saying and the teacher had a realization.

“How about for this essay we co-grade? We can start with peer revision and then each of

you will have a conference with me where we can read the final draft together and discuss what

grade you think you deserve,” Ms. Hatcher presented.

“What definition of peer review though,” joked Charlie, causing everyone to break into a

fit of laughter.
Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021
When the bell rang we all walked out feeling much lighter than before. The feeling of no

longer being worried about turning in papers and receiving red markings lifted all of our faces.

This new information set us at ease and opened our eyes to how everyone in the writing field

faces similar issues and is working towards ways to deal with them. Deep down we all knew this

problem could continue to arise, even with viable solutions. Yet, we were grateful that we had a

teacher who was willing to work with us to find our way to deal with writing anxiety.

I was filled with excitement leaving school that day and could not wait to tell my parents

and friends about the conversation. Explaining the importance of grading in general and how

teachers need to adjust grading based on the project, made me want to explore the

conversation even more. Sharing my new knowledge with those around me posed new

questions that required answers. While a plethora of information surrounding writing anxiety is

online, the conversation is far from over and I plan to find my own solution.
Julia Joseph
Writing 2
October 24, 2021

Citations:

Anderson, R. S., & Speck, B. W. (1997). Suggestions for Responding to the Dilemma of Grading
Students’ Writing. The English Journal, 86(1), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/820775

Armstrong, S. L., & Paulson, E. J. (2008). Whither "Peer Review"? Terminology Matters for the
Writing Classroom. Teaching English in the Two Year College, 35(4), 398-407.
https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/whither-peer-review-terminology-matters-writing/do
cview/220963655/se-2?accountid=14522

Bruss, Neal. (1986). Writing without confidence. In Berthoff, Ann E. (Ed.), Correspondences
four; Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook (pp. [1-5]).
https://wac.colostate.edu/docs/comppile/archives/correspondences/c4.pdf

Page, E. B. (1958). Teacher comments and student performance: A seventy-four classroom

experiment in school motivation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 49(4), 173–181.
https://doi.org/10.1037/h0041940

“[PDF] Why Graduate Students Can\\\'T Write: Implications of Research on Writing Anxiety for
Graduate Education. Lynn Z. Bloom - Free Download PDF.” [PDF] WHY GRADUATE
STUDENTS CAN\\\'T WRITE: IMPLICATIONS OF RESEARCH ON WRITING ANXIETY FOR
GRADUATE EDUCATION. Lynn Z. Bloom - Free Download PDF,
https://silo.tips/download/why-graduate-students-cant-write-implications-of-research-on-writing-a
nxiety-for#modals.

Tingle, N. (1981). Notes from the Ground down (Or Ground up): Insecurity, Anxiety, and the
Teaching of Composition. College English, 43(4), 341–351. https://doi.org/10.2307/377119

WARING, H. Z. (2008). Using Explicit Positive Assessment in the Language Classroom: IRF,
Feedback, and Learning Opportunities. The Modern Language Journal (Boulder, Colo.), 92(4),
577–594. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2008.00788.x