Well, I am in the middle of grading your first assignment for the semester, and here are some of the things I'm finding in your first TWEs:
If you received a 2, please set up a time to conference with me.
If you received a 3, here are some of the items that kept you from getting a 4:
- unclear/vague thesis statement
- insufficient supporting details
- choice of words and word forms were not appropriate
- errors in structure or usage or a lack of variety in sentece structure
- repetition of words or phrases
- spelling and grammatical errors
If you received a 4, here are some of the items that kept you from getting a 5:
- difficulty in finding the focus of the paragrph
- inability to show facility in the use of a language through a broad range of vocabulary and sentence structures
- grammatical and spelling errors
- lack of detailed support or examples in body paragraphs
So far, I've only found a couple of scores at a level 5. A few of the reasons these students were able to earn a 5 is because the paper:
- had relatively few grammatical and spelling errors
- was clearly well organized and fully developed
- had a strong and well supported thesis statement through the use of details and examples
- showed a developed and appropriately used variety of vocabulary
- presented a well developed voice in the essay
As I stated in class, you have to be pretty close to native speaker proficiency to get a 6, and I haven't seen one yet.
A few things for everyone:
- it's SMOG not FOG
- conclusions need to be longer and more thorough
- all paragraphs should have topic sentences
- and, the golden number is 25 = 5/5/5/5/5 = If you write about 5 sentences per paragraph, you should have plenty of supporting details for the reader to follow your thought process.
Overall, I'm pleased with the types of essays I'm seeing. We do have quite a few things to work on, especially the vocabulary and syntax, but not bad for your first try.
I don't know how many people have a thesaurus, but if you have one and can bring it to class, that would be great. It will help tremendously with vocabulary development as we do our peer editing and revisions. So, I know it's a burden to bring an extra book, but if you can, it will help you and your peers as we journey toward that next level of greatness.
See you in the next class. Have a great night!
