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Returning Graded Papers

There are good reasons to return graded papers at the end of class. If you return papers at the start of class or section, students may be distracted by reading comments rather than focusing on the lecture or discussion. Don't leave papers in a pile on the desk during class; put them out of sight where they will not distract students. If there are several GSIs for a course, try to return papers on the same day. Students resent papers for one section being returned significantly earlier or later than papers for another section.

Before returning papers, let students know when your next office hours will be or when they can come to you to discuss comments or grades. It is a good idea to leave at least one full day between the time you return papers and the time you allow students to come to discuss them with you. This gives them time to think about your comments first. It also allows students to respond more rationally, rather than emotionally, to your feedback.

Some students are hesitant to discuss a grade that they don't understand or feel is unfair. Giving students a copy of your policy on regrades can encourage students to think through your comments before they discuss comments or grades with you. Here is a sample that one GSI distributes to her students:

Regrades:
(What to do if you think that you have received an unfair grade)

GSIs sometimes make mistakes when they are grading papers, quizzes and exams. If you feel that your GSI has made a mistake, you should ask him or her to regrade your paper (etc.). Here is my policy on regrades.

I will not accept papers for regrading in the three days following their return to you. The reason for this delay is to give you time to read and think about my comments. Very often students find that comments which don't make sense the first time around, become clearer when they've thought about them for a while or reread assigned reading, lecture notes etc. Once you have read and thought about any comments on your paper, you have two options:

To have your paper regraded, you must resubmit it to me together with a WRITTEN explanation of why you think that your initial grade is unfair and ought to be changed. I will only accept papers for regrading if they are accompanied by a written explanation from the student.

Finally, please remember that when a paper is regraded it is reassessed from scratch. This means that a regrade could result in a grade that is lower than your initial grade rather than higher. If this happens then you MUST accept the lower grade. (However, if your initial grade was mistaken, your grade will be raised without penalty, quibble, invoking my undying hatred etc., so don't suffer in silence.)

Helping Students to Understand Grades

You can help students understand their grades better by:

    1. discussing your criteria for grades,
    2. discussing the role of grades with respect to the goals of the course, and
    3. doing some grading exercises with students in section.

Grades play at least three roles: evaluation of students' work, communication about how they might improve, and motivation for them to do so. Students often do not fully appreciate these roles, and see grades as rewards or punishments for effort, or tickets to success or failure in life instead. For example, a student who has put a lot of effort into a mediocre paper may feel that he or she deserves a higher grade simply because of that effort. It is helpful to discuss the criteria for grades and their goals with respect to the course in advance of the first graded assignment.

Here are some exercises to help students to develop a better appreciation of the grading process:

Peer Review: Assign a short paper or ask students to bring a draft of their next assigned paper. Split students into pairs or small groups and have them read and evaluate each others papers together. Structure their time by giving them a checklist of tasks to work through as they review each other's work. For example, ask them to begin by working out a set of criteria to be used in evaluation. This exercise can be effective in getting students to think more deeply about the assessment process (although some students may find it intimidating).

A similar exercise may be done with anonymous, sample papers provided by the instructor. These can be actual papers with the students' names removed (always ask permission before you do this) or papers that the GSI has written for this purpose.

Discuss Sample Papers: Identify sample assignments in each grade range, copy them and remove names, and discuss your comments and grades with students in section. (Again, always ask the writer's permission before you do this, and discuss each paper in a section in which its author is not present.) Explain why you chose to comment as you did, what criteria you used, and ask the students for suggestions about how the work might be improved. It is often interesting to have students vote on what grade they would give a particular assignment before telling them what grade it actually received. Surprisingly, students' grades tend to be lower than the actual grade.

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