Sisyphus and Marking: My Foray in Assessment Interviews

"How's marking all those papers? They must take days to get through." They do. Traditionally, "those papers" have monopolized my freetime and a significant portion of my mental load. They are my boulder.

As an English teacher, I have oft felt like Sisyphus pushing his cursed boulder to the very top of the hill only to have it roll back to the bottom again, over and over again,  for eternity.  Push. Roll. Push. Roll. Push. Roll.

Mark. Return. Mark. Return. Mark. Return. Same process, different boulder. Finish marking thirty papers and thirty more appear on my desk. Mark. Return. Mark. Return. One could not possibly imagine this Sisyphus smiling. 

Upon receiving their marked projects, students typically responded in two ways: they would glance at the feedback, nod their head, and tuck the paper into the bottomless abyss of their backpacks or they would glance at the mark, shake their head, and cast the paper in the recycling bin. Both reactions did not suggest productive reflection, but rather apathy and disconnect.

Something had to change. But what could I do?

This quarter I've decided to introduce interviews as a key component of my assessment practice. The results have been immediate. 

Conversing openly with students about their work and then assessing it together transforms assessment into a partnership. Together, we can decide the steps needed for that student to move up the proficiency scale. No more apathy. No more disconnect.

I sat at a table with a copy of both the proficiency scale rubric and the interviewee's writing. I asked the student a series of questions:

"What are you confident of in terms of your writing?"

"What is one area you would like to improve in?

I broke down both the rubric and the specific curricular competencies students were being assessed on. I next read a paragraph or so of the student's writing and highlighted aspects to consider and aspects to celebrate. 

Finally, I asked students where they would place themselves on the proficiency scale and then I told them where I thought they were at. More often than not, students and I agreed on their proficiency. The few exceptions all involved students being too hard on themselves. 

This interview style of assessment was novel to both students and myself. Most said they'd never been asked to think about their writing in that way. Sometimes they began the interviews shy and reluctant, but inevitably their disposition would brighten and their enthusiasm would burgeon. They appreciated the opportunity to talk about their own writing for a change.

I'm not saying students one hundred percent bought in. It's much too early to  tell. But I am saying that fewer papers got thrown, feedback and all, into their bags or the recycling. More got placed beside their current writing. Students became active participants in their assessment rather than being an after-the-fact recipient. Many students commented they now had a clearer idea of what they needed to do to demonstrate greater proficiency. 

I'm finally optimistic about the direction my assessment practices are headed. But, more importantly, I'm certain many students are too. There's momentum forming; there's a tangible destination. There's no rolling backwards. 

One must now imagine this Sisyphus smiling.