Most of my classes rely on group discussions and peer-based work. Students read the assignment sheet together to understand what is required thoroughly, and brainstorm together before they start composing their essays or preparing their presentations. My assessment of such group work in class is mostly informal; I monitor my students to make sure that they actively participate in the discussion and play their role in class. I also tend to jump into the groups and join the conversation if I observe that a group is not doing a great job in keeping the discussion “fueled.”

When I grade assignments and presentations in my composition courses, I follow a formal approach and rely heavily on assignment rubrics. I think rubrics are beneficial for both teachers and students in grading composition assignments in terms of being fair and being able to see what has been done effectively & ineffectively on an essay. In addition to marginal comments, students also get to see general comments about their papers through rubrics, which helps them avoid the errors that they made on their papers in the future.

Below is the rubric I use to grade the textual rhetorical analysis essay that I assign to my students in English 250 (Written, Oral, Visual and Electronic Communication):

 

This is another rubric that I use to grade my students’ essays in English 150 (Critical Thinking and Communication), where they write about their favorite campus place and its relation to the college’s history and tradition:

 

After each assignment, my students write reflective essays to reflect upon their work in order to reinforce what they have learned and be able to use it in the future. I evaluate the reflections on a continuum informally. You can see the continuum below:

 

I use rubrics for presentations as well, which you can follow below. This rubric is also divided into five main categories (context, substance, organization, style and delivery) in the same way as assignment rubrics are organized, but the substance of each category is different: