“Grading students can be a perplexing task” (Smagorinsky
101).
Something that I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is
how I want to grade my students, particularly when it comes to essays. Whenever
both my mentor teacher and I grade something, such as in class speeches or
short answer quiz questions, I have noticed that I always give the students a
higher grade than she does. If I gave them a B-, she gave them a C. If I
thought it was an A performance, she gave them a B+. Because of this and past
experiences, I always though grading was subjective. Depending on who looks
over the work, a student could receive a good grade or a bad grade. But,
according to Randy Bomer, “[Grading’s] not subjective, but it’s not
quantitative either” (182). This somewhat stumps me, so I want to explore the
subject further. Is grading subjective? How will I decide to give grades to my
own students in the future?
