REVISED AND CORRECTED: Record of Assignment: Quality and Sufficiency in AP English Language

I accidentally posted a draft before.   Here is my revised version of this post.

Here is a way to think about the Record  of Assignment grades.

10/10 (plus) means the work is complete and professionally presented, but more than that, it demonstrates a mind a work.  It is thoughtful, thorough and reflective with attention to detail.  It meets or exceeds the expectations outlined by the teacher.

8/10 (check plus) demonstrates thoughtful consideration for the most part but is lacking in ONE of the following ways:  limited or shallow response, did not follow directions, crafted as though merely answering a series of questions, or improper format; presentation is shoddy.

6/10 (check) demonstrates some consideration but is lacking in MORE THAN ONE of the following ways:  limited or shallow response, did not follow direction, crafted as though merely answering a series of questions, or improper format; presentation is shoddy.

Odd numbers (9, 7, 5) allow me to express nuance.  I use the odd numbers to show that an assignment is RISING -- a 7 is a better 6, not a worse 8; a 9 is a rising 8, not a falling 10.  A 10 is a 10.

I will discuss the "5" in a moment.

Let's look at an example: Questions 5 & 6 on the Weekend Essay cover sheet were "What is the quality of your connection between the claim and the evidence?  Is the evidence clear? Specfic? Sufficient? "

Here is one answer:
"The quality of connection between my claim and evidence is very consistent throughout each of my essays it isn't spectacular in all of them but it does get the job done
In most cases the evidence is clear and sufficient but in a couple of my essays I think I did a better job than what I did in the other two."

Here is another:
"In all of my essays, I believe my evidence and my claim were well connected.  This is because in each of my claims, I briefly mentioned the evidence I would be using the support my claim. Although I don't know if this is the best way to write a thesis, the strategy does help me keep my ideas organized and keeps me from drifting off topic.  Also, I referred back to my claim frequently in explaining how the evidence I gave supports my claims.
I believe most of my evidence was specific and sufficient.  In Dear Boy, I liked how I smoothly incorporated quotes into the essay to support my claim; however, my explanation of how some of these quotes support my claim was a bit confusing.  I know what I was trying to say in my head, but transferring my ideas from preexistence to birth resulted in a lack of clarity. In King Lear, my essay did not have this problem of unclear explanations.  My evidence included very specific examples that supported my claim. In this essay, my evidence was specific and was used less awkwardly, but I don't believe it was sufficient.  I struggled coming up with good examples from literature of wealth corrupting or not corrupting the judicial system.  In my Gandhi essay, I believe I did a great job using specific and sufficient evidence.  My evidence effectively supported my claim. I also believe my evidence was good in my Susan Sontag essay.  I felt my evidence really helped to support my claim sufficiently.  Some of my evidence was specific, but I believe I could have given a bit more specific examples in this essay.  Overall, my use of evidence steadily improved from Dear Boy to Susan Sontag, so I guess that more practice writing essays is helping me."

As you can see, this represents a wide range of response.  Both writers struggled with naming the bits of evidence that they saw as specific and sufficient, but as a reader, I have a much better idea of how to help writer #2 than I do writer #1.  Can you see that?  The second writing sample gives me much more to think about and work with, and the writing itself demonstrates command of a variety of sentence forms.


About the "5":  it is a failing grade given to work that is completed.  Uncompleted work is, as you must expect, a zero.  Anyway, imagine that these numbers are expressed as percentages -- because actually, they are. The  Record of Assignment category counts for zero percent in the gradebook because I want you to stop thinking about accumulating points.  I want you to think about the quality and sufficiency of the day-to-day work you complete.  Students may well will miss something here or there, so the Record of Assignment percentage will change, going up and down as these RoA assignments accumulate.  That percentage will be used to calculate your "Day-to-Day" grade, along with your personal reflection, and a conversation we have during the month of January when teacher-student conferences begin.