What do you think of Elbow’s emphasis on evaluation-free zones? What do you think is an ideal balance of evaluation-free assignments versus higher stakes assignments?
Straub pushes back at the perception of conversational response as informal and gentle. What were your views on conversational response before reading this article? Did reading Straub’s assertions change your perception at all?
Hi Dorothy,
ReplyDeleteI think the evaluation-free zone is a good idea to encourage students to write. For some students, starting to write itself is quite stressful, so writing without any consequence can be a baby step to get used to writing. I saw my internship tutor let students free write during the class, and I could see students enjoy it much.
On the other hand, I've met instructors who evaluate every assignment to reduce the stake for each assignment, but I think it's much more stressful than having one or two high stake assignments. Personally, three times high stake assignments accompanied by regular evaluation-free writing during the semester would be proper.