Pat July 24th questions

1.     Peter Elbow suggests some teaching methods, including the use of portfolios, an analytic grid, and offering certain student papers an H or a U, in order to reduce ranking in favor of evaluation (399). What pros and cons do you see for these suggestions? Or can you think of any other methods, not mentioned, that would also reduce the use of ranking in a pragmatic fashion?

2.     Staub mentions the benefits of discussing grading standards with students and striving “to reach some conclusions on standards without privileging any particular set of standards: mine, theirs, their former teachers” (153). After finishing this article, has your opinion on this as a way of helping students understand what to expect changed? Or do you think it would be more productive to use portfolio grading?