Course Project: Your Student Sample Paper

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper." ~ Steve Martin American, Author and Comedian

Your Student Sample Paper is designed to give you practice in scoring a paper for all of the traits

• Obtain a sample student paper.* Seek out writing with a mixture of interesting qualities. A piece with a range of strengths will prove to be the most valuable and informative for practice scoring. (Avoid samples that fall largely into the 3 range.)

• You can wait until Module 8 to score the sample student paper, or you can work with the sample, a Trait at a time, as we conclude each module.

• After you've found just the right sample, word process the paper. Do your best to recreate the letter-by-letter conventions of the original. It is important for your reader to see the work you are assessing.

• Optional: If you prefer scan a sample paper and provide word processed commentary and scoring.

• Your final project will be to score the paper using the NWREL Rubric. This is the same rubric we have used throughout our class. You should score your student sample paper for the 6 traits. Also write a positive rationale that explains your scoring for each Trait. Be sure to focus on what you consider the major strength of the piece.

• Required Elements for your Word Processed Final Project:
  • Title page with Your Name, Email Address, School, Country, Grade Level of Sample Paper, Name of this Class and Due Date
  • Your student sample paper (Include Grade Level)
  • Your 6-Traits assessment of the paper.

• The Paper is due at the the final week of class.

*If you are unable to obtain a student sample, choose a story we haven’t worked on from KMSoul.

Process:

• Use the NWREL 6-Traits Scoring Guide.
• Score your student sample for all of the traits.
• Write a rationale for each trait.
• Provide a specific example from the paper to back up your rationale. Your rationales should follow the detailed, positive model established during our group scoring practice.
• Word process your rationale.
• Be sure to include a copy of the paper you are assessing along with your rationales for each trait.
• Save the entire file as a Word Document. If you do not have Microsoft Word, save your file in Rich Text Format.
• Use your NAME as your project file name.
  • For example: doconnor_project.doc
• Send your project file via the Dropbox feature of the Desire to Learn (D2L) course management system.
• I will create an archive of sample papers at the end of the class. You will be able to download any papers of interest for use with your classes!