Grading Blog Entries

At the start of the semester, I wrote some criteria for my students to follow as they wrote in the class blog. I wanted them to write thoughtful answers of some length. I wanted them to be organized and to develope their thoughts. I wanted them to engage in conversation by referring to other students' comments. I put a minimum length (100 words) and asked for only a few grammar errors.

Now at the end of the semester, as I am grading, I have a difficult time grading them on content. When reading their entries, I think they have done a good job being articulate and thoughtful, so I grade on promptness and length. Most of my students get 8, 9, or all 10 points.

When I taught 9th and 10th grade, I had my students write in journals using spiral notebooks. They had to write 5 sentences for every prompt I put up on the overhead. At the end of the semester, they usually had written 30 entries. When I graded, I just counted the sentences (and they had to be sentences, not fragments!) and the number of entries. It was too hard to grade for content.

I think it is difficult to grade content when the assignment is to write a short entry. It is hard to develope much depth when a person is only writing around 100 words. For me, the blog was a good way to practice writing for other readers. Rewarding the students for their participation this semester was enough for me. Maybe in the future I will try separate blogs for each student; perhaps content could be graded in that scenario.