Being a Writing Teacher

One thing that scares me about being a writing teacher is scoring the creative minds in the classroom. I know that is one of the biggest things I will struggle with when I start teaching, besides classroom management. I want my students to get real feedback on their writing and in a way that makes them learn from their mistakes. I must admit that the 6-traits of writing will help make this process of grading a writing piece much easier. Now I can have a specific and concrete checklist for students to check their own work and have specific ways to respond as well. Once I create a rubric based off of the 6-traits of writing, then I shall not struggle with questioning what I am scoring and how to explain it to the students. A rubric will also help eliminate personal preferences in writing and make me double check my writing bias. Many students refer to page numbers and appearance for a good paper but should be focusing on ideas and details. Sometimes longer is not better. In fact, in drafting, we should be eliminating the non-important stuff while enhancing the important details. Sometimes that makes a piece shorter, but as long as it follows the rubric it will be OK.