Re-drafting is getting it done right

I am still stuck in an assessment rut. Stuck and content to be thinking about assessment. I wrote this post a good three weeks ago and trying to sign off this thinking behind it.

Expecting students to “draft” their work and “submit a final copy” is preparing students for the real world. If it is not your best work, then its note ready to be submitted. Allowing students to re-draft their work is getting it done right, or at least more right than the previous attempt. It is building moral fibre, personal pride and clearly fits under the Growth Mindset umbrella.

“Drafting” is far more suggestive of a work in progress than the phrase I commonly hear, “write.”  You can very persuasively argue that deadlines are important, deadlines are real world, though it could easily be presented that deadlines stump progress. I can not remember the last time I missed a deadline for our Principal / Governors and have not been expected to submit the job.

Reserve the right to give an alternative test / homework or version of the original assignment. It can be tougher than the first assignment, if you want to make a particular point.

Ask students who submit a redrafted assignments to submit the original attempt AND include a short paragraph comparing the two assignments or outline what they learnt as a result of redrafting the work.

Require students to submit a plan for the redraft, before it is given the green light.

If a student doesn’t follow through on the redraft, ask the student to write a letter of apology to you, or those who support them, for breaking your/their trust.

Send a copy of the first draft to parents or carers, or ask parents or carers to sign the original. It serves two purposes, it showcases the poor quality of the first draft and confirms the support you are giving their child.

If on a third or fourth draft, take a break. That is you and / or the student. Or consider a new title sometimes it is more effective to start afresh with the skills honed through the drafting process.

Expect the same high level of effort and redraft effort of all students regardless of grade.

If reports are on the horizon, report the lower grade. You have a heavy workload on the horizon too. The draft can be marked after the reports are sent.

Always honour the effort and overwrite the grade, don’t average the two grades.

Try and focus the redrafts on “parts” of the assignment and not the entire assignment.

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