Writing Evaluation Training
Welcome to this area of the teaching assistant training. In a series of online and face-to-face sessions, teaching assistants will be trained to assist faculty in evaluating student writing. These sessions will include watching video instruction from faculty, completing grammar and punctuation diagnostic quizzes and reviewing (if necessary) relevant rules, and participating in one student-led workshop on creating criteria and using rubrics in evaluating writing.
Teaching assistants are asked to spend five to seven hours completing this training:
- one hour to participate in a face-to-face, on-campus evaluation workshop
- one hour to watch five brief instructional videos and answer a few questions about their content
- two and one-half to four hours to complete a diagnostic quiz on grammar and punctuation, review relevant material, and take a final grammar and punctuation assessment.
Teaching assistants are encouraged to complete all five to seven hours of the training. The completion of this training will be reported to the faculty member for whom the teaching assistant works. The clip below shows segments from the instructional videos.
Spring 2013 Worshop Schedule
- Thursday, April 25, 2013 @ 6:00 p.m. in MC 174B
- Friday, April, 26, 2013 @ 6:00 p.m. MC 174B
- Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 6:00 p.m. MC 174B
Registration
Workshop registration must be done by the student (not the faculty or department secretary) through this online system. Please send students the link below to sign-up:
http://tinyurl.com/TARegistration
After the initial workshop, students are enrolled in the online training. Students are paid for the training for which they are asked to receive by their faculty supervisor.
Writing Rubrics
Writing evaluation rubrics are provided below for the benefit of both faculty and teaching assistants. Rubrics are an effective instrument to quickly and reliably evaluate writing.
The writing evaluation workshops will provide training in the creation and application of rubrics. Rubrics are criteria sheets that identify the most important elements of a writing assignment; these rubrics can serve as guides to help you assess whether or not a student paper meets the requirements for a writing assignment. Rubrics can be quite general, or they can be assignment and discipline specific.
Here are some rubrics that you could use or adapt for various writing assignments: