How should I respond?

Teaching writing is a process that helps students to develop their writing. It is not all about delivering lectures in class and handing over exercises to them. The main motto is to improve their writing. This process encompasses teaching them writing, giving them exercises, making them revise and making drafts and finally come up with a developed one than their starting. In this case, the responses are very important. Because students would get your lectures, they would try to incorporate their new knowledge in their writing but that doesn't make them the perfect one. When they come up with their first draft, you would get to see some improvements but there would be more areas to improve on. At that point of time, it's teachers' duty to comment on the papers and create space for the students to give second thought over their writings. Giving responses can be sated as,

"To offer assistance to student writers when they are in the process of composing a text, rather than after the text has been completed(Sommers 148-149)."

It's our duties (being teachers ) to keep focus on the face and mode of responses. So that students get more space to work on and develop their tiny mistakes or things they probably missed or didn't consider as mistakes. Because when a student writes, s/he doesn't think from readers perspective. S/he thinks that it's quite good enough. Here the teachers' duty is to work as a shadow reader and make them understand how a reader would think and how a student can make their writing more communicative. This is the beauty of the teacher's responses. Students get the view from a readers' view and teachers' comments direct them in the right way.

Now the most important part comes. How should we respond to students' papers? What should be the language? Because language matters, I emphasize, "Language matters." So, it's very important to be concerned about the responses. Because the objectives of responses are to help them, to help them revise their papers and to turn in a good paper, but if you become obscure in your own comments, it would be hard for them to interpret what you really wanted them to do. So be clear and specific to your comments. Another most important thing is -always try to be positive. Because your comments are your values and that are concerns to them. So, If you even unintentionally make comments in a negative way, they may get hurt and sensitive to it which probably would not bring a positive result. To the students, sometimes whatever their teachers say is correct. They value their teachers' comments than anything else.

So try to be conscious about that. While responding, you should keep concerns about some other things too. Like, don't work on your students' papers while you are somehow disturbed. Because your personal issues may affect your writing and way of writing comments.

Don't pull out things which are rubber-stamping that would leave your students in dilemma and confusion.

Your comments should be like the extension of your lectures very much relevant to what you taught them in class. Don't get any instructions from the air and comment on their writing. Because they follow your class and try to incorporate those in their writing. But, if you bring anything all on a sudden, they would get confused and it would result in something negative. SO try to keep cor-relation with your class lectures. If you really need to add anything new, talk about that especially in class with all.

Praise your student's writing. Because they are also very excited to get positive feedback. Thus, give them authentic praise for their works that would gear them up more and motivate them to do better and focus on their work.

Use encouraging words in your writing. Encouraging words give positive impressions. Through this type of words, you can assure students about their progress and make them revise their work in a positive way.

All of my blogs kind of have the same conclusions as my objectives are the same as always. I value my students' learning most than anything else. So my values on assessment and responding to students' papers would always focus on that.

Try to place you in your students' shoes, try to understand how they think, what they think, respond to them in the way they feel comfortable and their progress in learning remains uninterrupted.

Happy Teaching!