I spent a large part of the weekend marking senior prelim essays. After sharing my work with my head of department I discovered that I had been way too harsh on the poor critters. I then took a look at my other colleagues marking and thought: “If I was too hard then he is definitely too hard.” Shared this with him and a heated department debate ensued. Luckily, we have a good natured department and, though all were vehemently defending their corners, the argument did not end in blows.
Seriously confused. The Higher/Int 1 & 2 criteria appear to me to be subjective. I’m hoping something will click at some point in the near future and I will be able to assess the essays accurately. At the moment, however, I am looking to colleagues and the SQA training courses to guide me. I can see a general consensus on close reading but few agree on the grades for critical essays. What to do?
Shared the problem with my class and they sympathised. 🙂 They also said they were glad I had marked harshly rather than too leniently. A very mature reaction, I thought.
A Wee Bit of Cooking 