Looking back and moving forward

I really enjoyed reading and learning about the Six Traits Writing and Assessing Model. I feel that it is definitely a format I would adopt in my own classroom. I especially see the benefits for students. Being given an extensive list of assessment points can be very overwhelming on writers. By implying it to six very understandable categories I feel it would greatly benefit student experience.

Shifting my focus… this week I spent a great deal of time going back through old college papers for both the Voices from the Margins assignment and my English Content Portfolio. Looking back through all of my writing,  made me think and reflect about my progress as an academic writer over the past four years.

It is hard to ignore the progress in my ability to analyze and make connections in literature. I noticed that as time progressed I also was able to dig deeper into developing my own critical thoughts about the literature and topics presented.

However, I did noticed that I consistently struggled with grammar in the majority of my papers. Although, I feel the papers were still effective and organized coherently, grammatical errors keep appearing in professor comments. I am almost embarrassed by some of the careless mistakes left in my papers. I always make sure to take time and re-read but somehow seem to consistently miss errors. 

I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions or resources that could help? I have always been anxious about editing student papers for grammar because it is something I struggle with greatly. Through our readings, I do appreciate the focus on writing craft but grammar conventions still cannot and should not be over looked.

Both looking back through my own work and reading and thinking about assessing student work  brought me to realize my own need to ask for help with the editing/grammatical side of the writing process. I am excited to learn more and try out some new strategies with students and in my own writing. Any resources or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

I apologize for the last minute post!