I love portfolios and low-stakes writing

As a student and future-teacher Blau’s ‘low-stakes’ writing assignments really make me smile. I consider all of the assignments presented in chapter eight as low-stakes, too. Really, the whole concept of portfolio takes the pressure off and produces really great learning through writing. The idea of the final perfectly-correct draft is just as harmful and counter-productive as the final perfect-correct interpretation. Yes, one draft will be better than the last and one interpretation will be more valid to you than another, but there should always be potential with that comfortable room to grow. Students will be more involved in your carefully crafted dialogic comments in the writing process isn’t finished when they turn in the final draft, but simply a continuing portfolio piece with a potential lifespan beyond that of a semester or class. The portfolio concept has amazing expansion potential! If all writing assignments, no matter what discipline produced in or for, are chunked in the students’ mind as belonging to one writing portfolio, we may finally have a tool for fighting compartmentalized learning. This could also be an alternative to standardized writing tests, requiring more than a formulaic argument, but actual proof of revision, etc. Okay, I went on another hippie tangent, but the portfolio grading system is one I find extremely useful and beneficial to students and teachers. Besides, I find the worst writers’ block is a product of silly perfectionism. With more and more students being pushed for better and better grades I really think we need to take a combative stance against this writers’ nightmare. These assignments are the most practical way I have seen to fight perfectionism, while still produce assessable learning.

And just because it’s on my mind: I love how reflective/reflexive writing is crafted into the personal analysis of the writing logs and portfolio. I am just realizing how beneficial writing about the self through an interpretive, analytical lens can really be, so I guess I’m hungry for more self-reflective assignments.