This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 15th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Thursday, July 21, 2016

21 Grading Grids for Popular High School Essays and a Position Paper ~ a TOS review

Writing with Sharon Watson Review
Sometimes I get behind in grading papers because; well life gets busy and it is not such a fun task to do after assigning the paper and then anxiety sets in because I get behind. This year, however, since my children took the time to produce quality work, I in turn want to take the time to grade them for their efforts. To help me accomplish my grading tasks Writing with Sharon Watson has produced a helpful set of 21 Grading Grids for Popular High School Essays and a Position Paper. Score!

Sharon Watson is a former homeschool mom who only quit homeschooling because she ran out of children of her own to teach. She began her company Writing With Sharon Watson after sitting in a friend’s kitchen chatting it up with Dr. Jay Wile {Yes, the Dr. Wile, how cool is that!} about how many mothers were outsourcing, i.e.driving their children here and there and everywhere, for writing and composition lessons. At the suggestion of Dr. Wile she wrote up her first middle school course, Jump In, and the rest is history.

Mrs. Watson holds these beliefs for her curriculum:
 ~ students are more important than the material in the textbook
 ~ teaching writing is tough but she shows you the way
~ writing assignments should not be issue driven, especially in the beginning
~ She wholeheartedly believes that the Bible is the Word of God and that it reveals to us our precious Savior, Jesus Christ

We received a download of the 21 Grading Grids for Popular High School Essays and a Position Paper a few weeks ago. It normally retails for just $10.00 but is currently on sale for $8.00 and includes 28 pages. This product takes the guesswork and anxiety out of how to grade high school level essays and research papers. You will clearly be able to grade papers with the 21 grading grids provided to include:
 ~ persuasive essays: with a thesis statement, geared to a specific audience, logical, compare & contrast, and moral/ethical
 ~ how-two 
~ opinion essay 
~ emotional appeal essay
 ~ emotional appeal speech
 ~ compare and contrast essay
 ~ position paper 
~ hard news article 
~ devotional 
~ feature news article 
~ biography 
~ literary analysis of “The Lottery” 
~ literary analysis of a Classic 
~ definition essay
 ~ personal narrative essay 
~ interview into narrative essay 
~ description of a person of influence 
~ personal testimony / spiritual journey narrative 

Once you have your assignment to the student, you as the teacher can decide whether or not to give them the rubric prior to the assignment being written or after. I prefer to give the rubric beforehand so that expectations are clear as mud right from the start. Each essay written earns two grades on the rubric. One for content and the other for grammar and mechanics. Breaking down the paper in this manner gives you a better understanding of your students weaknesses and strengths.


Each rubric will let the student know what is expected to be met during the assignment and will also give the appropriate number of points for each section being graded. My older girls did not do much writing over our summer break this year. However, I did find a few essays of Madison’s that still needed grading so I was able to use the new rubric to accomplish this.

I am so glad to have had the opportunity to review the 21 Grading Grids for Popular High School Essays and a Position Paper. It has made my grading a whole lot easier and more concise too. I look forward to being able to use these during our new school year with both my 10th and 8th grader as we dig into writing.

Be sure to check out what my CrewMates thought of these grading grids and the other product being offered, The Power in Your Hands: Writing Nonfiction in High School, 2nd Edition, by clicking on the banner below.

Writing with Sharon Watson Review
Price ~ $8.00 
Ages ~ high schoolers

Writing with Sharon Watson Review



 #hsreviews #highschoolwriting #writingcurriculum


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