1. In the Teacher's Guide and the WPA Outcomes, we see breakdowns of expected outcomes for the students and our role as a TA in the sense of how to get the students where they need to be. In relation to that, Bartholomae talks about how institutions are "designed to produce and reward mastery." Is it fair to say that by having these expected outcomes for our students that we as TAs will be looking for said "mastery?" Or is it better to look for the "mastery" in different forms, such as progress and understanding, whether or not the outcome has been mastered or met?
2. The WPA Outcomes Statement mentions how "complex writing processes are increasingly reliant on the use of digital technologies"and how it is our duty to instruct our students on these writing processes through concepts such as rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, conventions, and processes. Should we approach the digital technologies with their own set of concepts or is it safe to look at digital technologies as just one of the genres in which we write and perhaps, how would you combine the two?
I really am interested in your first question because it concerns grading (something I have not experienced yet as I have never taught yet). What I can say from experience in the classroom as a student though, is that one of the best professors I have ever had graded not only on mastery but also on process. It was a fiction technique class and the professor wanted to see significant revision between the first draft of our fiction pieces and the last draft after in-class, peer revision was done. Since all of our students for ENC2135 must write at least 3 drafts of every essay we assign, I think it may be helpful that we take into account the progression of the drafts of their essays when we go to grade essays, not just the final product of their essays.
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