Not only that, but I also failed them in another way. I promised myself that I would give students feedback on a draft prior to turning in their final draft and I didn't do that with this essay. So as a result, they gave me what I deserved.
So I made sure to fix the problem. The past two days we worked on the critical piece that they missed (i.e., the piece I failed to scaffold), and I gave them time to revise their essays. As a result, both I and my students were on our game today. Kids were asking questions and there was an air of collegiality in the room. As I worked with individual students and saw that the reinforcing of what they missed the first time around was finally starting to stick, I realized, once again, how important it is that we give our students more time on a piece of writing than we think is needed. Unfortunately in the race to cover as much material as possible, what students lose out on is the opportunity to really wrestle with a piece of writing. I'm glad this assignment reminded me to slow down and take our time.
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