How do we assess writing?

I enjoyed the reading for this week as much as a direly sick person can. I am incredibly interested in exactly what writing I should assign for my future students and, further, how to assess that writing. It seems that the balance that one should strike as a writing teacher is the balance between feedback and assessment, which are clearly two different things. I have had writing teachers who assess (as opposed to merely evaluate) every piece of writing they recieve from students. As was predicted in the Dornan text, this encourages students to write for the teacher, and ultimately, for a grade. This can be especially detrimental with rough drafts, which, while it is important for students to work diligently on them, it is equally if not more important for the teacher to comment upon them in such a way that encourages deeper thinking.
On the other end of the spectrum, I have had teachers who only give feedback on my writing, and never grade anything. While I immediately saw these teachers as easy marks for "A's", I was also frustrated that I never knew exactly what these teachers thought of my writing. Although the feedback was copious, I knew when I was being handled with "kid gloves", I still know it, and I have resented and still do resent it as a writer. Sometimes grades, or negative constructive criticism, are the only ways to challenge students to improve as writers.
Lastly, I had one writing teacher who was able to balance feedback and assessment more adeptly than any of my other writing instructors. She had us write one piece every week and we had to include our "writer's notes" with this piece when we turned it in to her. In turn, we would email copies of our work to each of our peers, who would print off and comment on them. Class time would be spent discussing our pieces in small peer-editing groups, and by the end of class, we would each walk away with plenty of commentary from our peers, and a detailed feedback from our teacher. This class was strictly limited to fifteen students, so the teacher had time to comment on everyone's work in-depth. This in-depth feedback, although it was often BRUTAL, is what helped me to grow as a writer. She graded us on whether or not we handed things in, how well we commented on other people's work, how well we participated in peer-editing groups, whether all pieces were present in our final portfolio, and finally, an analytical writer's statement we wrote to preface our final portfolios. I knew how well was doing in the class, and yet it did not encouarage me to write solely for the teacher. In fact, her somewhat brutal feedback actually pushed me to write more for myself than for her; I became almost defiant and it was then that I truly found my voice.

I can't get my internet to work very well, and I think I just coughed up my right lung, so, here's a link from way back in Eva's class, one which you all know about, but that I'll bet you haven't checked out in a long time. You know this will help you write your units! You know it will!

www.readwritethink.org