Once teachers distinguish between high stakes and low stakes assignments, they open up new ways of helping students understand the writing process and improve their writing.
Minimal grading and giving grades more meaning by defining our criteria are two methods of simplifying grading while giving students more substantive feedback about their writing.
Peter Elbow teaches and directs the writing program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of Writing Without Teachers (Oxford, 1973) and Writing With Power (Oxford, 1981). He also has written Oppositions in Chaucer which, like the essay that appears here, examines the principle of getting closer to the truth by pursuing contraries. An earlier version of this article was presented at the meeting of the Modern Language Association in New York City, December 1981. Professor Elbow thanks the many readers of earlier drafts for their help.
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