When evaluating, we want to look at a few factors. The first factor is how much language the student produces. The more language they write, the more they are practicing, and the more the behavior should be rewarded. Short messages should get fewer points than longer messages.
The other factors can be seen in this rubric for giving points:
| Criterion | Excellent | Average | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Development of Idea | The student took a single idea and developed it well. It is clear how everything that is written contributes to the idea. | The student developed an idea adequately. Sometimes there are too many ideas to be clear or has points that do not clearly relate to the main topic. | The message does not demonstrate a clear development of an idea. Ideas are either too short, too confusing, or too many to be clear. |
| Responsiveness to Others | The student is responsive to others and shows a clear engagement with the ideas presented. | The student responded to the general topic or one minor idea. | The student is not responding to other people, only writing on their own. |
| Originality of Idea | The message displays a significant new contribution to the discussion showing an original perspective | There is some originality to the contribution, though it is occasionally repeating points already made. | The contribution adds nothing new to the discussion |
| Level of Language | The student used a variety of language devices that showed that they are trying to stretch their range. The language is entirely or almost entirely accurate. | The student shows a more limited range and/or has a number of inaccuracies. | The language is very simple and often inaccurate. |
The most a post can get is 20 points, so you could look at the left of the table as 5 points each. 20 points is only if the post is spectacular though. Also, since the amount of time that goes into the post is important, this is scaled based on how much they write. So for posts that are short (e.g., 3 or 4 lines in length), you can give a point for each line if it's not exceptionally good or bad. When doing this it is good to keep in mind that lists (e.g., a long list of all of their favorite bands) don't really count as writing original ideas.
These are the basic things that go into giving points. Another consideration is always plagiarism. If any text looks "to good to be true" of a language learner, then we need to check if it was copied from some source (usually an Internet page that can be found easily by searching). If it was copied, then the post deserves negative points and you should communicate with me about this.
When giving points here, you can look at points that have been given to other messages already as a basic guide for how they might be given in the future. No message should be given more than 20 points.