Twelve Readers: Donna's Dilemma

Responding to student writing is a skill on its own. But having to respond to student writing like the persuasive argument: “The Right to Pray” from Donna is a challenge which makes the teacher’s response even more important. Having to select two or three aspects of the paper which the student needs to improve upon almost gives me the feeling that I am underserving that student because there are more than two or three major flaws. Am I supposed to only reflect on two or three major problems at a time and continually add issues as the student continues to submit drafts? But what about not requiring drafts for every aspect of the writing process? The dilemma that teachers face when having to work with only a few aspects of a paper littered with errors just does not seem right. By correcting some major flaws, is the student assumed to be proficient enough to figure out the other major problems with their writing? As a final draft, Donna’s paper requires the teacher to reteach the major components of a persuasive argument such as supporting assertions, and “the basic principles of persuasive and argumentative writing”. Once Donna successfully grasps and achieves this task, there is still the problem of sentence structure and grammar as her sentences are much too simplistic and grammar is heavily flawed to the point of hindering meaning. Based on Donna’s writing in this paper, it seems that she would need to be walked through every step of composing this paper in order to make the paper adequate enough to be turned in as a satisfactory component of a final portfolio. What is the best approach to addressing a final draft like Donna’s?