Teachers often feel pressure to grade every piece of student writing, which leads to exhausted graders and anxious students. A novella unit on The Turn of the Screw offers a chance to rethink that habit. Some assignments exist to help students learn and do not need a score at all.

Formative assessment is designed to guide learning while it is still in progress. It includes reading checks, drafts, and short analysis tasks, and its main product is feedback. Summative assessment, by contrast, measures what students have learned at the end, such as a final essay or exam.

Confusing the two creates problems. When every assignment carries a heavy grade, students avoid risk and focus on points rather than learning. When nothing is graded, some students lose motivation, so balance matters.

What Belongs in the Formative Category

Early journal entries, thesis drafts, and close reading paragraphs are good candidates for formative treatment. These tasks are where students experiment with ideas, and they benefit most from specific feedback without the pressure of a grade. Teachers can respond with comments, ask questions, and track completion without assigning a detailed score.

• Short reading checks on the frame narrative and early chapters
• Reading journals tracking the governess's claims of certainty
• Thesis statement drafts with comments and no grade attached
• Single-paragraph close readings used for practice
• Peer review responses and revision plans

What Belongs in the Summative Category

The final analytical essay, a timed in-class writing task, or a unit exam are appropriate summative assessments. These should be graded against a clear rubric that students have seen in advance. The scoring should reflect the skills taught throughout the unit, with no surprises.

Summative grading also deserves the most care, since it carries weight in the gradebook. Teachers should apply consistent standards, provide comments that explain the score, and leave room for students to learn from the result. Even at the end of a unit, good feedback can inform future work.

Making the Workload Sustainable

Separating formative and summative work allows teachers to match the level of effort to the purpose. Formative tasks can receive quick, targeted comments, while summative tasks receive thorough evaluation. This keeps the overall workload manageable without sacrificing feedback.

AI grading tools can support both categories, providing rapid comments on formative work and rubric-aligned scoring support for summative work. The teacher decides how each output is used and what students see. This flexibility helps teachers maintain a healthy balance throughout the unit.