Some Thoughts on Writing Assignments

The Writing Corner Faculty Workshop

David KloosterFebruary 10, 2011

First,

congratulations to David Cunningham, Director of the Center for Writing and Research!

Our Plan for Today• How writers write, and how assignments benefit from

a process-orientation• How writing fits into courses• Elements of good writing assignments• Along the way, examples of micro-themes and other

short writing assignments• Assignments that lead to thesis-driven essays• Assignments and grade inflation• Responding to student writing (short version)• Responding to student writing—full version on

Thursday, March 3, 11 am-1 pm

Credits:

• John Bean, Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active learning in the Classroom. Jossey Bass, 1996.

• Susan Peck McDonald, Professional Academic Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Southern Illinois Press, 1994

How writers write

• Some incentive, internal or external, starts the process

• Alternating periods of conscious and subconscious work

• Alternating modes of isolated and social work• At different times, the writer’s attention goes to

different levels of the work, from deep content-based concerns to superficial manuscript concerns.

• The desire to be heard is fundamental.

A Model of the Writing ProcessA Model of the Writing Process

1. Incentive to write

2.Gathering ideas

3. Planning

4. Drafting5. Getting feedback

6. Revising

7. 7Editing2. Gathering ideas

3. Planning

8. Publishing

Teacher as coach vs teacher as judge

• Our role as teachers is to coach students through the early stages of the process—to show them how successful writers do this work.

• At the final stage, our role changes to judge as we make decisions about what works and what doesn’t.

• Coaching is more fun than judging.

Intervene Early and Often

• http://www.hope.edu/academic/english/intervene%20early%20and%20often.pdf

How writing assignments fit into courses

• Writing helps students learn content.• Writing increases study time.• Writing helps students acquire thinking skills.• Writing helps students grapple with complexity.• Writing can invite students to apply new

knowledge to problems and audiences beyond the classroom.

• Writing clarifies values, knowledge of self, sense of purpose.

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Independent Inquiry

Guided Practice

Introduction to Questions and Methods

Content

Course Design and Stage-Three Assignments

An assignment to introduce core questions--Week One

• In this American Literature course, we will encounter two opposed views of human nature. Our writers disagreed on this fundamental question: Is the human being inherently evil or innately good? Study these two brief excerpts—from J. Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and from R.W. Emerson’s “Self Reliance.” Write a page or two for tomorrow’s class, first explaining the view of human nature each passage supports and then providing examples of the ways each view can still be found in contemporary American thinking.

Respond by• Reading each one quickly—5 minutes max• Check, check-plus, check-minus• No comments• Bring one paper from each category to class the next

time (no names on copies), and explain the qualities in the writing that lead you to your judgment on the paper.

• Result: Students write for 1 or 2 hours, you spend about that much time responding, and everyone gets useful information about core questions and habits of mind in the course, about your grading standards, and you get an early indication of general class ability.

An assignment to apply disciplinary methods to solve a problem

• See examples on handouts from Physics and Psychology

• Respond by grading from 1 (low) to 6 (high), bring a low, middle, and high paper to class, and ask students to read and judge them. Then explain why you graded as you did.

• Allow revisions for a higher grade—get students to really learn the methods of the course.

A “Guided Practice” Assignment

• Guided Practice assignments, usually offered in the first half of the semester, help students learn specific disciplinary skills in relatively brief assignments, with frequent “coaching” opportunities built in, and (sometimes) invitations to revise for a better grade as an incentive to really master the skills.

• Example on handout from Business.

Elements of Effective Assignments1. The assignment itself should be well written!2. Task—a clear, brief statement of what the

student is to write about. Often stated as a problem to solve or a question to answer.

3. Choice of topics, within appropriate limits.4. Role and Audience—try to avoid always asking

the writer to assume the role of student writing to a professor—impossible! Instead, assign a role of authority, and an audience of lesser knowledge—or at least a peer audience.

Elements of effective assignments

5. Format—length, mss form, documentation style, organization, etc

6. Expectations about process to be followed—proposal, research dates, first draft, peer review, conferences, revisions, etc.

7. Criteria for evaluation—tell students right from the start how their paper will eventually be judged. Refer to criteria repeatedly during the writing process to guide success.

Assignments for thesis-driven essays

• Present a proposition (thesis) to defend or refute.

• Give students a problem or question that demands a thesis answer

• Assign a structure that requires a problem-thesis pattern

(examples on handout)

Writing Assignments and Grade Inflation

• Focus writing assignments on the most complex parts of the course—ask students to grapple with the most difficult material

• Clear, systematic, public criteria makes giving lower grades “easier” for us

• But, coaching the writing process usually leads to higher grades.

Responding to Student Writing—short version

• Criteria• Rubric, adjusted for the specific assignment• Decide how much time you can devote to each

student, and then figure out when that time can most productively be spent.

• For example, instead of spending 30 minutes reading the final draft and writing a paragraph-length comment, divide that time into 3 ten-minute responses, spread over the course of the writing process.

Responding to Student Writing--long version

• Thursday, March 3, 11-1, lunch provided

• Conferences• Commenting on student papers• Some thoughts on peer review• Student self-evaluation