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Teaching
& Responding to Student Writing
Materials from faculty
seminar held May 17, 2001
Group
Memory
Observations
on the Discussed Case
- Student 2 has some
coherence, a better flow of ideas better than that of many UWL
students.
- The flow of ideas
reflects in Student 2 inadequate mastery of materials
- Student 2 does seem
to understand material but the writing is so poor it obscures
the understanding.
- All the mistakes
in Student 2 are quite distracting.
- Student 1's support
of claims with examples is satisfying.
- Student 1's writing
is "pleasing," "interesting reading."
- Student 2 hasn't
addressed the assignment: hasn't focused the material for the
assigned purpose and audience.
- Does the assignment
give enough direction? (How much should an assignment lay out
a template to guide the student?)
- How much does 2 understand
the assignment?
- The instructor should
ask the student, "What's the purpose of the assignment."
(this student's likely answer: "I wanted you to know I'd
read the material."
- How much does Student
2 get feedback on poor mechanics, diminishing his focus on the
content?
- How much feedback
does Student 2 need-would it be overwhelming to point out all
the problems at once?
- Is Student 2 ready
to write this paper (for this purpose, for this audience?). What
does s/he need to do to understand the material better?
Now What Do You Do
With These Papers?
- Give feedback in
terms of context (ignore the mechanics).
- Focus on the first
paragraph (for Student 2).
- Don't edit, but focus
on systematic and glaring problems.
- Ask questions that
lead to the central problems.
- Deny admission into
the program (or announce that as the outcome of continued poor
performance).
Questions about Creating
Effective Writing Assignments
- How do you get students
to buy into working with the rhetorical context, rather than just
treat it as another layer of complication.
- How to get best effort
on a draft?
- How much is the problem
of a poor draft a motivational issue and how much is it a problem
of not understanding the expectations and standards (i.e., the
student assumes that it's O.K. to hand in a freewriting)
- How much does performance
increase if students have a strong hand in designing the assignment?
Suggestions about
Creating Effective Writing Assignments
- Don't tell students
the paper they're turning in is a draft-take it in as a "completed"
paper, but then give feedback and ask for revision.
- Have students involved
in creating the criteria and parameters for an assignment.
- Give the student
choices in the design of the writing to help increase levels of
investment.
- Design writing assignments
which will create a student's sense of "ownership" in
the product.
- Have a check list
for giving feedback.
- Give points for different
aspects of the paper. Whether the student revises is her choice:
the points/grade could be the final grade, or she could revise
for a better grade.
How much commonality—across
the disciplines—is there in the writing students do? (Is
the commonality only in the artificial area of "academic writing"?
Aren't there "really good bricks" that build all writing?)
Common elements:
- The flow of thought
- Starting with the
general idea
- Supporting the claims
that are made
Other Observations,
Questions, & Concerns
- It can be confusing
for students when, even within departments, evaluation and standards
differ from instructor to instructor.
- How important is
it to get students to submit articles for publication? How much
is that a goal within departments? (Public Relations classes have
real clients they are working for.)
- What is a student's
"own work" (as opposed to an academic assignment)?
- How much high quality
writing can a student do during a semester (a student may have
10 to 20 papers to write in 4 or 5 classes). How much are faculty
almost forcing students into poor writing by not being aware of
the student's overall writing load?
- Are there levels
of investment a student will have (as opposed to either taking
ownership or just doing the assignment)?
- How much does student
ownership require faculty letting go?
- How important is
investment in the writing? Shouldn't the student have a level
of writing competence that can produce adequate performance regardless
of investment?
- How much do department
members disagree on goals?-some wanting technical writing competence,
some wanting broader writing skills and competence
Post-Seminar
Suggestions from Bill & Terry for Student 2
- Look at how
the assignment fits into the course structure and ask
how much of Student 2's problems result from flaws in the assignment
(or perhaps just places where the student could slip through a
crack).
- Re-examine
the phases of assignment development and determine whether
Student 2 had enough opportunity to develop an understanding of
the subject. It certainly seems as though s/he has not-which gives
rise to two considerations:
- what can be done
now to help Student 2 understand the material (some additional
writing-to-learn activities?) and
- what can be done
the next time you give this writing assignment to help students
develop better understanding of the topic before doing formal
writing?
- Give Student
2 the option to revise the paper.
- Provide him or
her with a well-written model of a similar assignment.
- Point out which
evaluation criteria are needing attention-identifying which
aspects must be worked on first (i.e., in this draft, the
idea movement/structure and the purpose & audience must
be attended to before any editing for mechanical errors (awful
though those may be) should be corrected.
- Give Student
2 a due date for the next draft.
- Determine how
Student 2 will receive feedback and have further opportunity
to revise, based on the feedback, before s/he resubmits the
paper (i.e., Will you read another draft? Will another student
peer review the draft? Will the student get help from a Writing
Center tutor?)
- Be sure Student 2
understands what significant learning goals are to be accomplished
in the paper.
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