Transforming Readers to Writers: Three Steps to Creating Effective Writing Assignments

1
Transforming Readers to Writers Three Steps to
Creating Effective Writing Assignments

• May 2011
• Spring Modules
• Writing Across the Curriculum
• Beth Hedengren

2
Readers to Writers

• The writing prompt functions to transform its
  writer (the teacher) and its readers (the
  students) into a reader (the teacher) and writers
  (the students)
• Anis S. Bawarshi. Genre and the Invention of the
  Writer Reconsidering the Place of Invention in
  Composition. Logan, Utah Utah State University
  Press, 2003, p. 130.

3
(No Transcript)
4
Overview

• Writing Prompt Issues
• 3 Things
• Purpose
• Expectations
• Feedback
• Rubrics

5
When prompts go wrong

• I never understood one assignment in high
  schoolnot one.
• Student,
• Katherine Gee

6
Bewildered

• A few weeks ago, one of my roommates asked if I
  could help him get started on a paper for his
  humanities class.
• The writing assignment prompt was, Analyze how
  the form and meaning of the architecture work
  together and are interconnected.
• I was baffled. So what does she want you to do?
  I asked him.
• I wish I knew, he replied.
• (Jared Fronk, February 20, 2008)

7
Write

• Are your students ever bewildered by your
  written instructions?
• What do you think might be confusing to them?
• What do you think helps your students to
  understand your expectations?

8
Small Group Share

• What works well with your writing assignments?
• What concerns do you have about your writing
  assignments?

9
NSSE Writing Engagement

• Best practices in teaching writing are
  positively associated with outcomes.
• These positive relationships exist above and
  beyond the amount of reading and writing students
  do.

10
NSSE Quality of Engagement

• Kind of projects they assign
• Way they explain their assignments
• Activities they require students to engage in
  while working on the assignments

11
NSSE Data

• 80 of faculty thought assignments were clear.
• 60 of students thought assignments were clear.

12
Is this enough?

• As the capstone project of this course, you will
  conduct research and write an 8-10 page paper on
  a topic related to the course.

13
Our responsibility

• Teachers are always implicated in the writing
  their students produce.
• In our assignments we construct occasions for
  writing, purposes, time frames, and guidelines.
• Katherine Gottschalk and Keith Hjortshoj,
• The Elements of Teaching Writing A Resource for
  Instructors in All Disciplines,
• Boston Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.

14
Two Parts to Instructions

1. Printed (or electronic) instructions
2. In-class discussion, examples, modeling

15
PUrpose

• Explain how the assignment is relevant to the
  course and the discipline.
• Say something about why you felt the need to
  give the assignment in the first place.
• -- A Student

16
Expert Writers Draw on Five Knowledge Domains
Anne Beaufort, College Writing and Beyond A New
Framework for University Writing Instruction,
2007.
17
Recognize Dual Discourse Communities

• Discipline

• Classroom

18
Connect with Real Purpose

• We need to help students see the connection
  between being a good engineer and being a good
  writer. Students must write about something
  theyve done, to a real customer, practical,
  realistic assignments of the kind they would
  use.
• Mechanical Engineering Professor

19
Big Picture

• What do you want to accomplish with this
  assignment, in terms of your course goals?
• How does this assignment fit with disciplinary
  expectations? What are the students learning that
  will prepare them to write/think/interact in a
  larger community?

20
Genre

• How would you characterize the genre of this
  assignment?
• Are your students familiar with this genre? Do
  they understand it the same way you do?
• What function does this genre serve in your
  discipline?
• What can you do to help the students understand
  the genre?

21
Write

• Review the purposes of the example assignments.
• Reflect on the purpose of your assignment.
• Classroom
• Disciplinary
• Review the assignment itself. Could you make the
  purpose more clear?
• How could you use class time to make the purpose
  more clear? To emphasize relevance and importance?

22
Discuss in your groups

• Example assignments
• How did they make the purpose clear?
• Did they consider both the classroom and the
  disciplinary communities?
• Share the purpose for your assignments.
• Discuss ways to clarify in your assignment and in
  class.

23
Expectations

• There is nothing more frustrating than to
  write an entire paper according to your
  interpretation of the prompt only to have it
  handed back with a poor grade reflecting the
  teachers (or TAs) interpretation of your
  interpretation.
• --A Student

24
Guidelines

• What are your expectations for thought, content,
  ideas, research?
• What are your expectations for format?
• Realize that students are likely to value format
  over content. Make clear where your priorities
  lie.
• Enough, but not too much!

25
Models

• What kind of models could you share with the
  class?
• Professional
• Student
• When looking at several good examples, what is
  constant and what can vary?

26
Share Examples

• I bring examples of professional writing to TA
  meetings. I say, Look at this paper, this is
  professional tone. They get to recognize it.
  (Biology professor)
• To prepare them to write their annotated
  bibliography, I showed them my annotated
  bibliography. (Sociology professor)

27
Integrate into Your Class

• An 8-page writing prompt was divided into 3
  short, sequenced assignments, allowing feedback
  at each step on professional skills.
• The book reviews are successful. We read
  together the same book, talk together, then
  write individually. We do 3 book reviews in one
  semester this way.

28
Evaluation Criteria

• What criteria will you use to evaluate the
  students work?
• Do you want to weight any criterion more heavily?
• How will you teach the students about these
  criteria?
• How will you include the criteria in the
  assignment?
• Do your grading criteria match the explanation in
  your assignment?

29
Reflecting

• Look at the models. How do they make expectations
  clear (or not) ?
• Look at (or consider) your assignment. What are
  your expectations? How can you make those
  expectations clear, yet concise?
• Write your ideas.
• Discuss in your groups.

30
Format
Professors would splash around terms like
sophisticated argument and I would have no clue
what they meant. Use headings and bullet
points. No longer than a page.
31
Format for Ease of Understanding

• Have you limited the length?
• Have you used graphic design principles?
• Have you used vocabulary that is clear to the
  students?
• Do you distribute (and discuss) the prompt near
  the time students should start writing?

32
Design Principles

• Contrast
• Headings, bolding, lists
• Repetition
• Fonts, sizes, colors
• Alignment
• Visual connections
• Proximity
• Similar items grouped together

33
Not Too Much!

• The original rubric detailed complete
  instructions for each section of the report.
• The revised version requires communication that
  is persuasively, professionally, clearly,
  concisely and completely conveyed and/or
  documented, emphasizing how well the document
  serves the rhetorical needs of the situation it
  responds to.
• Mechanical Engineering Professor

34
Reflecting

• Look at the models. How does the format enhance
  readability? Are they as concise as possible
  while providing sufficient information?
• Look at (or consider) your assignment. How
  readable is it? Write your ideas.
• Discuss in your groups.

35
Rubrics
36
Various Kinds

• See Examples in Packet
• Holistic
• Analytic
• Matrix
• Combination
• Use what works for you, your TAs, your students!

37
Three Steps to Better Assignments

• Purpose
• Provide the big picture.
• Explain the situations to which this genre
  responds.
• Expectations
• Read multiple samples of the genre as a class.
• Discuss what features matter and why.
• Explain grading criteria (rubrics).
• Format
• Design for ease of understanding.

38
The rest of the process

• Draft
• Review
• Publish
• Revise again?

39
Bad Parenting (teaching)