|
WAC Home
Current WL Courses
WL Requirements
Advising
Grammar Handbook
MLA and APA Citations
Resumes and Cover Letters
Pittsburg State University
1701 South Broadway
Pittsburg KS 66762
Don Judd
WAC Coordinator
English
Phone: (620) 235-4697
Kathleen De Grave
Assistant WAC Coordinator
English
Phone: (620) 235-4705
Cynthia Woodburn
Assistant WAC Coordinator
Mathematics
Phone: (620) 235-4490
Bruce Shields
WAC Graduate Assistant
English
Phone: (620) 235-4686
|
First Thoughts on Writing
Beginning in January 2005, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program
starts each month with a
note to PSU faculty on ways to use writing in the classroom.
If you want to talk about these ideas or want more information on WAC and
how you might use writing in your classroom, contact Don Judd,
the WAC Coordinator, or Kathy De Grave, the assistant WAC Coordinator.
Don can be reached at ext 4697, or by e-mail at djudd@pittstate.edu.
Kathy can be reached at ext 4705, or by e-mail at kdegrave@pittstate.edu .
An archive of "First Thoughts on Writing" can be found below.
2008
2007
2006
2005
Syllabus -- add short writes
Today, January 1, 2005, you might consider adding some opportunities for writing
to your syllabus -- in any class at any level. Recent studies have shown that
frequent short writing assignments help students learn course material, whether
in a freshman class or a senior or graduate seminar. For instance, a personalized
definition of a difficult term, a response to a reading assignment, or a
real-world application of an abstract idea can be a short, half-page to a
page writing assignment that helps students internalize course concepts.
As you put your syllabi together, you might choose a course in which you would
like students to write more and include a phrase like "frequent short writing
assignments." These assignments can be graded like quizzes and included in that
portion of the final grade. Then as you teach, when a likely opportunity occurs,
come up with your assignment. This will add flexibility to your course and will
help you focus on the needs of your students as they arise.
Back
to top
Positive Response
If you have assigned writing in one of your classes, you might want to consider
how important the next step is: your response to that writing. Giving students
practice writing is a value in itself, but responding to that writing can raise
the student's learning a vast amount with relatively little of your time. A few
comments in the margin and a summary of your thoughts at the end are all it takes.
Students learn more from the positive comments you make than from the negative
ones -- this is human nature. So point out the evidence that works, the logic that
makes sense, the interpretation that stands out as original and thoughtful.
A checkmark or a "Good!" and then a final comment that explains what the student
did well will set the right tone. Then, if you suggest one or two things the
student might work on for the next assignment, the student will be ready to listen.
Again and again, as WAC coordinator, I hear that the thing students appreciate
most is the teacher's specific comment, not just a grade. The comment shows that
the teacher has taken the time to read what the student wrote and that the teacher
cares. In most cases, the student then responds in kind.
Back
to top
The Rule of Seven
As you respond to your students' writing, remember the Rule of Seven. The human
mind has trouble taking in more than seven bits of information at a time. So if
you are marking your students' papers in great detail, those seven bits will be
up quickly. Instead, think about which remarks are most important -- probably they
will have to do with content and logic or evidence. If you want to say something
about the mechanics, make an overall statement, such as that the many sentence
fragments make the essay hard to read. Remember that the Writing Center
(114 Grubbs) is there to help students with all manner of writing problems,
so you can focus in on issues that are most important to you and the class
you are teaching.
Back
to top
Responding as a Whole (class)
If your classes are big, you might be worried about having your students
write because of how much time it would take for you to give individual
responses. On the other hand, when a teacher reads written work from a
student regularly during a semester, he or she gets to know that student
in a way that usually doesn't happen in a lecture course with scantron tests.
Reading student responses to questions that come up in the course also helps
the teacher determine just how well he or she is getting across the course
material. Here's a solution to the dilemma: you can have your students turn
the writing in (writing that is informal and short), but your response can be
to the class as a whole. There will be trends that you see and questions that
need to be answered. Any especially thoughtful pieces can become a model for
the others if you read them aloud.
Back
to top
I-Search
A standard writing assignment in any discipline is a research paper. As you
know from experience, reading these papers can turn out to be a grueling task
if the students haven't put due effort and thought into the process. You might
consider the "I-Search" paper as an alternative to a straight research
assignment. In the I-Search, students choose course subjects that interest
them. In a history course that covers the Civil War, for instance, a student
might write on the history of her town and show how the war affected the town's
growth. This would send the student to primary documents kept at her local
courthouse as well as to the library. In the I-Search paper, the student
would explain why she chose to focus on her town, what questions the research
is meant to answer, how she decided to conduct her research, and what she
found when she read the documents, including the effect on her. She would
explain what her thesis is and how she came to it and, finally, what her
conclusions are. You might have the students answer five questions during
the research process: (1) What do I want to know? (2) Where can I find the
answers? (3) How will I record the information I find? (4) What did I learn?
and (5) What does this mean to me? Always students will support their
findings with examples, anecdotes, logic, and arguments.
For some teachers, especially in lower-level courses, this is enough. It
teaches the student the research process and gives the student a real
audience to write for. Other teachers, who want their students to go beyond
talking about their research process, then ask students to take the next step
and write the research paper itself. The result is a paper that the student
has become invested in and that is based on useful research, not just filler.
The assignment raises students' curiosity and love of learning and lays a
foundation for lifelong learning.
Back
to top
Give a Sample Paper for Success (Model for Success)
Have you noticed that the writing assignment you thought you gave your students
often is not the assignment they turn in? You give directions clearly and
still the students misunderstand what you want. One way to resolve this
problem is to give the students a model, a sample paper. Each discipline
has certain expectations for writing -- the tone, format, and even the kinds
of evidence and logic that are accepted will be different for physics than for
psychology or music appreciation. Describing these expectations isn't enough.
Students need to see an example of what you are talking about.
The sample paper should be one that was written by a student from a prior
semester (with the student's permission). If you don't have such a paper in
your possession, consider choosing one this semester for use in the future.
(Some handbooks have examples of student papers, but usually these are generic,
not specific to the essay you wish to assign.)
You could use the rough draft of a student (with permission) from your current
semester. This would give guidance during the writing process rather than at
the beginning. Always choose the best sample you can find, so the student
knows that being chosen is an honor. The students in class need to see what
to do to write the paper well, not how to write the paper incorrectly.
Or the paper could be written by you in the role of student. This would mean
taking on the interests and limitations of a typical good student as you try
to imitate a paper that would give you what you are looking for. (Don't use a
professional article as a sample paper. Your students will not be writing at
this level and will become frustrated or confused.)
Once you've selected a sample paper, you could give it to students as a
handout that you go over in class, or you could put it on an overhead or
PowerPoint and take your students through it, showing strengths and weaknesses.
Now that we have easy access to Blackboard, it might be simplest to upload the
sample paper to Course Documents, so that students can look at it anytime.
You could include your comments on the paper. Some teachers post the sample
three times so they can comment on different issues -- once for content and
logic problems and successes. Once for organization. Once for clarity.
If you give different kinds of writing assignments in the semester, give a
sample of each kind with an explanation of the different expectations for each.
The work you put into giving your students a good model will have direct
results in the quality of the papers you receive.
Back
to top
Coaching Writing
One way to envision our role as a teacher who uses writing in the classroom is
to see ourselves as coaches. Basketball or football coaches don't throw a kid
into a game cold. They have "practice," which is low stress and focuses on a
particular skill like free throws or tackling. Every now and then there will
be a pick-up game or scrimmage. During these times, players have the freedom
to experiment and to find the best position to play.
We can use this idea as we "coach" writing. Short, low-stress assignments that
have students focus on logic or on the kinds of evidence used in the discipline,
or assignments that ask students to develop an idea, will do wonders for the
full essay we assign later. In these short assignments, students can find
their "position" -- their voice and their philosophical angle on the issues the
course raises. Also, like a coach, the teacher will need to talk to each
student personally about what he or she is doing right and what can be done
better. Straight talk, but temperate, in comments on the page or personal
conferences would be a way do this. A letter to the student is another -- a more
extended discussion of what works or doesn't work in any given assignment.
The purpose is to help all students achieve their writing and thinking potential,
given the understanding that the process, like the process of training student
athletes, will take their whole college career.
Back
to top
Portfolios
Writing in the past was considered a product -- students would write a term paper,
which the instructor saw once and graded once. The student was judged on how
good that product was. Recently, composition specialists have realized that
writing is a process that takes time and that benefits from a teacher intervening
along the way. As a result, a new grading idea has become popular: grading by
portfolio, rather than by individual piece. A portfolio would include all the
drafts of a piece of writing, including brainstorming exercises, or it would
include several separate papers written over time. The teacher grades the
student's progress rather than the final product. (Of course, the individual
papers are judged as part of determining the progress)
In some classes, the students decide what goes into a portfolio. If, for
instance, your students wrote five responses to the reading, each student
could put the best four into the portfolio, deciding for him or herself what
the "best" ones are. Students might have the choice to revise any given piece
as often as they want before the portfolio comes in.
Obviously, there are diverse ways to handle a portfolio. The particular make-up
of the portfolio would be up to you, in context of how your course runs.
Usually portfolios require students to write a reflective statement on what they
learned in writing the separate pieces and putting the portfolio together.
The teacher sometimes writes a letter back to the student on the whole portfolio
and on the changes the teacher sees.
The main advantage of the portfolio for the teacher is that he or she grades
the student's work as a whole, and sees the student's progress holistically.
Individual pieces will have the teacher's comments, but usually wouldn't have
been "graded" as such (although some teachers grade each piece separately and
then come up with an overall score). The main advantage for students is that
they have some control over what goes into the portfolio and over how much work,
in revisions and other preparatory work, they do. Any one paper doesn't
determine the grade for the course. Rather, it's a whole semester (or
semi-semester) of work that earns the grade.
Back
to top
Students Writing Exams
One writing project students can become actively involved in is writing the
questions for their own essay exams. About two weeks before an exam, you could
break your students into groups and have each group be in charge of a particular
kind of question that should appear on the upcoming exam. For instance, a
psychology course might have been studying a particular set of theories on a
subject. Each group could be assigned one of the theories and could have the
task of devising two or three questions on it.
The questions should be expected to follow a particular format that you decide
on ahead of time, perhaps with input from the class as a whole, so that the
questions will be clear, generate answers of substance, yet not be overly
complex. You could ask your students to write a list of the kinds of
discussions a good answer would entail for any given question.
A group in the psychology class, for example, could ask a question about
Piaget's theories of development, perhaps one that requires applying
Piaget's ideas to a particular case. The group would then give as a
rationale for the question a statement about what kinds of thinking would
go into the answer: perhaps that the answers would have to include a
discussion of what Piaget means by certain terms, what the differences are
for different age groups, and how this particular case shows some of the
limitations of the theory.
Once you have all the questions, with their rationales, you can choose the
best, allowing yourself to make revisions as needed. The benefit for the
students is that they shape their own learning, taking responsibility for
determining what information and concepts are useful. The benefit for the
teacher is that the students have a vested interest in the test and feel
that it is fair because it is of their own construction. Naturally, your
guidance through this process will make all the difference in how effectively
the students complete their charge.
Back
to top
Revising the Writing Assignment
Here's a tip to make next semester easier: As students turn in their major
essays, we can use the moment to let this semester's work help with next
semester. First make photocopies of any essays that worked well (always
with the student's permission) so that they can serve as models for next
semester or the next similar course. Second look at the essays that didn't
meet expectations and try to figure out what went wrong. If several students
make similar mistakes, then that is something to fix for next time.
Because essay assignments have to be written out in some detail, every essay
assignment for students is in effect a writing assignment for the teacher.
Now is the time for revision. Problems can arise in the way an assignment is
described, in the complexity of the assignment, in the preparation students
have, and in how much chance students have to rethink what they are doing
(in conferences, rough drafts, and peer review). Rethinking an essay
assignment now can result in a much happier end of semester in the future.
Back
to top
Active Learning
The Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program fosters active learning, with
writing as a central part of that theory. Paulo Freire back in 1972
explained that the "banking concept" of education doesn't work: the teacher
can't simply deposit knowledge into students' minds, with the students,
like bank vaults, passively accepting it. The active learning theory is
that students have to be personally engaged with the course concepts if
they are to truly learn them. Teachers have two roles: to offer the course
material and to encourage students to take the responsibility for learning it.
Encouragement can take many forms -- small group work, writing about course
concepts, class discussion, sharing notes, students making presentations
to the class, students doing worksheets alone or with others, students
working in teams on class projects. These classroom techniques will help
students remember the material better and have a personal connection to it,
as they practice critical thinking and make creative links between ideas.
Here is some data on how well students retain ideas raised in class according
to
how involved they are in the learning process:
Straight lecture: students retain (in long-term memory) about 20% of the
data taught
Lecture and demonstration: retain 40%
Lecture and demonstration with active learning: retain 60% or more
(This information comes from many sources; see Edgar Dale "Cone of Learning"
as one example.)
Back
to top
Vygotsky and the "zone of proximal development"
As you think about creating writing assignments that will help
students learn your course content, you might want to use an idea by
Lev Vygotsky called the "zone of proximal development." According to
Vygotsky, parents help children learn by asking them to do something
that is just beyond their skill level and then helping them succeed at
the task. If a child is asked to do something too hard, frustration
sets in and no learning occurs. Likewise, if the child already knows
how to do what he or she is asked to do, then there is no movement forward.
The task has to be just the other side of the child's current competence.
We can apply this idea to our classrooms: Students learn by being asked
to do something that is just outside their reach, but which can be
accomplished with the help of the instructor. To do this, the instructor
has to be continually aware of how well students understand course material.
In a class that uses writing as a means of learning, the teacher can gauge
where each student's "zone of proximal development" lies by seeing what the
student writes, especially if writing is assigned regularly, as in short writes.
Student informal writing gives the teacher feedback on a personal level,
so that the teacher can work with each student in the appropriate zone.
This, of course, works only as long as there are few enough students in the
class, such as in upper-division courses and WL classes.
Vygotsky probably didn't imagine in 1930 that his ideas about children would
affect the way college
professors teach their students in 2006, but here it is.
Back
to top
Problem-Solving Strategies
Because we are thinking about our courses for next semester and choosing the
books we'll use, this is a good time to consider a different way of helping
students learn course material. One idea is to teach a course using a
problem-solving strategy. Rather than the course being a series of lectures,
based on what the teacher says, it could be a series of assignments, based on
what we have our students do. Students would not just memorize content; they
would use it. This would be a problem-centered course, in which students are
given real problems to solve. In any course, controversial points of view will
arise on central issues. A problem-centered course takes a dialogic
stance -- students don't write "all about" something; they don't just dump data
on the page; they consider the opposing voices in the argument, as if the voices
are in conversation. Then, after listening to the voices, students create a
thesis from what they've discovered. Such a course is inquiry based -- asks
questions which students try to answer by writing an argument that considers
opposing viewpoints.
Here are some examples:
In art class, you could ask, "What if a friend told you that he'd heard that a
machine had splattered paint on a canvas that has incorrectly been considered a
piece of modern art? How would you determine whether the painting is just an
accident or is truly an art work?"
In statistics, first you might give the students a sheet of data regarding the
effects of an oil spill in Alaska, then three separate interpretations of that
data by an oil company executive, a fisher in a village that was affected, and an
environmentalist. The question would be, "What if you were asked to write a
report to the Governor of the state on what the effects really are. How would
you determine which interpretation is correct? Or would you interpret the data
differently from any of them?"
In both cases, the teacher would have prepared the students for the question by
lectures and readings on art principles or statistical techniques. The writing
assignment would allow the students to use their theoretical knowledge in a "real
life" scenario, thus raising the students' interest and helping them "own" the
knowledge.
Back
to top
Writing is Recursive
Now that there are only two weeks of school left, you are probably looking
forward to reading those end-of-semester papers. If in the past you were
unhappy with the quality of the papers, it may be because the students didn't
spend enough time writing them. To help students understand that writing is a
process and takes time, you should begin talking about the writing project now.
If you can intervene in the process by asking students to give you the paper
sections at a time, by letting students share rough drafts, or by asking students
to come in for conferences, then the final result will be better. Writing is
recursive; no one sits down and writes a good paper from beginning to end
without allowing for revision. As we write, new lines of thought appear,
we discover connections we hadn't noticed before, and sometimes even our
conclusions change. Good writers expect this to happen and allow time to
revise and rethink before putting the paper back together. Talking to your
students about this truth about writing can make a big difference by itself.
Remember, too, that your students have resources to help them in the writing
and revision process. They have their peers with whom they can share rough
drafts, on Blackboard or in study groups. They have the Writing Center
(114 Grubbs Hall) for help in any stage of the writing project. And they
have you to help clarify what the assignment is.
Spending a little class time encouraging good writing now will help you spend
much less time reading poor writing later.
Back
to top
Thinking about Visual Literacy
Does your discipline usually include visual graphics in a written document?
Are your students expected to read and understand graphs, tables, charts, and
diagrams? If so, you might want to take a few minutes early in the semester to
talk to students about the interrelationship between graphics and what the text
is saying. Students often separate the two things -- they don't see the
connection between the data in the table and the conclusions the text draws
from that data. Being able to make those connections is a skill that you can
help your students build by demonstrating how the author of the text uses the
data in the graphics.
Likewise, students often have trouble constructing graphics in their own texts.
Typically, students will simply refer to the graphics: they will say "see chart"
without drawing conclusions from that data. A second common problem is students
failing to correctly label graphics to avoid confusion and to clarify the
connection of the graphic to the text.
A third problem occurs when students include graphics that undermine the argument
of the report or paper. Sometimes students use photos or clip-art that trivialize
the issue or distract the reader.
Visual literacy must be taught. Although some students are able to use graphics
well on their own, most will need some help. The two best methods of teaching
visual literacy are, first, to show how graphics are used in the texts that you
read for class and, second, to model a student paper that uses graphics correctly
in an early assignment. As students discover the connection between graphics
and the ideas in the text, their own writing and use of graphics will improve.
Back
to top
Sample Paper
If you are planning to have your students write a formal essay or paper in the
fall, you might want to prepare a model for them now. Giving them instructions
on what to do usually isn't enough to elicit the kinds of papers you want. If
you have a good student example from last semester, that would work well -- either
as a handout or as an overhead (or on Blackboard). Otherwise, you could write
the example yourself, as if you were a student. The value of giving students a
sample paper to use as a guide is that the sample will give them ideas about
such intangibles as style, length of paragraphs, tone, and audience -- things we
often forget to mention in our directions. Having the example will help students
understand your directions, also.
It's more effective to give students an example of a good paper than it is to show
them a poor one. They will remember and imitate what they see, so it's better not
to clutter up their thoughts with images of what they shouldn't do. Likewise, it
is more effective to give them a student example. If you show them a professional
article and ask them to write an essay or paper like that, they will be
overwhelmed. Besides, the two tasks -- professional writing and writing for
class -- are not the same.
It takes time and effort to find or create an appropriate sample paper; but a
bit of time now can give your students a big boost later on. And you'll
appreciate the results.
Back
to top
Multiple Drafts -- A Multiple Value
We all know that the best way to learn to write is to write. However, researchers
in composition and rhetoric have discovered that students learn even more when
they have to rewrite. Requiring multiple drafts of major essays or papers would
be of great value. The "zero draft" could be the students' brainstorming of an
idea. This draft would be messy and full of thoughts that would disappear later
on; it would be a good draft for students to share with one another either in
small groups during class or on Blackboard "Discussion Board." The next version
would be a full draft, one that you would read holistically, looking for the
global issues of content, logic, evidence, and organization. With your help on
this draft, either in marginal comments or in a conference, the student would be
able to produce a final draft that comes much closer to your expectations. Your
comments on this last draft could be much more particular, because it would be
the final communication.
Revision -- not simply editing for mechanical correctness, but a true re-seeing
of the issue the essay is addressing -- is highly useful in helping students
learn to write. The value for you is that you don't have to grade that first
rough draft; you just have to respond to the students' ideas. When the final
draft comes in, not only will it be much more pleasant to read, but your students
will appreciate having had a second chance.
Back
to top
The Reflective Letter
If your students are writing a term paper this semester, you can increase their
learning curve and get feedback on how much your students learned from the
research or writing project by having them write a letter to you in which they
reflect upon the work they have done. Instead of collecting only the research
paper itself, have students turn in their earlier drafts and any notes you would
like to see, and then ask each student to put a letter on top that explains the
process he or she used to write the paper. This reflective letter, addressed to
you, is the student's chance to explain problems that occurred and describe
successes that moved the research along. You can ask students to trace the
development of their ideas and show how these ideas changed as the research
progressed. In this way, you'll get a better sense of what your students did
with the assignment and can perhaps understand where the paper goes wrong or
right for individual students. In addition, the students will be thinking
seriously about their writing and research process, a necessary step for
correcting errors and making better decisions in the future.
Back
to top
Reading and Writing -- A Dynamic Interaction
Research has demonstrated the close relationship between reading and writing.
If a student reads well and reads often, more than likely he or she will write
appreciably better than other students who do not. The reason for this is that
language acquisition is unconscious. If you think about the language in your
discipline as a second language for your students to learn, you can easily imagine
that immersing your students in that language will help them learn it. They will
unconsciously learn the vocabulary, sentence structures, and systems of logic your
discipline expects if they read articles and book chapters on standard and
interesting topics. Reading something new, especially something written for
others in the discipline, isn't easy, so some students try to avoid it. Still,
reading is exactly what they need to do if they expect to advance in the major.
One way to help students learn to read the complex texts of your discipline is
to ask them to read freely as often as they can. You would make the texts
available and perhaps give students extra credit for reading, especially if they
kept a reading journal. Explain to them that they will have trouble
understanding at first, but that they should have faith that the more they try
to read the more familiar the language and thought structures will become.
If you talk about the readings in class -- not in place of having the students
read but as a supplement -- that will help the students even more. If you ask
students to write a response to the reading, their language acquisition will
increase faster yet. Writing across the curriculum depends on reading across
the curriculum. The more you encourage your students to read, the better they
will write.
Back
to top
Workshops for Spring 2007
The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program is offering several
opportunities this semester for faculty to focus on their uses of writing
in the classroom.
1. The program will host the annual Conversations About Writing on
Thursday, April 12, from 11-1. This is a luncheon (paid for by Academic Affairs) at which faculty from across campus talk about the problems and successes they've had as they encourage their students' writing. If you would like to participate in this luncheon conversation, contact the WAC Coordinator, Kathy De Grave, at the number or e-mail below. The luncheon is limited to 12 participants. This luncheon will be explained in greater detail in the up-coming WAC Newsletter.
2. A "Blackboard for Writing" workshop will be held this February.
The time and day will depend on the needs of those who sign up. This workshop will also talk a bit about changes that might occur when we switch from Blackboard to a new system next fall. The workshop specifically focuses on how to use Discussion Board and Group Pages to encourage writing.
3. Last semester the WAC program offered a "Grammar Workshop" that
focused on grammar issues in the classroom. This semester the "Grammar
Short Course" workshop, offered in March, will deal with grammar questions
you have personally -- we can talk about such puzzling problems as when to use
"whom," where to place semi-colons, and the difference between "each other"
and "one another." The workshop will be shaped by the questions of those who
attend.
4. Finally, the WAC program is now offering a virtual space for faculty
to discuss writing -- a place where they can share their own work and/or try to
find answers to problems they run into in the classroom. It is a Blackboard
"classroom" specifically designed for faculty. The WAC Coordinator will
host the site and the "students" will be any faculty interested in taking
part in these discussions. Just let the Coordinator know that you would
like to be added to this virtual brown-bag discussion and your connection to
it will appear automatically. If you are unsure how Blackboard in general works,
or want to talk about this in greater detail, contact the Coordinator at the
phone number or e-mail below.
Back
to top
Cubing
One problem students face as they try to write a fully developed essay is
focusing on a subject as they put it in a wider context. Many students run
out of things to say about a topic within a paragraph or two, while others
can fill pages by jumping from one idea to another without fully developing
any. In a recent WAC workshop, Roy Janisch, a new faculty member in Justice
Studies, suggested that we could help our students explore a topic in an
organized fashion by using a technique called "cubing." Roy suggested that
our students imagine a cube with a single idea sitting in the center.
Each of the six sides of the cube contains a question, allowing the student
to think about the central idea in a different way. Depending on the purpose
of the essay assignment, the teacher could decide what the six questions might
be.
For instance, the central topic could be exercise. One side of the cube might
ask the students to describe the idea and give its parameters. In this case,
they might think about kinds of exercise, which muscles are involved, different
techniques. Another side might ask for a comparison or a simile.
For exercise, the student could say it's like writing -- easy to find excuses
for avoiding. A third side might ask what the student associates the idea
with. When we think of exercise we think of -- what? The gym? Sweat?
A fourth question could ask for the student to analyze the topic, a fifth
to apply it to something else, a sixth to argue for or against an idea
within the topic. To apply Roy's concept to my own teaching, I could ask
students to think about a story by looking at sensory images on one side of
the cube and at characters' motivations on another.
Inexperienced writers often presume there is only one way of looking at a
question, but cubing gives a spatial construct to help them widen their
vision even as they focus their answers according to the specific
considerations of each side.
"First Thoughts on Writing" comes to you on the first of each month as a
service of the Writing Across the Curriuculum (WAC) program. If you want
to talk about these ideas or want more information on WAC and how you might
use writing in your classroom, contact Kathy De Grave, the WAC Coordinator,
at ext 4705, or send an e-mail to kdegrave@pittstate.edu.
Next month Don Judd, the future WAC coordinator, will begin writing the
First Thoughts. You can contact him at djudd@pittstate.edu.
Back
to top
How to Get Students Reading
(This "First Thought on Writing" is written by Don Judd, new Assistant WAC Coordinator.)
Because students don't always read what is assigned, teachers often feel compelled to
lecture over material covered in the assigned readings, leaving little if any time in
class for other learning activities. To help our students gain a better understanding
of the material, it is beneficial to have them work with the content -- such as talking
or writing about important concepts, processes, and terminologies of the discipline --
so they begin to make that knowledge their own.
You can shift some of your lecture material outside the classroom by
holding students responsible for assigned readings. To encourage students to actually
read the assigned material, you can begin class with a short write (3-5 minutes) asking
them to explain the one or two
most important concepts covered in the reading. Be specific about what you ask for;
don't leave it up to them to decide what those important
concepts are.
In addition, after they've completed the short write, you can have them
get into small groups to collectively write a new explanation (another 5 minutes)
that they then share with the rest of the class. At this point you should have a good
sense of whether the students understand the material adequately. If they understand it,
you can proceed
to new material you want to cover. If you are not satisfied with their
understanding, offer corrections or qualifications to what they've
reported and then move on to covering the rest of the material for that
day. Either way, you've provided them with an experience that will
reinforce their understanding of the course content, and you've encouraged them to
start taking the assigned reading more seriously.
Back
to top
End of Class Quick Writes -- To See If Students Get It!
Every discipline has its own terminology, concepts, and ways of thinking;
in a sense this constitutes how we see and interrogate the world from our
discipline-specific point of view. In order for students to become members
of a discipline, they need to make that discipline's terminology, concepts,
and ways of thinking their own. From the perspective of Bloom's taxonomy,
this means that students need to move this information from 'knowledge,'
which might be associated with memorization, to 'understanding,' which
occurs when students can express the information in their own words.
This is an important first step for them to become members of our
discourse communities.
When you've had a class period where you've introduced students to new
concepts, terminology, or ways of thinking and you want to get a sense of
how well they have grasped the material, try using the last two to three
minutes of class for students to quickly summarize or explain the main
point(s) discussed in class that day. Be specific about what you want
them to summarize or explain; don't play the "guess what the professor is
thinking" game. Before the next class, read through the responses, and
this should provide you with a good sense of what your students understand
or don't understand. This allows you to address misconceptions or fuzzy
thinking at the beginning of the next class before you move on to new material.
If your students know you will be doing this periodically, these quick writes
may encourage them to pay closer attention. Moreover, writing about new concepts,
terminology, or ways of thinking will also help reinforce their understanding.
There's no need to grade these quick writes or return them to students.
Back
to top
Senior Level Writing Assessment at PSU
Early in June the WAC coordinators in conjunction with the Office of Planning, Analysis and Assessment
conducted an analysis of senior level writing. Many of you may have contributed papers from your upper
division courses as part of this project. While the sampling was too small to make strong claims about
the level of writing for seniors at PSU, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you some of the
findings. The assessment was divided into three main categories: Proficient, Competent, and Unsatisfactory.
The break down of senior papers is as follows:
- Proficient for Senior Level Writing: 44.2%
- Competent for Senior Level Writing: 46.5%
- Unsatisfactory for Senior Level Writing: 9.3%
Undoubtedly, with a larger sampling, these scores will go down, but nevertheless the scores look promising.
Certainly there is room for improvement, but the picture also indicates that the majority of seniors appear
to be writing competently or better. Research suggests that students need to write often to maintain if not
improve their writing skills. Moreover, adequate knowledge of the subject is vital to being able to write
proficiently. This initial writing assessment supports those claims. Core writing courses and Writing
to Learn courses help maintain writing skills during the first two years. But equally important, as
students become immersed in their disciplines, they are building the knowledge foundation that is
requisite for good writing. Collectively, we are doing a good job in preparing our students, and by
judiciously using more writing in upper division courses, we are hopeful that we can increase the
percentage of seniors who are writing competently and proficiently.
Back
to top
Essay Exams: Using Writing to Learn
Have you ever given an essay exam and been disappointed with your students’ results?
The advantages of essay exams over fill-in-the-blank, multiple-choice, and matching-parts exams
are that essay exams can allow us to more easily judge if our students are able to synthesize
course material, solve problems, and think critically about issues within our academic fields.
Unfortunately, essay exams take more time to grade than scantron tests, and sometimes our students
don’t seem to rise to the challenge, especially when they have become accustomed to memorize-and-regurgitate
pedagogy.
As we begin preparing for another semester, we all wrestle with how to fit all the course material we
hope to cover within the semester syllabus. So what I’m about to suggest may seem counter-intuitive
given your course material and the limited number of contact hours you have. But if your syllabus is not
yet written in stone, consider making time for practice exams. Give a practice exam two class days before
the regular exam. Read through the exams quickly, looking for excellent answers to questions. If you have time,
type these up so they are easier to read. The day before the exam, show the class the good answers and get them
to discuss what makes them good and how they could be made even better. Both taking the practice exam and
discussing what makes good answers good will only reinforce important course concepts and highlight synthesis,
problem-solving, and critical thinking as related to your course. Don’t give up on the essay exam; you can turn
it into a teachable moment.
Back
to top
In-class Writing: For Students to Express Confusion or Ask Questions
When you are covering particularly difficult material in class,
whether in lecture form or class discussion over assigned readings,
take some time during the middle of class to allow students to write
about what has been covered up to that point. Give students two options
for writing: 1) if they understand the material, ask them to summarize the
main points; 2) if they are confused about something, ask them to write a
question they would like you to address. Give students 3-5 minutes for this.
Then collect these in-class quick writes and read through them randomly,
answering questions as they arise and commenting on the accuracy of summaries
as needed. This gives you immediate feedback on your teaching, reinforces
course content, and helps clear up confusion students may have. There is
no need to grade or return these to students. If you keep attendance, you
can use this in place of roll call or the passing around of an attendance sheet.
When students understand you will be doing this occasionally, this may encourage
them to pay closer attention to class discussions or lectures.
Back
to top
Fall Workshops for Upper Division Writing
The Writing Across the Curriculum program is offering two workshops dealing
with writing in upper division courses this semester.
The first workshop is on assignment design and is primarily concerned with
how to create writing assignments that are discipline specific and promote
understanding of course content; this
workshop will be offered during the last two weeks of October
The second workshop is on responding to student writing and will focus on
effective ways to respond to student writing as intervention in the writing
process; this workshop
will be offered during the first two weeks of November.
If you are interested in either of these workshops, please contact Donald
Judd by email at djudd@pittstate.edu
or by phone at extension 4697. Workshops will be limited to about 12
participants and will be scheduled according to participants' availability.
Back
to top
Reverse Engineering
When you use difficult formal writing assignments that ask students to do
something they are unfamiliar with, something that is challenging and complex,
think about designing your course or a portion of your course backwards
(reverse engineering) by starting with what you want your students to be
able to achieve in your writing assignment and then identifying what
students need to know and be able to do in order to successfully accomplish
that assignment. Reverse engineering is grounded in Jerome Bruner's concept
of scaffolding: providing students with the necessary aid that will allow them
to succeed in a task that is just beyond their reach without such aid. This
requires a
stretch by your students and provides an opportunity for their cognitive development.
To begin you should clearly identify the purpose of the assignment.
What do you want your students to learn from this task?
To understand key concepts? To apply a new principle, process, or analysis?
To synthesize new information?
Then identify
1) the ways of thinking and
2) the foundational knowledge that are necessary to perform the task.
Likely these ways of thinking and foundational knowledge are central to your discipline but may be unfamiliar to students who are still in the process of becoming members of your discipline.
Next, design activities that will help students learn and practice these new
ways of thinking while at the same time allowing them to become comfortable
with new foundational knowledge. Allow time for students to assimilate this
new material. You will likely need to model new ways of thinking for your
students and provide opportunities for them to try this out themselves.
When this is accomplished, they should be ready to tackle
a writing assignment that is both challenging and complex.
Back
to top
Mark Waldo, WAC Specialist, to Offer Assignment Design Workshop to PSU Faculty
As part of the administration’s effort to support and
improve student writing at PSU, Dr. Mark Waldo, a nationally
recognized expert in writing in the disciplines, has been invited
to offer a workshop for faculty on designing discipline based writing
assignments. For more than fifteen years Dr. Waldo has been working
with faculty in a variety of disciplines to help them realize their
values and goals when it comes to using writing in the classroom.
Dr. Waldo rejects the notion that one writing fits all and embraces
the idea that each discipline has its own values and language and
those values need to support how students learn to write within
those disciplines.
If you are interested in learning how to improve the effectiveness
of your writing assignments and help your students get more out of
your courses and their writing experiences, please plan to attend.
The workshop will take place on April 30, 2008 from 9:00 to 11:30 am,
followed by a catered lunch. The workshop and lunch are free to
faculty who register, but space is limited, so this is offered on a
first-come, first-served basis. Plan now to attend, and keep this
date in mind as you write your syllabi for next semester. To register,
please contact Donald Judd at djudd@pittstate.edu.
Upcoming Events for Spring 2008
I'm sure everyone is settling into a busy semester, but before your calendar
gets completely full I want to take this opportunity
to announce some important events you might want to attend.
New Emphasis on Writing at PSU Luncheon
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008 from 12:00 to 1:00 the Writing Across the Curriculum
committee is sponsoring a "Conversation with the VP on Writing within the Disciplines"
in Hughes Hall 316. Steve Scott will share his vision for writing at PSU and how
this fits with the university’s mission and our Performance Agreement with the Board
of Regents over the next three years. So if you've been wondering why I've
been pestering you for upper division writing samples, this might be your
opportunity to find out. A sack lunch will be provided, but attendance is
limited to the first 30 respondents.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Trish Peak at
tpeak@pittstate.edu.
Waldo Workshop
As part of the new emphasis on writing at PSU, we have invited Dr. Mark Waldo from
the University of Nevada, Reno to offer a workshop on assignment design for upper
division courses. For more than fifteen years, Mark has been helping faculty design
writing assignments that engage students in solving problems with their course content,
making course content not just something to memorize, but something to understand
and use in practical ways. If you are tired of some of your students still
turning in papers that read like book reports or summaries and would like to
see your students using the knowledge, methods, and ways of thinking specific
to your discipline in their papers, this workshop should prove invaluable.
The workshop will take place on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 from 9:00 to 11:30
in the Balkans Room of the Overman Student Center. This is a hands-on workshop
and Mark anticipates that all participants will leave with an effective writing
assignment in hand. There is still room if you wish to attend, and lunch will be
provided after the workshop. Please RSVP to Donald Judd at
djudd@pittstate.edu .
Other Workshops
Using Writing in Online Courses On Tuesday, February 19, 2008 from 3:30-4:30
David Oldham from the Graphics and Imaging Technologies department will give a
demonstration on using writing in online courses. David will demonstrate the
methods he uses to deliver a graphic design class. David says,
"ANGEL along with some digital photos, a lot of sketching/writing and
online demonstrations make it work." Even if you already are teaching online,
you might learn some new techniques and there will be opportunities to share
techniques that have worked for you. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Donald Judd at
djudd@pittstate.edu .
Other writing-related workshops will be announced later this semester.
More on Upcoming Events for Spring 2008
I'm sure everyone is settling into a busy semester, but before your
calendar gets completely full I want to take this opportunity to announce
some important events you might want to attend.
New Emphasis on Writing at PSU Luncheon
On Tuesday, February 26, 2008 from 12:00 to 1:00 the Writing Across the
Curriculum committee is sponsoring a "Conversation with the VP on Writing
within the Disciplines" in Hughes Hall 316. Steve Scott will share his
vision for writing at PSU and how this fits with the university's mission
and our Performance Agreement with the Board of Regents over the next three
years. So if you've been wondering why I've been pestering you for upper
division writing samples, this might be your opportunity to find out.
A sack lunch will be provided, but attendance is limited to the first 30
respondents. If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Trish Peak at
tpeak@pittstate.edu.
Waldo Workshop
As part of the new emphasis on writing at PSU, we have invited Dr. Mark Waldo
from the University of Nevada, Reno to offer a workshop on assignment design
for upper division courses. For more than fifteen years, Mark has been helping
faculty design writing assignments that engage students in solving problems with
their course content, making course content not just something to memorize,
but something to understand and use in practical ways. If you are tired of
some of your students still turning in papers that read like book reports or
summaries and would like to see your students using the knowledge, methods,
and ways of thinking specific to your discipline in their papers, this workshop
should prove invaluable. The workshop will take place on Wednesday,
April 30, 2008 from 9:00 to 11:30 in the Balkans Room of the Overman Student Center.
This is a hands-on workshop and Mark anticipates that all participants will
leave with an effective writing assignment in hand. There is still room if you
wish to attend, and lunch will be provided after the workshop.
Please RSVP to Donald Judd at djudd@pittstate.edu.
Other Workshops
Using Writing in Online Courses On Tuesday, February 19, 2008 from 3:30-4:30
David Oldham from the Graphics and Imaging Technologies department will give a
demonstration on using writing in online courses. David will demonstrate the
methods he uses to deliver a graphic design class. David says,
"ANGEL along with some digital photos, a lot of sketching/writing and online
demonstrations make it work." Even if you already are teaching online, you
might learn some new techniques and there will be opportunities to share
techniques that have worked for you. Snacks and drinks will be provided.
If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Donald Judd at djudd@pittstate.edu.
Other writing-related workshops will be announced later this semester.
The "Error Hunt"
Often times we equate good writing with a scarcity of errors in mechanics
(grammar, spelling, punctuation, and documentation style); however, there
is another way to look at errors. Mina Shaughnesy, in her landmark book
Errors and Expectations, notes that as students try to express more complex
thinking in more complex grammatical structures they make more mistakes.
Constance Weaver, in her book Teaching Grammar in Context, sites multiple
studies that argue the number of errors in student writing doesn’t necessarily
diminish over the years, but rather the types of errors change as students
learn to write more complex sentences to accommodate the changing complexity
of their thinking. If this is true, then responding to student writing by
focusing exclusively on mechanical errors may be perceived by students,
whether consciously or unconsciously, as a warning to play it safe and
stick to simple sentence level constructions they feel competent in writing.
In other words, the "error hunt" can discourage students from pursuing more
complex thinking, the kind of thinking that most would agree is at the heart
of higher education. Moreover, the evidence from research over the past forty
years suggests that teaching grammar, punctuation, etc., outside the context of
writing does nothing to improve student writing and in some instances can be
detrimental.
I am not suggesting that we abandon our attention to mechanics in student writing,
but rather that we shift that attention to dealing with errors in the context of
students' writing, embedding our concern with mechanics amongst more important
values such as clarity and cohesion. But this means that we need to intervene
in the writing process to help students identify and learn to correct these types
of surface errors. This means we need to look at drafts of student writing and
provide constructive feedback, not just grade the final paper, assuming that the
final grade will somehow teach our students how to deal with errors. Moreover,
students need this type of feedback throughout their academic careers. The hope
that one or two courses could solve these types of errors once and for all is
not upheld by the research; rather, the research suggests that writing skills
are learned and relearned over a long period of time.
Motivating Students in Upper Division Courses
If you want to motivate your students to do as good a job as possible on their
final writing assignment – apart from their grade, of course – let them know
that you will be turning copies of their paper in for the year end university
wide writing assessment. Tell your students to turn in two copies, one for
your grading and one for the assessment project. Knowing that others will
also be looking at their work may motivate them to work a little harder,
even though their names will be removed from the paper to insure anonymity.
Please contact Charlotte Barnett at
cbarnett@pittstate.edu in the
Office of Analysis, Planning and Assessment if you wish to participate.
Fall Workshop on Paper Grading
Plan your fall syllabus around this valuable workshop on paper grading.
Dr. Mark Waldo, from the University of Nevada, Reno, will present a workshop
on how to grade papers more fairly and efficiently using criteria-based grading.
Come learn how to save time while grading papers. The workshop will take place
from 9:00 to 11:30 on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 in the Balkans Room of the
Overman Student Center. Seating is limited! If you wish to attend, please
contact Donald Judd at djudd@pittstate.edu
to reserve your spot.
Back
to top
Back to Faculty FAQs
|
|
|
|
