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TIPS FOR TEACHERS OF WRITING-INTENSIVE COURSES
From the Mānoa Writing Program Faculty Board
As faculty members, we are often asked for
suggestions on how to make writing-intensive classes work. We offer here
tips that reflect concerns frequently mentioned in our interviews with
graduating seniors.
Tip for the first day of class
| Students
who have never taken a WI class are often unsure about what is
expected of them. The term "writing-intensive" can be
intimidating. You can help your students by discussing the
benefits of writing and the kinds of writing they will do in your
class. If you can excite your students about the possibilities
of writing, not only as a means to retain course content but also
as a way to work out problems of understanding, writing will seem
less of a drudgery and more of an opportunity for learning. |
On
the first day of class, it would help if teachers would be
explicit in their explanations of WI course requirements. What is
the purpose behind the writing-intensive course? What do they
expect? - Student |
Tips on writing assignments
| Vary
the type and length of writing assignments to reflect the
different purposes for writing in your course. Daily journals,
progress reports, reaction essays, analytical reports, position
papers, presentation outlines, topical free writing, and
performance critiques are types of writing used frequently by UH
faculty. |
If I
get a job where I have to do a lot of writing, regardless of the
type, I'm not afraid to do it. I've written short stories; I'm
writing a senior thesis; I've written about research. You can't
get through life knowing how to write just one way. - Student |
| Try
to construct formal (and longer) writing assignments by using
the building blocks of already-assigned informal writing. |
It
was neat to be able to go back to my journal and my reaction
papers when we had to do the term paper. I already had a lot of
material. - Student |
| Consider
allowing students to choose topics, approaches, emphases,
lengths, or due dates within the framework of an assignment. |
I
like the freedom to take the paper in the direction you wanted it
to go. The guidelines are broad enough to take the topic in any
way, but they are also narrow enough to give a focus. The freedom
allows me to express my thoughts. - Student |
| Design
some assignments around real life situations so that students
can experience the application of course material.
If your students are keeping a log
or journal, let them know who will be reading it and how it
will "count." |
The
writing that I've been doing so far is actually a glimpse of what
I will be doing--what I'm going to be doing in the industry when I
go to work for some firm. I mean everything that they'll ask you
to do, like preparing proposals or contracts or specifications for
a project, is directly related to the type of writing we're doing
in class. It's just groundwork. - Student |
Tips for providing feedback on content
| Provide
short teacher/student conferences. 5-10 minute meetings
are very helpful. |
I
notice a lot of other teachers don't really say much and they just
slap a grade on papers with no comments. But these WI teachers
will really sit down with you and go through and show you how you
can improve and what's wrong and everything. - Student |
| Have
students hand in self-assessments of their writing when
they hand in their drafts. |
He
made us write lists of the strengths and weaknesses of our drafts
when we handed them in. So I sort of knew what his comments might
be even before I got them back. - Student |
| On drafts
of student papers, provide specific written comments that
students can use when they revise. |
I
just hate--here I write this twenty page paper and I pick it up
thinking 'Oh, great! I wanna see what the feedback is...' What do
I get? Not a mark on the whole thing. The back page says,
"Good paper." That doesn't do me any good. I want to see
meaningful feedback. - Student |
| Provide
opportunities for students to give each other feedback on
the content of their drafts. Instructors can guide students by
modeling how to respond to papers. |
You
had to write your papers and let other people read them. And it
felt good to see good comments from peers. You know, because
usually only your teacher will see it. But it's good to see what
your peers say about your writing. If they agree, I must be doing
something right. - Student |
Tips for providing feedback on mechanics and grammar
Give your students an opportunity to learn
how to proofread a paper by having each of them exchange a semifinal
draft with a peer who will read the draft for appropriate
grammatical structures and mechanics. Students can then help their peers
make corrections.
Don't "correct" your students'
errors. Instead, put a check near the error and encourage the author to
"correct" it while working on the next draft.
Tip for saving time
Students learn through writing. They don't
necessarily learn more or less if you "grade" a piece of
writing. Give feedback and grades when appropriate; but remember that
you don't have to read everything that your students write. Some
instructors collect journals, in-class writing, and drafts read by peer
reviewers and mark them as either "satisfactory" (completed)
or "unsatisfactory" (not completed or not turned in), but they
don't read the writing closely. |
