Incorporating Writing in the Classroom

Creating Effective Writing Assignments

Dr. Rebecca L. Damron

Director, OSU Writing CenterITLE

September 20, 2007

What are we asking our students to do?

Are we asking them to learn information?

Are we asking them to develop their critical thinking skills?

Are we asking them to develop their writing skills: Rhetorical? Grammatical?

Are we asking them to write in the disciplinary community of which we are a part?

Myths

Students learn everything they need to know about writing in Freshman Comp

Students ‘acquire’ all writing skills in two semesters of Freshman comp

They become better writers without writing practice

They know what plagiarism is and how to cite in your field.

Writing takes too much class time (it does take time, but is it worth the tradeoff?)

Create a Writing “Culture”

Let them know writing is important-e.g. include it on the syllabus

Informal Writing ActivitiesFormal Writing AssignmentsEncourage them to use resources

—e.g. The OSU Writing Center!

Writing is Important

Evaluate the course—where can writing fit? Design the course with writing sequences: more

than one written assignment, or have them do one in stages etc.

Give them opportunities to explore through informal assignments

Provide models Try doing the assignment yourself Give different types of response: e.g only respond

to content, give checks instead of grades Praise

Sequencing and Spiraling

Consider the hierarchy of expectations, goals, means, objectives, philosophies

Focus on course aims and means toLink each assignment to overall goals of

courseBuild each assignment on previous tasks

Bias for the best by incorporatingAppropriate linguistic, contextual, rhetorical

skills for each assignmentA relevant writing scenario

Spiraling

Determine ongoing concept-to-practice problemsAudience communication and

persuasionUse of detail: Types and amounts of

evidenceUse of Sources: Citation and

plagiarism

Sequencing and Spiraling

Spiral Cognitively more difficult skills in Different writing contextsIncreasingly more difficult tasks

Strive forAuthenticityStudent interest

Animal Science 3903: Ag Animals of the World

Language AwarenessReligious AwarenessGeographical AwarenessClimate AwarenessCultural AwarenessPolitical Awareness

The Saltmen of TibetDiscuss the global awareness factors in this film and accompanying handouts and how being aware of them helped (or failed to help) you understand these people and their association with the world. Write the paper in the first person. Include each of the following topics in your paper. Some questions/hints are provided to help you get started but these should not be the end of your observations.

a. Geographical awareness. (Might be a good idea to look at a good topographical map to get a better sense of this.)

b. Language awareness. (In this film, the “salt language” was very important. Discuss what you think might have been its origins and its value. Remember-this is a large region where saltmen have historically traveled long ways to reach the salt lakes. Also, why do you think women are not allowed to learn or even hear the salt language?)

c. Religious awareness. (How would you characterize the intensity of the religious experience associated with this trek? Can you think of a practical reason for the religious/superstitious experience to be so integrated into the salt trek? Were all the gods and goddesses associated with Buddhism?)

d. Climate awareness. (In this case climate and geography are very much associated with each other. Be sure to make this link.)

e. Cultural awareness. (The number of examples you can discuss from this film is nearly overwhelming so I suggest you settle on some broad topics and then use examples. Among other things, the role of women in the society and their relationship to the salt collecting is worth considering.)

f. Political awareness. (The Chinese have changed Tibet profoundly. However,

how much of this do we see in this film?)

AusangateGive examples of how this article helped with each of the globalizing influencers. If there is no example, write “none” beside the item below.

a. geographical awareness

b. language awareness

c. religious awareness

d. climate awareness

e. cultural awareness

f. political awareness

NuerUsing the film and accompanying handouts, write a paper describing how this film helps in your understanding of the “Global Awareness Factors” in relation to the Nuer. Write the paper in the first person. Include each of the following topics in your paper.

a. Culture.

b. Language.

c. Geography.

d. Political awareness.

e. Climate. f.g. Religious awareness.

g. When all the various villages gather at the river for the great purification ritual, it is easy to see how the modern world is affecting some villages more than others. Describe some of the things you saw.

Informal Writing Activities

ClusteringFive minute writingIndex-card QuestionsQuestion boxBlackboard features: discussion board

etc.Cubing

Describe, compare, associate, analyze, apply, argue

Informal Writing ActivitiesJournals

Open-ended: have students write a certain number of pages a week. Free to write about course in any way

Semi-structured: guidance is provided e.g. Summarize from the preceding class or “What confused you?”

Guided: content-specific questionsDouble-entry: Two columns, two datesExam Prep JournalsReading Journals

Responding to Informal Writing Activities

You may have ungraded in-class writing

Use a quick checklistUse a minus/check/plus system that

adds up to a percentage of the total score for the class

Incorporate them into the final grade toward the formal writing assignment

Do pass/fail journal entries

Formal Writing Assignments

Review goals for the course when designing assignments

Build in ‘invention’ activities. Use informal writing activities, brainstorming, topic proposals etc. to get students focused on a topic.

Build in time to have students do rough drafts

Peer WorkshopsSelf-assessment

Formal Writing AssignmentsWriting the Assignment

Task: Explain what the student is supposed to write about, often presented as a problem, question, thesis to support , or rhetorical mode

Role and audience: Place students in a position of knowledge

Format: Specify length, font etc. also organizational pattern

Expectations about the processCriteria for Evaluation

Formal Writing AssignmentsExample

Engineering 1111: Airplane Design Challenge

Version 1-Fall 05

Product/Process Design Homework/ 2005YOUR NAME ______________________________________GROUP NAME _______________________________________GROUP LEADER ______________________________________GROUP FACILITATOR__________________________________GROUP RECORDER____________________________________

Do the following in a few sentences each (in Microsoft Word):

1) Describe your impressions from the airplane group design activity2) How well did you group function together?

3) Describe your group’s product and process for manufacturing airplanes4) Give a definition of product design in general

5) Provide a general description of process design6) What do you think engineering is? What does an engineer do?

Version 2-Fall 2006Prepare a 2-3 page double spaced 12 point font Microsoft Word document

(paper/essay) that addresses the following. Be very clear in your document about which of the items you are addressing. Remember that all course documents are on blackboard. I will be adding more resources on Blackboard to help you understand product and process design.

• Your name; your group name, and members.• Was the “airplane design challenge” a good way to learn to

understand the similarities and differences between product and process design? This is the main theme of your paper.

• Use documents provided in class, on Blackboard, as well as at least one other resource that you find to provide definitions and to support your claims for #2 above. Provide references to your sources.

• Discuss your group’s product and process design. • Describe how your group functioned together. Were they

effective?• Conclude by summarizing your key points (to support #2 mostly

but others for #4 and #5 as needed) and describing how important product and process design is in engineering.

• Provide a bibliography of your sources.

Concepts for Version 3A Checklist for Engineering Reasoning

Encourage them to use resources

Are there handbooks or writing guidelines from your field or department? Have them go to the library or purchase

Library referencesOSU Writing Center-Green

Brochures on the tables