Hi, Jim
This is a good post. Thanks
Can we talk about improving writing skills at a TB?
Thanks
Janet

Dr. J. Nepkie
Professor of Music 
And Music Industry
Music Department
State University College
Oneonta, NY 13820
tele: (607) 436 3425
fax:   607 436 2718
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> From: Jim Greenberg <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 15:53:01 -0400
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Conversation: Eleven Things You Could Start Doing Today for the  Benefit of
> Your Students' Writing - Posted to TB by Jim Greenberg
> Subject: Eleven Things You Could Start Doing Today for the  Benefit  of Your
> Students' Writing - Posted to TB by Jim Greenberg
> 
> Tbers, 
> 
> The posting below describes a list of simple practices that, if even one
> were implemented, might transform the way a professor assigns, discusses,
> and responds to student writing. Originally created as a faculty development
> resource for use in workshops on teaching writing, it is co-authored by Jane
> Kokernak, M.A., Writing Center Supervisor, Mount Ida College and Lowry Pei,
> Ph.D., Professor of English, Simmons College.
> 
> 
> Eleven Things You Could Start Doing Today for the Benefit of Your Students'
> Writing
> 
> The spread of the writing process and writing across the curriculum
> movements means that today's faculty who teach or use writing in their
> courses understand that it is both a process and discipline-based.  Still,
> our experience with colleagues tells us that teachers continue to look for
> new strategies to engage student writers and boost their own teaching
> effectiveness.  We've put together a list of practices that are doable and
> "no-tech," yet each has the potential to transform the ways you assign,
> discuss, and comment on student work.
> 
> 1. Give writing assignments in written form, not just word of mouth.
> 
> Your student will be able to carry away your actual words about the
> assignment, not just a vague memory of them, and when she wonders at 1 a.m.
> what she's really supposed to do, she'll refer to your handout.  For many
> students, puzzling over an assignment sheet becomes the first step in doing
> the writing. And for you, the act of writing down the assignment will help
> clarify its connection to your course goals.
> 
> 2. During classroom discussions of student writing, hand out copies of the
> writing being discussed.
> 
> You want students to talk about both what has been said in the writing, and
> how.  Both require students to discuss the written text, not their personal
> recall of hearing it read aloud by the writer.  It is impossible to have a
> discussion of writing at the sentence level, where much of the crucial
> action takes place, without having the written text to refer to.   Also, the
> presence of the physical text reminds students that you're asking them to
> work with the writing, not work on the student who wrote it.
> 
> 3. Insist on a classroom with seminar-style seating or moveable desks, so
> that teacher and students can face each other in discussions.
> 
> By giving feedback to another writer, guided by a more experienced writer
> (the teacher), students learn to recognize and talk helpfully about a text's
> various qualities. Over time, students gradually internalize these
> discussions; they learn how to put into words their own use of written
> language.  It is this that will leave them with a greater feeling of control
> over their future writing.
> 
> 4. Get your students to write weekly in some form, whether it's a draft,
> informal response, or free write.
> 
> Habits are powerful things, and the ability to generate written text at will
> is crucial.  Weekly practice in small doses flexes a student's writing
> muscles regularly and gives her more material (e.g., her own concerns about
> the course material) when it comes time to draft an essay.  As Courtney, a
> first-year writing student, once remarked, "By having us write short
> assignments every week, it made the research paper less scary when it came
> time to do it."
> 
> 5. In class, write when your students are writing.
> 
> You are what you teach.  If you want your students to write, be a writer in
> a way visible to them.  Embody the writing way of life.  If, for example,
> you ask students during a charged dialogue to pause and reflect in writing
> for 10 minutes, your joining them displays a commitment to writing as a way
> to struggle deeply with hard questions.
> 
> 6. Only grade finished products, not drafts or informal writing.
> 
> Drafts and informal writing are, by definition, not completed work.  The
> whole point of assigning them is to move students away from trying to write
> the finished product on the first try.  The act of grading a draft, response
> paper, or journal entry sends a contradictory message by implying that it
> can be judged by standards applicable to completed work.  The power of
> making room in the course for process will be lost if students believe that
> their "draft" should look finished.
> 
> 7. Give students' writing back within 1 week. Adjust level of feedback to
> time available.
> 
> Work returned soon with a little feedback, from the teacher or from a
> structured peer review, beats work returned later with a lot of feedback.  A
> teacher's few sentences penciled on a student's informal response paper or
> another student's questions jotted on his classmate's draft will prompt more
> thinking and writing. Timing matters: The student needs to feel he is in a
> live exchange of ideas.
> 
> 8. The first time you read a batch of student work, do so without a pencil
> in hand. Just read to get a sense of it; make no comments. Second time, read
> closely and make comments.
> 
> This method makes use of the power of your mind to process what you've read
> in its own quiet way.  If you read the first time simply as a reader, not as
> a commentator or editor, then let the reading sink in, you can arrive at a
> basic idea of what your student is up to with surprisingly little effort.
> By the time you return to the stack, your brain will have invisibly
> processed, for example, that one student has sorted out the chronology of
> her ideas while most of the class still grapples with ordering their
> paragraphs.  (Skeptical? Try this once; it works.)
> 
> 9. On each piece of writing you respond to, make at least 1 mark per page.
> Easiest technique is to underline what's promising, worth pursuing, well
> said.
> 
> This is the basic practical way of creating a feeling of ongoing dialogue
> between writer and reader.  Never underestimate the power of a student's
> knowing that you are paying attention to him.  Underlining promising things
> is quick and communicative; it becomes a way of cultivating your own
> perception of the student's potential, as well as guiding and encouraging
> the student to become aware of it.  And don't forget to tell your students
> what the underlines, and your other marks, mean.
> 
> 10. Retire the red pen; stop copy-editing your students' work. Point out no
> more than 2 patterns of error, and leave it to the student to find a way to
> resolve the errors.
> 
> When you copy-edit a student's work, many students will look at the
> marked-up copy and think "Oh, that's been taken care of for me."  Rather
> than encouraging learning, it sends the message that correcting those things
> is the teacher's job.  If a student can see that she regularly makes errors
> of a certain type, based on a misunderstanding of the underlying principle,
> and then correct that misunderstanding, lasting learning could take place.
> 
> 11. Commenting on the first draft of a full-fledged paper is your best
> opportunity to bring about learning. On the draft, make no more than 3 major
> suggestions.
> 
> Only the strongest students -- who are likely to be the best writers already
> -- will read the commentary on a graded paper, extract general principles
> from the comments, and carry them over to their next writing assignment.
> The others will simply zero in on the grade.  However, when your comments on
> a first draft go back to a student who knows she will be writing a second
> version, those comments stand the best chance of being applied. As for
> limiting your suggestions, both you and the student will benefit if you make
> your task, and subsequently the student's, more manageable.
> 
> Here are some aspects of a student's work you might consider when responding
> to it:
> 
> * assignment (degree of completion);
> * form (appropriateness for assignment);
> * focus (the paper's main idea, thesis, guiding question);
> * organization (order of paragraphs, central idea of each paragraph);
> * evidence (data, examples, quotations, illustrations, personal experience);
> * language (appropriate to the topic, assignment, discipline);
> * discussion (establishing connections between focus, evidence, and writer's
> own ideas);
> * gaps (missing evidence, discussion, connection);
> * sources (selection of relevant ones, presentation in formal style);
> * the writer's personal voice; and
> * other aspects relevant to your discipline.
> 
> For more discussion about commenting on student drafts and resources on
> using writing in your teaching go to
> http://my.simmons.edu/academics/asc/wac/teachingwriting/
> 
> Mr. James B. Greenberg
> Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center
> Milne Library 
> SUNY College at Oneonta
> Oneonta, New York 13820
> 
> blog: The 32nd Square at http://aristotle.oneonta.edu/37_the_32nd_square
> email: [log in to unmask]
> phone: 607-436-2701
> fax:   607-436-3081
> IM:  oneontatltc
> 
> "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"