Critical Thinking and Writing Workshop

1. Critical Thinking and Writing Workshop WRITING PEDAGOGY BOOT CAMP August 2012 Roanoke College

2. Agenda • Coaching student writing and managing the workload • Responding to papers without killing ourselves • That grammar thang

3. Part 1: Coaching Student Writing

4. In most cases, “Assign and Write” will only lead to: • Last minute papers full of shallow thinking and lots of error • Plagiarism • Frustration on our part • The assigning of fewer and fewer papers • Less learning • Students who get into the work place and can’t write or think very well

5. The “Process” Approach • Brainstorm/Prewrite • Draft • Revise • Edit/Proofread

6. The “Process” Approach • Brainstorm/Prewrite • Draft • Revise • Edit/Proofread

7. What we know: • Content improves with more revisions (Remember working memory?) • Grammar and surface-level writing improve with more revisions • Students have no idea what we mean by “revision” (See Sommers) • More drafts can mean more work for us

8. Time- and labor-saving devices: • Conferences • Traditional • No-preread • Group • Workshops • Peer Responding • Required Writing Center Conferences

9. Traditional Conferences • Collect drafts ahead of time • Read and comment on them ahead of time • Discuss

10. No-Preread Conferences • Collect drafts ahead of time • Read/skim during conference while student writes: • Changes already know going to make • Changes considering • Questions for you • Discuss, beginning with student’s comments

11. Group Conferences • Students sign up for a time; that becomes their group • They exchange papers ahead of time • They read ahead of time and respond to a list of questions you provide • You read ahead of time and comment on papers • Meet as a group and discuss • Their responses are graded

12. General Conferencing Guidelines • Students sign up ahead of time • Papers all due ahead of time, regardless of conference schedule • There’s a penalty for missed conferences • Students should attend with notebooks and pens

13. General Conferencing Guidelines • @20 minutes for individual conferences; 45-60 for group conferences • It’s okay to cancel one day of class per major assignment • Students should always be placed in a position to take responsibility for their papers

14. Workshops A class discussion of a student paper (past or present) or a published essay that models both positively and negatively how an assigned essay should be written.

15. Golden Rules • Students need training • Students need time • There should be a written record of student responses • These responses should be graded

16. Peer Response Sessions • Students need training • Students need time • There should be a written record of student responses • These responses should be graded

17. Variations: • In-class responses, either read out loud or not • 2 x 2 peer responses (John Bean) • Out-of-class reviews (John Bean)

18. Writing Center Conferences Tips: • The more engaged the instructor, the better the conference will be • Send the assignment over ahead of time • Have a firm deadline for drafts, and have those drafts come to you • Have students write brief summaries of their conference outcomes

19. Three Case Studies

20. Variation #1: Paul • 1st Draft: No Pre-Read Conference • 2ndDraft: Peer Response (Take home) • Final Draft: Written Comments

21. Variation #2: Katherine • 1st Draft: Group Conferences • 2nd Draft: In-class Peer Responses • Final Draft: Written Comments

22. Variation #3: Bob • 1st Draft—written response and conference • 2nd Draft—Peer Response • Final Draft—Minimal Comments

23. Your Turn: Mix and Match • What process can you see being effective for your students and the types of assignments you give? • What process can you see being effective given your own schedule? • What process can you see being effective given your personality/pedagogical style? JOT SOME NOTES!

24. Part II: Responding to Student Writing

25. What We Know: • Only the best students carry over teacher comments from one paper to the next. • Students struggle to understand our (very often generic) comments • Students often assume an adversarial purpose to comments

26. Therefore: • As much as possible, put the bulk of your comments on earlier drafts (Bean: Revision is where students learn) • Look for patterns; it’s counterproductive to point out absolutely every problem • Build off of strengths rather than reinforcing weaknesses • Whenever possible, avoid generic comments—both negative AND positive • Remember that ideas are what drive engagement in and a love of writing

27. Your turn: • Read the photography paper I gave you—do not mark it. • Assuming this is a draft, what do you see as the two biggest issues in the essay? • What do you see as the two greatest strengths? • Make two marginal comments. • Write a brief end note. • What would change if this were the final draft?

28. Part III: That Grammar Thang

29. What we know: • 100+ years of research have made it abundantly clear: grill and drill grammar exercises don’t lead to improvement of grammar skills in the context of written work—and may actually detract from overall learning • College instructors have always complained that “students these days can’t write a decent sentence!” • Error increases with more cognitively difficult assignments

30. What we know: • Grammar and surface-level error decreases with multiple drafts • When they try, students can find 60% of their own error • Students generally don’t try and don’t know how to • Instructors generally see more error than the typical reader • Different instructors perceive different errors

31. So what can we do? • Require drafts • Let students know that grammar matters, but don’t let it dominate the conversation • Hold students responsible for solving their grammar problems • Tell students the 60% statistic, and give them some techniques for proofreading • Use Hacker Other ideas?

32. Revising your poster: • Revisit and revise your goal • Revisit and revise your assignment—don’t forget to include audience and purpose • Add 3-5 “scaffolding” techniques that will allow students to fulfill the assignment • Develop a “process plan”: how many drafts will be required? How will you manage the workload/respond to papers? • Develop a grammar plan: how will you address it without undermining overall learning?

33. A few cautions: When adding new assignments or pedagogies, remember to: • Not overwhelm yourself • Adapt pedagogies to your own style • Take a few risks • Revise/adapt after early failures

34. Thank you for your patience. Let’s keep talking about these things!