Reasons to Write in a Content Class
When students write in courses across the curriculum, they come to see
writing as a worthwhile and necessary skill, something that educated people
do. Continual practice in writing can also help them maintain and improve
their writing abilities. Content-area teachers are uniquely able to teach
their students, particularly upper-level students, to write in the "language"
of their disciplines. Biology students, social science students, history
students can become comfortable with the forms and vocabulary (and hence,
thought processes) of biologists, social scientists, historians
Different writing activities accomplish different ends. A writing
assignment should fit your purposes and help you meet your educational
goals.
Common purposes for writing
There are many reasons to have your students write, but overall goals can
be grouped into writing to learn which
can help students understand and retain course information writing
to demonstrate knowledge through which students show that they have
learned necessary information, and writing
to improve or maintain writing skills in which style and correctness
are important, . Most writing assignments serve more than one of these
purposes concurrently.
Writing-to-learn
According to cognitive research, people learn best when they: 1) Make subject
matter personal and place it in the context of their lives. 2) Connect
new information with old, placing it in the context of what they already
know. 3) Verbalize it, restating new information in their own words.
The sort of writing that most facilitates learning is informal, relatively
unstructured, and has an emphasis more on what is said (the new
ideas and concepts being struggled with) than how it is said (correct
spelling, grammar and usage). These things are important, but to what extent
depends on the purpose of the writing. When students are writing to learn
their attention should be on ideas more than on "correctness." If
they later seek to convey this information to others, then correctness
becomes important.
Hints
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Students may be hesitant to show a lack of knowledge in writing, yet this
ability to be tentative is essential to building new knowledge.
Remember to encourage, rather than discourage whenever possible. Pose questions
and offer suggestions that will help them form correct concepts.
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Encourage students to write to themselves for themselves or to you as a
facilitator of learning rather than a judge. Don't be dismayed by the
surface appearance of what they write; in "writing to learn" the ideas
and thought are most important.
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Make assignments clear and realistic. Know exactly what you expect
students to get out of an assignment, how you expect it done, and let the
students know, too. Write the assignment yourself, whenever possible, to
make sure it works. If you grade writing-to-learn assignments, share your
grading criteria with the students.
- Use writing-to-learn to serve your ends, to teach and reinforce
your subject.
Sample Writing Assignments
Assignment design
Writing to demonstrate knowledge
This sort of writing lets you know how well your students understand the
information conveyed by your course, be it factual or skill-based. Having
them demonstrate knowledge through writing also requires them to integrate
information.
Hints
-
When giving the assignment, be clear that the purpose of the assignment
is primarily to demonstrate knowledge or mastery. When grading, focus on
a student's ability to meet that goal.
-
Stress the need to use information, to apply knowledge, not just repeat
it.
-
Encourage students to state concepts in their own words and/or to give
examples not from the text or lecture.
Sample Writing Assignments
Assignment design
Writing to Improve or Maintain Writing
Skills
Any writing activity can help maintain or improve writing skills and text
correctness. If writers in your field use a particular format or style,
this is an excellent opportunity to give your students practice.
Hints
-
Bring in samples of published writing in your field as models.
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Allow students to pre-write. Give them a chance to free-write, make
lists, talk to others, keep a journal, before beginning the formal writing
of a paper or even test. A chance to deal with ideas informally can improve
the clarity and organization of the final product.
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Provide students with feedback from you, classmates, or the Writing
Center. Let them know whether they have written what they planned to, whether
they have fulfilled the assignment before they hand it in.
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Allow students to rewrite. Give them the chance to redo a paper
(or test) if they have not met their (or your) goals.
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Save editing until the end. Separating getting-ideas-down-right
from getting-the-forms-right (checking for spelling, punctuation, grammatical
correctness) can help people write more fluidly, clearly, and effectively.
It's easier to say what you want, if you know you don't have to worry about
correctness yet. This doesn't mean correctness is not important; it is,
at the most effective time: after the ideas are down and clear.
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Provide students a chance to "publish." After they've put effort
into their papers, give them the chance to share their work with someone
other than you. Have them present to the class, produce a handbook, post
papers in the hall.
-
Read the papers for what you consider to be most important. If clarity
of ideas is most important to you, then that's what's most important in
your students' papers. If your students need to be able to support ideas
with examples, read the papers primarily for that. If people in your field
need, above all, to use semi-colons correctly, read for that. You don't
have to read their papers for everything. This is writing for your purposes
and the purposes of your field--use your response to train your students
to meet these expectations.
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Similarly, make these expectations clear to the students before
they write. Handouts, even example papers can help students write the paper
you want and make your job as reader much easier and less frustrating.
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