In my last post, I discussed how building steps of the composing process into a syllabus encourages students to take on the habits of expert writers or public speakers. I focussed on building drafts or outlines and activities surrounding those into the course calendar. In this post, I will focus on low-stakes exercises and activities that will give students practice, build their fluency, and help them internalize your standards for a good performance.
Assignments that encourage invention. Invention, or pre-writing, is the process by which ideas are selected, narrowed, refined, or developed. As such, you should consider whether to assign something before a topic is selected, to jump-start creative ideas, or after it is selected, to encourage deeper approaches. I often hear professors say that students are not good at selecting topics, but I seldom hear them discuss helping students do so. Sometimes, a simple class conversation about an idea, a case, or an article can start the process, but usually, students need a little time to understand what topics are appropriate and worth developing in your discipline. All the assignments described below can be used to spark or narrow topic ideas, or develop an argument and expand on a thesis. If any grade is assigned, it should be for low stakes, that is, a small percentage or a or participation grade.
Idea logs (or blogs): Students write brief (minimum 1-2 paragraph) reflections on readings done for class or class discussions. You can also ask students to search the news or to observe everyday life, and connect what they see to course content. If possible, have them share these and read each other’s. Or, select a few of the best, read them to the class, and explain what the student did well (thus, modeling what you want to see more of).
Mini-essays/speeches: At the end of a lecture, pose an open-ended question, and ask students to write an answer in the form of an impromptu essay or as a sentence outline for a speech. (Specify the audience as yourself or their peers.) Ask them to make the first sentence a thesis statement, i.e., one that answers the question in one way or another, and that the rest serve as support for the thesis. Collect these at the end of class. For the essays, during the next class read the best one and explain why you thought it worked. For the speeches, ask one brave student with a good outline to deliver it, or you perform it.
They’ll need about 20 minutes. Remind them that you are looking primarily at content and organization, and that the easiest way to stay organized is to spend five minutes thinking of a thesis and two or three statements that support it and that they can develop further. Since the first sentence is the thesis, they won’t need a traditional wind-up introduction. Show them an example (one you wrote) if you can.
Questions: As homework, ask students to write 1-3 questions, each on a separate index card, and bring them to class. Collect them (good way to take role), and then randomly select a few to answer. You can also elicit answers from the whole class. Use this as an opportunity to help them distinguish good research or writing questions from simple questions of fact. Both are important to ask, but help them identify the sort of question that can lead to an essay or a study.
Assignments that build revising and editing skills.
Sentences from drafts: As you review student drafts (slides or sentence outlines included), write down, without identification, sentences (or strings of sentences) that exemplify errors or style problems. Perhaps you find a very wordy few sentences, or an example of a dangling modifier, or a comma error that bothers you as a reader. Make a handout with at least 5, but probably not more than 10, of these sentences, and review them in class. (You can do this as a whole class or ask small groups to do it.) However you do it, give students at least a few minutes to find their own fix before you give yours. This is basically a game of “find and fix the problems.” Students tend to like this because they recognize writing like their own, and it helps them to see more concretely what you mean by concepts like “awkward” or “wordy,” as well as how to fix them. Encourage them, when possible, to find more than one way to correct the problems.
Rhetorical analyses: Select an essay from your field or an article, essay, or speech to similar to what you want students to produce.(TED talks are a great source of speeches. See http://www.ted.com/talks.) In class, have students work in small groups to do a rhetorical analysis–that is, to analyze the style, content, and organization of the model. The UWC has a helpful handout on rhetorical analysis they can use for guidance. This activity makes them more aware of the techniques writers and speakers use—it makes them think more strategically about composing.
Reflections on comments: After students receive comments on drafts or a performance of a speech, ask them to review them and make changes as they see fit, and then write a short paragraph (or email) to the reviewer about how the comments helped them revise (or didn’t). Make sure they give these to the reviewer—having a live audience makes them much more likely to take the task seriously.
These assignments should not be seen as busy work. Let students know that you have deliberately designed them to help them work and think more like expert composers of writing or speeches. The more students practice, the more they reflect on their work and their audience, the more they thoughtfully consider suggestions for revision, the closer they will come to expertise.