Resources For Teaching with Writing

Links

· Responding to drafts in progress

· Tips for helping students with writing research papers

· Evaluating writing

· Additional resources

Design of Writing Assignment

The activity below was designed for use at a faculty workshop for instructors embarking on teaching new first-year seminar courses. The activity is canned and written to look like a typical assignment sheet, though this assignment sheet is not nearly as thorough and detailed as an ordinary assignment might be. The purpose here is just to outline some steps for faculty to begin drafting a writing assignment. Possibly the drafts composed during the workshop will lead to actual course writing assignments. Each faculty member teaching a first-year seminar course will be asked to eventually submit one sample of an assignment sheet that they will use. These samples will be used for a publication to distribute to all faculty teaching fall 2002 first-year seminar courses at Saint Joseph College.

Create an Assignment Sheet

Purpose:

The goal of this assignment is to design a writing assignment for your first-year seminar class. Your final assignment sheet should reflect strategies described in handouts found in your binder. These strategies include:

· Linking writing assignments to course objectives

· Specifying the purpose and audience for the assignment

· Including stages for completing the assignment and listing due dates for the stages

· Listing evaluative criteria

· Designing assignments that generate writing others will want to read

Audience:

Your audience is first-year seminar instructors and your upcoming students, as well as other members of the college community.

Timeline:

Due to the format of this workshop, you will need to work through the first steps of this assignment quickly. Steps 1 through 5 will be completed during the workshop. The rush to complete these steps in a limited timeframe should not be a major concern, as you will have time later to complete the assignment.

Advice:

Follow the steps below for creating an assignment sheet, trying not to skip any.

Step 1: Prewriting

Use one of the suggested prewriting strategies to get started on this assignment. These strategies include using a directed response journal sheet, webbing and similar techniques for listing and arranging your ideas, and freewriting. Select the strategy that has the most appeal to you for completing this specific assignment. Keep in mind that you have only five minutes to work on this prewriting activity, which will then lead you into step 2.

Step 2: Fast Drafting

Working from what you generated in step 1, write a fast draft of the assignment. In step 4 below you will be refining your draft, so don’t worry about being rushed or disorganized now. You have about five minutes to write your fast draft. In step 4 below, you will continue with this draft, so don’t worry if you don’t get as much done as you would like now. If you finish your fast draft before the five minutes is up, go on to step 3 below.

Step 3: Using Reading to Enrich Your Writing

Skim the handouts in the binder, focusing only on ones that contain information related to designing effective assignments. Some handouts deal solely with this topic and others cover it partially. Don’t get sidetracked by other handouts that might not relate to the immediate task at hand. Feel free to circle, underline, or mark in any way those strategies that you would like to use in designing your assignment sheet.

Step 4: First Draft

Using what you generated in steps 1 through 3, compose a first draft of your assignment sheet. You have ten minutes to do this. If you finish early, feel free to review the peer review strategies handout and peer-response form that we will use in step 5.

Step 5: Peer Reviews

Submit your draft for circulation. We will be doing silent peer reviews for the sake of expediency. We will try to have each draft read by two reviewers, and should be able to meet this goal if we leave discussion for later. In the event that you don’t have an opportunity to discuss your thoughts with the writers, be as thorough as possible on the forms. Raise your hand when you complete your first review, so I know you are ready for another one.

Step 6: Revising the Draft

Over the summer, continue revising your draft. You might continue to seek feedback from peers, including colleagues teaching first-year seminar and ARC staff.

Step 7: Finalize Your Draft

Check to make sure your assignment sheet is thorough and will be clear to students. Proofread carefully. You can use the ARC email tutorial account for last-minute editing (tutoring@sjc.edu).

Step 8: Submission

Submit your final copy on disk or as a Word attachment via email (jarzt@sjc.edu). I will paste together the submissions and distribute the collated draft. If you remember, please submit peer review forms so I can evaluate the usefulness of this activity. Thanks.

Evaluative criteria:

· Use of tips from handouts

· Clarity and sufficient detail

· Audience appeal

· Logical sequencing of information

· Inclusion of essential parts (e.g., purpose, audience, evaluative criteria, timeline, etc.

· Writing skills (e.g., usage and diction

Brownie points:

Extra credit will be given for remembering to submit peer review forms. If you engage in additional peer reviews, you might want to document these. I remain interested in the value of peer reviews, and appreciate your submission of peer review work. Thanks.

Due date:

Submit your final copy to me by mid-August or sooner. Note that I will not be accessing email or regular campus mail during the first three weeks of July.

Distribution date:

Expect to receive the collated copy of everyone’s work during the first week of classes in the fall.

Questions:

Email me (jarzt@sjc.edu) or phone me (ext. 5353)

Last revised: 5/17/02

Judy Arzt

jarzt@sjc.edu