Workshop 2/Core Competency 2/Creating Effective Learning Environments Certification in College Teaching

May 9th, 2013

Trixie Smith, Dianna Baldin, & Marilee Brooks-Gillies – Creating and Assessing Effective Writing Assignments across the Curriculum The Writing Center is a good resource for undergraduate and graduate students alike. Ways to use writing in your class and how to grade it. Questions for conversation with colleagues at table:

1. What scares you about including writing in your classes? a. Grading b. Developing rubric c. Timing d. Fairness/consistency e. Objectivity f. Conflict between grading content versus grading writing g. Giving good feedback

2. As a student, what kind of writing do you do? As a teacher? a. As a student:

i. Literature reviews ii. Critical summaries

iii. Research reports iv. Reflection assignments

b. As a teacher: i. Feedback on papers

ii. Syllabus iii. Rubric iv. Commenting on online forum discussions

3. How does writing help you learn? a. Communicate b. Explore theories c. Synthesis and understanding d. Critical thinking

4. What connections do you see between writing and critical thinking? a. When I write, it helps me measure my understanding. If I can’t

write about it, then I do not have a good understanding of it. 5. What do you want a writing assignment to do for you? For the student?

For others? Who are those stakeholders? a. For students: Think about…. Professional communication (written

and verbal), cover letters, emails, creating good writing habits, did students understand the class concepts (good writing = good understanding)

b. For me: Think about… Gauging my teaching

Workshop 2/Core Competency 2/Creating Effective Learning Environments Certification in College Teaching

May 9th, 2013

c. For stakeholders: Think about…. Future employers, society in which the students will enter, bigger curriculum, funding agencies, accrediting bodies

6. What do you think is important to consider when creating an assignment that will be written?

a. Value added – what will this assignment contribute b. First step for students towards something bigger. How can the

students repurpose this assignment or make it visible? 7. What are the characteristics of an effective final product?

a. Clarity b. Specificity c. Leads somewhere d. Growth/development through a process e. Applying what they have learned into the writing f. Utilizing feedback

8. How do you or will you share these characteristics with your students? a. Rubric b. Guidelines c. Samples/models and discuss them d. Annotate a model e. Peer review/one class hour dedicated to the assignment where

students will peer review and ask clarifying questions 9. How do these characteristics affect your grading?

a. Based on peer review session, I re-assess my guidelines/rubric and make it clearer to edit as necessary

10. What do you expect to see, hear, or know from your students? 11. What is the assignment doing? 12. What format are you expecting? Why?

Lesson #1 Students need to practice writing. For example, if you want students to write a lesson plan as a final lesson plan, you need to scaffold this process. Teach them how you write what you want them to write. Low-risk writing

• Exploratory writing • Questions, reflections • Journals, blogs, wikis

Shorter modes of writing

• Micro-themes • Admission tickets – guide while reading that students need to prepare

before entering class

Workshop 2/Core Competency 2/Creating Effective Learning Environments Certification in College Teaching

May 9th, 2013

• Exit slips - What is one think you’ve learned today? What is one thing you have a question about?

• Twitter posts • Discussion forums

Lesson #2 Give students a RANGE of good writing models and discuss the models (or rubric) with the students. Giving a range will give students the opportunity to personalize the assignment. If possible, provide an annotated model. Lesson #3 Scaffold the writing process. Give smaller, low-stakes, tasks. You don’t have to grade everything! BUT you need to show the value of the assignment they did (e.g., checkmarks). Fold in the steps/process for final project grade

• Low-risk options for starting final assignment • Build writing process into assignments • Reflect throughout the process.

Show/tell connections between activities and final assignments Use portfolios to showcase the scaffolded process Rubrics or scoring guides

• Scaled guides o Categorize areas of importance o List criteria in each category o Indicate weight (points o percentages) for each category o Give talking points

• Holistic descriptions o Give/describe criteria o Quick read for overall impression o Do not give feedback o Good for final papers when there is no opportunity for revision

• Self-assessment forms o Could be the grading rubric that the students fill out o Open-ended questions for students to use to evaluate particular

categories o Can lead to peer review sessions as they pinpoint areas of need o Can lead to one-on-one or group conferences

• Peer review o Must be taught or modeled

Workshop 2/Core Competency 2/Creating Effective Learning Environments Certification in College Teaching

May 9th, 2013

o Can be done in or out of class o Can use pairs or small groups o Written guides can help direct the process for students o Can show students weaknesses in their writing o Can show students if their writing is clear

Look at the assignment you’re developing. Which type of assessment(s) would work for your assignment? Why? My colleague and I discussed the TE 150 interview assignment in the online class we both taught and I reflected on the TE 150 lesson plan assignment in the face-to-face class I taught in the Fall of 2012. SQ3R reading tool (good reading = good writing)