You can also give your students the option of revising and rewriting one assignment during the semester for a higher grade. Provide formal steps for revision by asking students to submit first drafts of papers for your review or for peer critique. Encourage students to revise their work.It's important for students to hear what their peers have written. Take five or ten minutes of class time for students to read their writing to each other in small groups or pairs. Students need to talk about papers in progress so that they can formulate their thoughts, generate ideas, and focus their topics. Give students opportunities to talk about their writing. One faculty member shared with students their notebook that contained the chronology of one of his published articles: first ideas, successive drafts, submitted manuscript, reviewers' suggested changes, revised version, galley proofs, and published article. If they know that writing takes effort, they won't be discouraged by their own pace or progress. Share with your class your own struggles in grappling with difficult topics. Presenting the finished work to readers.Revising the draft by expanding ideas, clarifying meaning, reorganizing.Getting feedback and comments from others.Help them to identify the writer's key activities: Also let them know that writing is a complicated, messy, nonlinear process filled with false starts. Tell students that writing is a way of learning, not an end in itself. Remind students that writing is a process that helps us clarify ideas.Teaching Writing When You Are Not an English Teacher Students welcome handouts that give them specific instructions on how to write papers for a particular course or in a particular subject area. See if there is sufficient interest in your discipline to warrant drawing up guidelines. Pool ideas about ways in which writing can help students learn more about the subject matter. Find other faculty members who are trying to use writing more effectively in their courses.Keep in mind, you can collect students' papers and skim their work. Students will learn that they are writing in order to think more clearly, not obtain a grade. Don't feel as though you have to read and grade every piece of your students' writing.Īsk students to analyze each other's work during class, or ask them to critique their work in small groups.Provide guidance throughout the writing process.Īfter you have made the assignment, discuss the value of outlines and notes, explain how to select and narrow a topic, and critique the first draft, define plagiarism as well.Some mixture of in-class writing, outside writing assignments, and exams with open-ended questions will give students the practice they need to improve their skills. To vary the pace of a lecture course, ask students to write a few minutes during class. Regularly assign brief writing exercises in your classes.Back up your statements with comments on early assignments that show you really mean it, and your students will respond. In the syllabus, on the first day, and throughout the term, remind students that they must make their best effort in expressing themselves on paper. Faculty who tell students that good writing will be rewarded and poor writing will be penalized receive better essays than instructors who don't make such demands. Stress the importance of clear, thoughtful writing. Let students know that you value good writing. Writing is an essential tool for learning a discipline and helping students improve their writing skills is a responsibility for all faculty. Teaching writing is not only the job of the English department alone.
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