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last.updated 2.19.06

 

Designing Writing Assignments

Purpose

To prompt your students to write, you will be expected to develop a set of instructions that provide the parameters of the assignment. Maybe you will also include resources for developing the text you are asking your students to produce and maybe you will explain the criteria upon which you will be evaluating their work. As you decide how to specifically prompt your students to write, you will need to make deliberate decisions. We will discuss some of the issues you will want to consider and give you will have an opportunity to start composing an assignment.

Before Class

  • Read Soven, Chapter 6 (135-156)
  • Read Dornan et al, "The Essay and Other Write-to-Learn Assignments" (119-148) [BB]
  • Read WPA discussion on the Five Paragraph Essay [BB]
  • Submit PAB entry #3 in the body of an email through Blackboard Messages by the beginning of class

Discussion–Soven, Dornan et al., & WPA-L

  • What questions did these three readings generate about how to design and articulate a writing assignment?
  • If we were to ask the question, "What structure should a writing assignment have?", the answer would be, "It depends." So what variables factor into this decision?
  • What were the best suggestions that you got from these three readings? explain your response. how do you plan to incorporate the suggestions into your own writing assignments?
  • The five paragraph essay is addressed in all three readings, what are the limitations of this assignment? what is its value?
  • Teachers will often justify teaching the five paragraph essay to help students learn organization. What other, less prescriptive methods, can we develop for teaching organization?
  • Teachers can often curtail plagiarism by developing assignments that resist this practice. What suggestions do Dornan et al. provide? how might these suggestions translate into the assignments that you are developing?

Activity–Teaching the Writing Process

For this activity you can work alone, in pairs, or in group of three. For this activity you will...

  • briefly describe the overall unit you will be developing
    • what are the overall goals for the unit? what should the students learn?
    • what are some of the major writing practices that the students will partake in (e.g., in-class writes, activities, pre-writing assignments)
  • outline the assignment; using headings and bullet points...
    • show what sections your assignment sheet will entail
    • some of the things you will cover in these sections
  • write a brief justification for how you develop this assignment. How does the pedagogical design and articulation this assignment respond to course readings?

Try to complete this assignment in class. Therefore, you do not have to be thorough; instead make decisions about what will give the instructor the best sense about what you want to accomplish.

At the end of class submit the work that you have done through Blackboard Messages; an evaluation of this work will be factored into your process grade.