Week 4, Writing: Discussion Question 1

[Vanessa]

Let's start by comparing our teaching situations, past and present.
What are yours and what have they been? Blended, face to face or
online? What level? Technology - availability, reliability and
access.

What are the most challenging problems you face?

How many students do you have in your writing classes, how much & what
kind of writing is required? What resources do you have? What is your
most time consuming task? Most rewarding? How do your students feel
about writing?

I look forward to reading about your experiences about and reflections
on teaching writing.

Vanessa

[Vilvi]

I hardly face many of the issues this week -I teach levels pre-
literacy through level 5. They cannot write essays, usually. I
mostly concur with the article on "Listening as an editing tool"
though. Many times, by reading their own writing out loud, they hear
what they need to fix. Sometimes, I ask them to read their writing to
me so that _I_ know what they wrote! (It can be more clear to me to
hear them say it.) However, very often I must help someone with every
word and every sentence. It's challenging, but rewarding.
Vilvi

[Vanessa]

I remember teaching Spanish 1 at UC Davis - was surprised by how much
short writing students did very early on. But it was effective,
Marking emphasized meaning and communication with not much taken off
for mistakes that did not interfere with meaning but much more for
"meaning gaps."

I was interested to in your comment about their hearing what needed
fixing - not just for the listening but also because the awareness
suggests that peer review is not just for more advanced writers.

Do you think they'd enjoy sort of writing exercises like Mad Libs and
Wacky Web Tales?

Vanessa

[Vanessa]

Discussion has been beyond quiet: it's been dead. At least I hope you
think the resources I posted will be useful. I would appreciate
feedback on that. Everyone is busy with other workshops - not to
mention life in other worlds. So am I. Good thing though that this is
not for credit with participation a substantial % of the grade. In
hopes of reviving interest, I'll answer my own question and perhaps
raise another.

I've taught writing in a number of situations - levels, class sizes,
course design, and so on. There is a big difference in the amount of
writing in a composition or writing intensive course and English
classes with a writing component but not exclusively focused on
writing. I have to admit up front that I also spend too much time
marking papers and making comments. Short cuts. tools and strategies
that speed up the marking process and make it more efficient do run
the risk of also make feedback less individually meaningful. With that
caution in mind, I care all the more about adapting tools and finding
ways to handle unavoidable but still unreasonable marking loads and
still give feedback that will make a difference.

I have taught college writing, high school and middle school computer
mediated writing, college composition, writing about literature,
research papers, GED (high school equivalency writing), ESL writing,
TOEFL and other test prep, I also write a lot. In addition to personal
writing, I have done technical and business writing, copy editing,
written newsletters, web pages and blogs as well as for print
publication. I have also gone through difficult process of learning to
write in languages other than my own - a real eye opener that gives me
more insight into both the writing process and how my students feel
about writing.

The most common academic writing assignments are essays of varying
lengths and research papers, sometimes also called "researched
essays." Essays can vary from the single extended paragraph (100-150
words) to 20 page research papers. Reading response and personal
journals are common informal writing assignments, graded only on
completion, never on correctness or other considerations of formal,
graded assignments.

In blended and online classes, there are written discussions, graded
less for grammar and correctness of writing that for substance
(content, not too short, contributing to discussion) and as
participation. Of course, if the discussion post has so many mistakes
that readers cannot make sense of it, then form (lack of correctness)
affects substance and with it the points earned. We try to separate
parts of the writing task, but that is not 100% possible.

On the other hand, it is too easy and very tempting to get bogged down
in sentence level corrections and lose sight of the forest for the
trees. Correcting sentence level mistakes rarely improves student
writing significantly. It's not just personal observation: a number of
studies support this. But it is hard not to do just that. Among other
reasons, rarely addressed in studies, is that students very often
refuse to believe they have mistakes unless it was marked. This, I
think, is where checkers and rating /AWE software could be very
useful.

I have used rubrics, designed rubrics, read all manner of theory about
and praise of rubrics. I will admit they are useful but never as a
substitute for specific personal response. Some years back I did an
informal survey with a writing center and found that many students
feel the same way. Rubrics by themselves are the marking equivalent of
a form letter. As with software, that does not mean they can't be used
to free up teacher time for meaningful one-on-one feedback.

Writing groups and peer editing do work but not immediately. It takes
time, patience and planning to train students to work in writing
groups and give good feedback that will help writers improve drafts.

In short, there are no real shortcuts, no magic silver bullets... but
there are strategies and tools to help. I doubt any two teachers will
use the same methods or combine strategies and tools in the same way.
Writing is idiosyncratic: thought rendered into text. Teaching and
learning it is equally so. The closest thing to a shortcut (and not
all that short a one) is writing a lot - and more than most students
are willing to - writing thoughtfully and writing every day.

Vanessa

[Vilvi]

Hmm... I doubt most of them would enjoy MabLibs; they don't all have
awareness of parts of speech. At this level, we start with survival
English. Fun observation, I mostly use writing to clarify what they
are hearing and to aid their memories. It can REALLY help them to -
even copy!-down the words off a script. And it makes it easier to
"hear" when they know what it is.
What are Wacky Web Tales?

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[David Winet]

Awesome post Vanessa. Thank you! I share your hope that participants are
at least reading your contributions even if they are not responding. Just
like our students, we tend not to work unless there's immediate reward or
punishment, eh? Skinner was right, damn him.....

[Vanessa]

Wacky Web Tales are easier junior version madlibs for grade school
student - some site with links to parts of speech tips. You still have
the "parts problem" but in an easier version. Maybe students could
collaborate... http://www.eduplace.com/tales/

Literacy programs sometimes use life stories - initially told or
recorded with teachers transcribing them. The result, hand bound in
individual booklets & often with pictures - stories about themselves
that student can read easier. Later students work on writing their
stories. If you have a mixed level class, maybe the more skilled
students could do some of the transcribing. There is something very
satisfying and empowering about making something concrete - especially
if it is your own story.

Vanessa

[David]

"It can REALLY help them to -
even copy!-down the words off a script."

This is an awesome idea Vilvi -- I'm going to try it using some
memorable lines from famous movies, or perhaps parts of famous songs.
I haven't made enough use of copying/transcribing both spoken and
written material heretofore but will henceforth!

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[David]

"Literacy programs sometimes use life stories - initially told or
recorded with teachers transcribing them. The result, hand bound in
individual booklets & often with pictures - stories about themselves "

I love this idea too. Lot of work doing the transcription and hand-
bound booklets though -- any way to make that easy(er) ? Couldn't the
students transcribe the stories themselves, then hand them in for
correction, and finally print/bind the corrected version?

The absolute easiest way to record is to go to http://vocaroo.com/ and
just start recording.

[Vanessa]

Mking it easier - I don't know. I think that would depend on the level
of the students. Maybe in a mixed level class, the more advanced
students could transcribe or help emerging literacy students as a
group project making a larger "Our Stories" book.

Vanessa

[Vanessa]

Here's another idea -

A "script" with blanks that students fill in from a list of famous
movie quotes, also provided. They would not need to know parts of
speech for that and are likely to be familiar with most of the quotes
and what they mean.

http://www.filmsite.org/greatfilmquotes.html

Vanessa