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Assignment Construction

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Designing Writing-to-Learn Ideas

It’s OK for you and your students to have fun. They don’t have to hate their assignments and you don’t have to hate reading them.

Integrating writing-to-learn assignments into your course is crucial.  Otherwise, students are given the message that it is just busy work that doesn’t really matter.

You want these assignments to promote active (and at least sometimes) interactive learning.

Consider how the assignment relates to the goals of your course and to other assignments you will ask students to complete.

Consider the purpose of your assignment.  Does your purpose integrate with the goals of your course?

Consider how the assignment engages students in critical thinking, creative, or analytical thought.  How might it lead them to more successful formal writing to communicate assignments when the time comes?

Consider what guidelines you will give the students for the assignment.  What form or forms should they use (journal, poem, letters, note exchange, project log, etc.)?  How long should it be?  How long will students have to work on it?

Consider how you will respond to these as mentor or intellectual leader rather than evaluator.  This also means considering how you will grade, count, or respond to these writings.

Remember that writing-to-learn activities work best when they are informal (not graded on standards meant for “writing to communicate” assignments).

Strategies for Handling the Paper Load

You Want to Assign Writing But….
Strategies for Handling the Paper Load

  1. Rely on more, but shorter (possibly even ungraded) assignments.
  2. Don’t respond to every draft of every paper yourself. Train students to respond to each others’ early drafts.
  3. When you do respond to drafts, operate from a clear hierarchy of values (such as purpose, structure, style and grammar/mechanics). Repond to higher-order problems first; limit yourself to two or three issues per paper.
  4. Don’t respond to grammar and mechanics as your primary concern in early drafts.
  5. When you DO respond to grammar and mechanics, focus..
    - on categories of error you consider most serious
    - on patterns of error rather than marking all individual errors
    - on no more than two or three patterns per paper
    - sit on your hands if you have to :)
  6. Show your students how the writing process works, with special attention to generative stages and revision. Consider spending class time showing them how to revise.
  7. Consider using some kind of checklist for final, graded drafts.
  8. Read: How to Handle the Paper Load. (Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English, 1979).

Source: How to Handle the Paper Load. (Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English, 1979).

Writing-Enriched Sample Assignments

All sample assignments are provided as PDFs.

Course Number Course Name Discipline
SOC 363 Juvenile Delinquency Sociology
BIOS 435 Entomology Biological Science
CHE 450/550 Fundamentals of Materials Analysis Chemical Engineering
J 430/530 Magazine Editing and Production Journalism

Writing-Enriched Syllabi

All syllabi are provided as PDF files.

Course Number Course Name Discipline
MGT 432 Management Management
CS 612 Real Time Systems Computer Science
ENG 325 Women & Literature English
SOC 363 Juvenile Delinquency Sociology
BIOS 435 Entomology Biological Science
CHE 450/550 Fundamentals of Materials Analysis Chemical Engineering
HCRM 437 Strategic Merchandise Planning Human and Consumer Science
Dance 489/490 Dance Dance
POLS 414/514 Organization Theory and Politics Political Science
J 430/530 Magazine Editing and Production Journalism
EDEL 321 Children’s Literature Education

Designing Your Own Assignments

Developing Good Assignments
Quick Suggestions for Helping Non-Native Writers
- from the University of Minnesota Writing Center
Creating Effective Peer Response Workshops
- from the University of Minnesota Writing Center

Developing Good Assignments

  • What are your goals and outcomes for this assignment? What, specifically, can you articulate about what you want your students to learn, illustrate, or show you with this writing assignment?

  • Determine what specifics your students might need to know to do this assignment well. What are the conventions you want them to follow? Is there a particular format they should follow? Is there a page length? Does this paper need a thesis statement? Can you articulate for your students what the purpose of the assignment is? Do they know who the audience is?

  • Make your criteria as clear as possible.

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