This document provides advice from experts on planning and grading writing assignments. It suggests that assignments focus on analytical thinking about topics that interest students rather than memorization of details. Potential topics include oneself or raising awareness of issues. Grading approaches discussed are meticulous grading, which produces better writing but stresses students, and low-stakes or ungraded writing to encourage revision from multiple perspectives without stressing about grades. Works consulted are also cited.

1. Planning Assignments Advice from the experts

2. 1) Designing Effective Assignments Advice from: Council of Writing Program Administrators Bonnie Friedman Amber Dean David Maas Jeanette Harris and Christine Hult Heather McGovern Lawrence Baines Hailey Turner et al

3. Analytical Writing > Detail Work Personal involvement in a topic and analytical skills in developing that topic are more important for general education and writing development than memorization of details. This model provides students with: a better understanding of the field tools to analytically approach other disciples.

4. Interesting Topics Have students pick topics that interest them. Potential Topics: Themselves (they know about themselves; reduces stress) Raising awareness about a personal issue Reduces the likelihood of: Plagiarism Writer’s block If all else fails, simply ask the students what kind of writing project may interest them

6. Jay Parini

7. Phoebe Jackson 2) Grading Assignments

8. Before You Grade Don’t take student knowledge of a field’s conventions for granted Explicitly teach academic conventions and how to evaluate sources Provide students with the tools to research well Teach students about the rhetorical contexts Consider having students assess their own writing before grading a draft, to identify the process of how they came to their arguments

9. Grading Assignments: 2 Approaches Grade meticulously Pros: Produces better writing Students become their own editors (eventually) Cons Students stress about grades Low-Stakes Writing (i.e. ungraded) Emphasizes that all texts evolve Encourages revision Encourages taking different POVS to engage the topic Kenneth Chastain and Jay Parini Phoebe Jackson

10. Works Consulted All images are from creativecommons.org Baines, Lawrence.“Teaching Like You Mean It.” Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture. 4.3 (2004): 461-468. Chastain, Kenneth. “Characteristics of Graded and Ungraded Compositions.” The Modern Language Journal, 74 (1990): 10-14. Council of Writing Program Administrators. “Defining and Avoiding Plagiarism: The WPA Statement on Best Practices.” http://wpacouncil.org/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf [29 Sept 2009] Dean, Amber. “Teaching Feminist Activism: Reflections on an Activism Assignment in Introductory Women’s Studies.” The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies. 29 (2007): 351–369. Friedman, Bonnie. “Strange Alchemy: Hearing Past the Professor.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 51.3 (2004). <http://chronicle.com/article/Strange-Alchemy-Hearing-Past/24928> [29 Sept 2009]

11. Works Consulted (continued) Giuliano, Cheryl Fallon. “The Writing Connection: Composing the Learner’s Classroom.” Pedagogy. 1.2 (2001): 387-398. Hanlon, Christopher.“History on the Cheap: Using the Online Archive to Make Historicists out of Undergrads.” Pedagogy. 5.1 (2005): 91-115. Harris, Jeanette and Christine Hult. “Using a Survey of Writing Assignments to Make Informed Curricular Decisions.” WPA: Writing Program Administration. 8.3 (1985): 7-14. Jackson, Phoebe. “Connecting Reading and Writing in the Literature Classroom.” Pedagogy. 5.1 (2005): 111-116. Maas, David F. “Using GF in the Goal Essay to Combat the IFD Disease.”ETC. October (2004): 331-340.

12. Works Consulted (continued) McGovern, Heather. “Training Teachers and Serving Students: Applying Usability Testing in Writing Programs.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication. 37.3 (2007): 323-346. Parini, Jay. “The Unbearable Importance of Grading.” Chronicle of Higher Education. 54.23 (2008). <http://chronicle.com/article/The-Unbearable-Importance-of/29278> [29 Sept 2009] Polin, Linda and Edward White. “Patterns of Composition Instruction”. WPA: Writing Program Administration. 8.3 (1985): 25-34. Turner, Haley C., and Stacy L. Bliss, Briana Hautau, Erin Carroll, Kathryn E. Jaspers, and Robert L. Williams. “Brief Daily Writing Activities and Performance on Major Multiple-Choice Exams.”JGE: The Journal of General Education. 55.3-4 (2006): 221-246. Wolfe, Joanna. “A Method for Teaching Invention in the Gateway Literature Class.” Pedagogy. 3.3 (2003): 399-425.

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