These short writing assignments are ungraded. The assignments can be used to provide time for students’ reflections on the topic. Assignments can be motivational. Use these quick assignments as a warm-up activity to start the class, or as a short response following a discussion.
Entry Slip: Before discussing a topic, have students write for 2 minutes about what they already know about the topic. Crystal Ball: Following a class discussion, ask students to write for 2-3 minutes about what might happen next. Found Poems: Have the students rearrange something they’ve already written, using the same words. Write a Letter: Have students write short letters to a real or imaginary person regarding course material. For example, in a science class, students might write asking questions of Marie Curie, asking her what her life was like as she worked on the process of discovering radium. Writing-to-Learn activities shouldn’t be graded, but can be discussed or voluntarily shared following the writing assignment. Incorporate these activities regularly throughout the students’ day.
Provide plenty of activities that help students know how to plan for their writing. Brainstorming, mind-mapping, outlining and other strategies can be done either as a group or individually. The first draft is expected to be an unfinished product, not perfect writing. Always have students write a first draft that is ungraded. Show students the first drafts of other writers. Internet searches show the first drafts of many famous pages, and can be a great way to demonstrate the imperfections of early writing.
Emphasize to students that the more developed their ideas become in the pre-writing activity, the more polished their final writing will be. Make the connection between clear thinking and skilled writing. For many students, being able to speak their ideas aloud may lead to increased ability to write their ideas on the page. Pre-writing is a good way to make sure students have vocabulary words regarding the topic. Incorporate lists as a pre-writing activity. For example, ask the students to write a list of pros and cons regarding the discussion topic prior to beginning to write.
One example of inquiry learning is to have students interview others, and document this interview in writing. Inquiry writing can be persuasive or informational.
Some writing programs allow for collaborative writing and editing online. Collaborative writing provides opportunities for students to learn to offer constructive feedback to each other, which improves their individual writing skills.
Vary the guidelines for different papers, to teach different methods of writing. Teach transition words, such as “for example,” or “in conclusion. "
Circle less effective words and ask students to replace with stronger words. If the student doesn’t know what stronger words are, offer suggestions. Most formal writing avoids the first-person. If the paper relies on the use of pronouns such as I, we, our, or my, suggest that the student revise in favor of a more objective voice. The objective voice is typically written in third person and uses pronouns such as his, her, or their.
If the reader doesn’t understand the writer’s conclusions, the writer hasn’t established a clear focus. If the reader is interested and understands the material, the topic’s focus is clear.
Avoid using overly academic jargon or unnecessarily formal language. Use a software program to help rid students’ writing of unnecessary language.
Avoid using too many short, choppy sentences. Overly-long, run-on sentences can also distract the reader’s attention. Sentence fluency encourages variety in the length of each sentence. Too much of any one length sentence will become dull. Too much variety becomes overwhelming.
Peer review will help students better understand that the purpose of the writing is to share knowledge of a topic. Having students read each others’ writing helps them to become better editors of their own writing. Teach students to highlight areas that they would change, and state why they would make these changes. Encourage their critiques to be positive, practical and purposeful. Have students identify components of their peers’ papers, such as topic (or thesis) sentence, transitional phrases, conclusion, etc.
Offer a written list of discipline-specific standards to help address writing challenges that may be unique to the subject matter. For example, someone who can write informational papers well may need further instruction in order to write persuasive papers. Share examples of both positive and negative papers to further students’ learning. Showing what not to do can be informative.
Grammatical conventions vary based on subject matter. Be specific and explicit in your expectations regarding the format in which your students are writing. Point out the use of grammatical conventions used in examples of writing you share with your students.
Writing assessments are not graded. They can be brief free-writes, or they can be short formal assignments. Consider the individual nature of each student, as well as the educational environment they may have come from, to better understand their pedagogical needs.
Some students may come from educational systems that value rote learning over critical thinking. Be prepared to accommodate different modalities of thinking and learning.
Check for understanding verbally or through an activity. Students have varied learning styles. Provide a visual context for writing by having your students draw a picture of what they’ll write about. Then, the student can refer to the picture as they write. When the student is allowed to share his knowledge of a topic verbally, he may be less anxious about the writing process.
Including student discussion regarding writing choices allows you to learn more about your students. Student discussions also encourage students to learn more about each others’ experiences in writing. For students who are social learners, creating social activities based on writing can help improve the students’ writing.
