In-Class Exercises to Engage Students in Writing 2017 Celebration for Teaching and Learning Prof. JoAnne Sweeny Brandeis School of Law

Learning to Write Writing is an important skill that we should help our students improve because it is a skill, the only way to improve writing is through practice. In addition to out-of-class assignments, class time can also be used

Using Class Time Effectively Writing takes time – find a way to maximize time spent in class Be efficient with the structure of your assignments Don’t have students just write an essay in class – that takes too long There must be a reason you’re using class time instead of letting them do it at home – something you can add

Tips for Efficiency Make the assignments short Focus on one aspect of writing at a time Use groups where appropriate Maximize feedback in class

Keep Assignments Short Have students do part of the work at home and then work on them again in a specific way in class For new assignments, keep them to a few paragraphs, maximum

Focus on One Part of Writing An ideal piece of writing is too much to do in class Decide which common error you want to work on and make assignments that just fix that The rest of the writing should be good, with only the error you want the students to work on

Use groups Collaboration can be very helpful for in-class assignments Breaks up monotony Helps students build soft skills Particularly useful where a student needs to exercise judgment – where there are no clear cut answers Often multiple ways to write something Students can then justify their choices to the group, forcing them to articulate their reasoning

Maximize Feedback Usually hard to do individual feedback in class Group feedback can work Can also take written product and give individual feedback later Try to have multiple students contribute to the answer Also good to show real-time results – they can see their work

Examples These examples draw from legal writing I have tried to keep them general enough so that they can be used in other disciplines

Writing thorough arguments An ideal argument in legal writing has the parts – reference to the Rule, facts, and an argument that connects the two. Each sentence should have all three Students are given a paragraph that has incomplete arguments where the sentences are missing parts Students are asked to mark each sentence for each piece so they can see that parts are missing Or… they can see that they missed that and need to work on it

Editing for flow Legal Rules need to be presented in an organized way Typically, they go from general to specific Give the students a “mixed up” rule and have them fix it The individual sentences are fine, they’re just out of order A student then tells me the correct order (and why) and I fix it on the screen Other students can chime in if they disagree with the order

Proofreading Cutting words off an already written sample that is too long or wordy Students enjoy critiquing others’ work The hard part of writing is done so the assignment doesn’t take much class time Put the sample on the screen and have a student tell you how to cut it They can see the results as it’s happening If you think they’re cutting too much/little/the wrong things, you can pause and ask for others to chime in

Try it! The sample consists of legal rules from cases that the students will later use to analyze a new set of facts to see if there is an invasion of privacy cause of action Things to look for: Verbose sentences Repetitive descriptions of cases/use of citations Too much focus on what parties argued rather than what the court decided (which is what really matters for legal analysis) Too much space given to individual facts of cases that don’t help that much Also note: quoting language from the case itself is generally preferable to paraphrasing

Using Games to Learn Games have consistently been shown to increase external motivation to learn, which can translate into internal motivation. Students want to “win” the game so will try harder Learning becomes a happy bi-product Most games have context that students already understand Allows them to use existing knowledge to acquire new skills

Other benefits of games Allows you to break up the class and stop lecturing Fun games = positive energy from students Most games require teamwork, building collaboration skills Can reward winners with little prizes I also bring candy in on game day for all participants

Adage Trivia Game to teach students to use simpler prose to make themselves easier to understand Important even for legal writing Adages are particularly useful because students will (hopefully) recognize them when they get them right Again, tapping in to existing knowledge, something the students are already comfortable with

Adage Trivia Game Student split into groups Show a re-written adage on a PPT slide give 30 seconds for each team to rewrite it and give a point to each team that got it right Or have teams race up to the board to try to write it correctly first for points

Supremacy is derived from erudition Knowledge is power

Because I am able to conceive of things, I know that I exist. I think, therefore I am.

The fact that something sparkles does not mean that if can be classified as a precious metal. All that glitters is not gold.

Consumers should be cautious about what they consume. Buyer beware.

What’s the point? In-class exercises do more than talk about a skill, they cause students to perform and practice the skill Skills need practice – that’s really the only way to improve Exercises and games are an efficient way to give students practice with little outside work for students or faculty

Questions? Email me if you want samples of any of the exercises I’ve mentioned j.sweeny@louisville.edu