2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

Day Twelve Agenda 1.Scribe Report 2.Ticket out the Door Review 3.Teaching Demonstration Debrief (Amy P.) 4.Whole Group Debrief 5.Writing Time 6.Teaching Demonstration – Nayelee 7.“Five Lenses” Teaching Demo Debrief 8.LUNCH – Response Groups 9.Research / Writing Time 10.Ticket out the Door

2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

RESPONDING TO STUDENT WRITING: REVISITING MOTIVATION FOR REVISION Nayelee Villanueva Southern Nevada Writing Project 2011

Introduction At some point in the writing cycle, teachers will engage with student writing through response often as a means for assessment. Whether the assessment is informal or formal, questions regarding perception, motivation, and authorship come in to play both for the teacher and student. Typically, the main objective for providing response as a means of assessment is to foster revision in order to increase student writing levels. Therefore, the role that revision plays within this process is critical.

What this often looks like…

Modern day… How does this affect student revision?

Confused and angry, he stared at the red marks on his paper. He had awked again. And he had fragged. He always awked and fragged. On every theme, a couple of awks and a frag or two. And the inevitable puncs and sp's. The cw's didn't bother him anymore. He knew the teacher preferred words like courage and contemptible person to guts and fink. The teacher had dismissed guts and fink as slang, telling students never to use slang in their themes. But he liked to write guts and fink; they meant something to him. Besides, they were in the dictionary. So why couldn't he use them when they helped him say what he wanted to say? He rarely got to say what he wanted to say in an English class, and when he did, he always regretted it. But even that didn't bother him much. He really didn't care anymore.... Edward B. Jenkinson and Donald Seybold, "Prologue," Writing as a Process of Discovery, p. 3

Origin of a Dilemma Responding to student writing to promote the revision process is often a difficult task. No “one size fits all” approach to responding to student writing. Best efforts to provide effective feedback for students in order to promote revision often fall flat. Students are quick to feel the sense of hopelessness about writing, and their motivation for writing wanes with each writing assignment. Students often lose the sense of authorship and inevitably adopt what they perceive to be my agenda as the teacher.

Dilemma Questions When responding to student writing, how can I ensure students do not lose the sense of authorship? How can I get students to truly think about their writing and apply it to their revision process more authentically after I have provided written feedback? How can I involve the students more in the response process?

Reflecting on Response Practices Reflection Questions ElementaryMiddle SchoolHigh SchoolCollege What forms (written, oral, individualized, general, etc.) does your response typically take? What aspects of written work do you typically comment on? Why? At what stages in the 'life-cycle' of a writing assignment do you typically respond, e.g., drafts, final papers? How (and when and why) might you involve students in response? How do you assess whether the response was helpful for student revision?

Teacher AssumptionsStudent Assumptions Students understand linear marks Perceive teacher comments as the only areas needing improvement Students know how to make suggested changes when revising Writing for the teacher/professor Students understand the writing assignment Perceive writing as “right” and “wrong” Perceive low level writer’s errors as “careless” Believe they have no “say” in possible revisions based on feedback (authorship) There is a “common language” in responding to writing and students will “get it” Perceive writing as a “final product” when given grade/written response with no opportunity for revision Teacher response should focus on grammar, mechanics, and structure Revision is all about “fixing” grammar and mechanics errors. Students will review responses and therefore will improve student writing skills Perceive teacher comments as negative Teacher response should focus solely on problem areas Perceive the teacher as the judge of their writing ability

What the Research Says A study conducted by Sommers’ (1982) that examined teacher comments, illustrated that “teachers’ comments can take students’ attention away from their own purposes in writing a particular text and focus that attention on the teacher’s purpose in commenting” (p. 149). Lindemann (1995) argues that written response should provide a teaching opportunity. The whole purpose for responding to student writing is to get students to see their own strengths and weaknesses in a paper and make conscious, authentic decisions about revision.

Research Knoblauch and Brannon (1982) argue: …this correcting also tends to show students that the teacher's agenda is more important than their own, that what they wanted to say is less relevant than the teacher's impression of what they should have said...Once students perceive this shift of agenda, their motives for writing also shift: the task is now to match the writing to expectations that lie beyond their own sense of their intention and method. Therefore, far from controlling the responses of an intended reader, they are forced to concede the reader's authority and to make guesses about what they can and cannot say.

Types of Effective Responses - Facilitative - Directive For the most effective type of feedback, a combination of facilitative and directive responses are best when crafted carefully.

Types of Effective Responses Facilitative Facilitative remarks are often phrased as questions. They should be crafted so that they encourage students to consider ideas and their expression more fully. Facilitative remarks are often questions that address a specific weakness “ Why is the autobiographical element important to the argument that you're going to make?” Result Students more responsible for their writing/re-writing Questions encourage students to review teacher response in order to develop revision strategies on their own.

Types of Effective Responses Directive Provides more explicit feedback. Teachers identify specific areas in student writing that contain errors (should be provided with an explanation) “This sentence is hard to follow because of the vague pronoun reference. Does the "his" refer to main character or the reader? Can you rethink this sentence, dropping the "it is" and restructuring the sentence so that it reflects a proper emphasis?

How to respond to student writing while maintaining student authorship and motivation? Dialogue Addressing students motives for writing Involving students in the response process This leads us to our activity…

Activity 1. Fortune Cookie/ Writing Prompt 2. Template and something to write with! 3. Directions Sheet 4. Choose a partner 5. Writing Time 6. Response Time 7. Debrief Time

Discussion Questions How can this activity be adapted for all grade levels? How can this activity be used in various ways within the writing process? How can this activity be used across the different content areas? How can teachers use this activity in contexts with time constraints? Other questions to consider…

2011 Southern Nevada Writing Project Summer Institute

Ticket out the Door: 1.Whatcha been up to this afternoon? 2.Do you have any tech problems to work through tomorrow? (Think multigenre…) 3.What’s on your mind?