1. Designing effective assignments
11/10/2018
Designing effective assignments
Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program
September 19, 2017
Alicia Andrzejewski and Emanuel Moss
11/10/2018

2. Workshop Outline Writing intensive certification Kinds of assignments
11/10/2018
Workshop Outline
Writing intensive certification
Kinds of assignments
Informal writing assignments
Reading assignments
Formal writing assignments
Scaffolding toward a final assignment
Misconceptions about writing assignments
Writing-to-learn philosophy
Summary
11/10/2018

3. Overview of WAC Certification Process
[Marianna]
Professors will receive a copy of Bean (2011)
This is a great resource that was written “for busy college professor from any academic discipline” (p. xvi)
As professors will soon realize, the intention of the Writing Across the Curriculum Writing Intensive Certification program is to improve students’ engagement with disciplinary subject matter through writing. Simply put, we see writing as a powerful tool for learning and thus encourage professors to implement quality writing assignments into the coursework.
Notice, our intention is not to improve student writing per se, although this is a natural result of writing intensive courses.
These are the workshops professors must attend…
Our writing fellows have years of teaching experience and all implement writing into their courses
They are current PhD scholars, and teach undergraduate courses at various CUNY campuses
They are available to work with you and help brainstorm ways to better implement writing into the classes you teach
Regular meetings with writing fellows occur in the Spring semester
Fall semester:
Selected readings about WAC pedagogy
Attend 3 WAC workshops
Designing Effective Assignments: 9/19, 1pm
Avoiding plagiarism: 10/18, 4pm (N-819)
Effective grading/minimal marking: 11/28, 4pm (N-403)
Meet your writing fellow

4. Overview of WAC Certification Process
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Overview of WAC Certification Process
Spring semester:
Attend two faculty workshops, Creative Classroom and Writing Intensive Syllabus
Meet regularly with your paired writing fellow
Develop & revise teaching materials following WAC principles
Syllabus: explains role of writing in your course
At least 1 scaffolded writing assignment: clear due dates
Present your experiences & materials at year-end colloquium
Beyond Spring:
Implement new syllabus/assignments
Certified instructors may be asked to contribute to future WAC activities / assessment
[Marianna]
Assessment of other courses
One of the immediate benefits of meeting with your writing fellow is that they can assist you in matching the semester’s writing assignments to the objectives and outcomes listed in your syllabus
Also, if you make use of final term papers regular meetings with your writing fellow will help you scaffold toward that by integrating informal writing assignments and creative classroom techniques into your course
By this time next year, you’ll be implementing your powerful new syllabi and your reputation as an amazing professor will begin to grow among the student body!
Any questions about the WAC Writing Intensive Certification process?

5. 11/10/2018
Focused Freewrite
In the course of your training, what kinds of assignments involved writing?
A few minutes to freewrite (5 minutes max) and share.
This discussion will allow everyone to see that there is diversity (of disciplines and kinds of writing) represented in the room.
Discussion will also serve as a lead-in to conversation about the distinction between formal and informal writing.
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6. Formal vs. Informal Writing Assignments
[go through fast—don’t discuss specific examples]
Formal examples – Final lab report, 15 page report, term paper, research paper
Informal writing assignments immerse students in complexity without being threatening
They change the way students approach course readings – by developing exploratory thought
Example Informal Writing Prompts
“What did you find most interesting about this chapter?”
“Relate concept X from today’s class to our previous lecture on Y/your personal experience.”
“What didn’t you understand about the reading? Write 3 questions about the reading that you would like to be answered.”
“Compose a question about this week’s reading to be discussed in class.”
Writing to Communicate
A polished piece of work that is representative of formal writing in the field
Assignment significantly impacts student grades
Informal Writing Assignments
Writing to Learn
Focus is not on grammar or organization
Low-stakes (not graded or minimal points)

7. Informal Writing Assignments
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Informal Writing Assignments
Exploratory writing
Some ideas for incorporating exploratory writing
In-class writing
Out-of-class writing
“Shaped exercises”
Review some highlights from Bean (2011) chapter 7
Share some of the “Twenty-Two Ideas for Incorporating Exploratory Writing into a Course” (p )
[Marianna,] examples for exploratory writing in a math course: Work in groups to define “success.”
Based on this definition of success, what kind of predictors can you find in your population?
Here’s a graph of a parabola. What does it mean for this graph to cross the x axis, and how do you find this crossing?
Examples:
Freewrite before a lab—what do you think will happen? Why?
Freewrite after a lab—what did happen?
-- write a one-question quiz before the beginning of class./ create a problem / create an equation—how would you test our understanding of material from the previous lecture
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8. Benefits of Informal Writing Assignments
Students more fully interact with course content.
Helps students make connections between new concepts and previous knowledge.
Encourages concentration and helps students to understand and retain key concepts and processes.
Gives students an opportunity to grapple with problems and tasks, to speculate about possible answers or solutions without risk
Helps instructors to assess student comprehension and progress.
Helps prevent plagiarism in high-stakes papers. (mention next workshop)
Interact with course readings and content
Connect new concepts with previous knowledge
Retain key concepts and process readings
Create opportunities to explore class concepts at low risk
Assess student comprehension
Prevent plagiarism

9. Examples of Informal Writing
Journal Entries
Guided Reading
Write at beginning / middle /end of class
Writing quiz questions
Freewrite before / after a lab
Define concepts being used in class (“success”, “accuracy”, “error”)
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10. Formal Writing Assignments
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Formal Writing Assignments
Meaning-constructing task
Problem-focused, not topic-focused
Define the purpose
Define the audience
Clear explanations of expectations
Purpose
Grading criteria
Written assignment prompt
Scaffolding
Hand out music class prompt exercise.
Look at the prompt and discuss with each other what you think is problematic, what could cause the students some problems.
Meaning-constructing task = gives them direction, requires critical thinking, on an intriguing problem that matters (Get students engaged, avoid data dumps, cut and paste)
Focused on a problem rather than a topic
Give them an problem or have them come up with their own, but if the latter, help guide them to a good problem (rather than simply a topic).
Define the purpose – is it informative? Analytical? Persuasive? Reflective? (See Bean p. 92 for a great example of ways you can tweak an assignment to target different thinking processes and
Audience – explain it to your mother? Persuade other scholars? (Helps them figure out style, evidence, alternative viewpoints they might need to counter)
Clear explanations = Might seem clear to you, but students might find it confusing. Make expectations clear, explain the purpose (in terms of course objectives), present grading criteria (e.g., a rubric), written assignment (don’t just explain it to them, make sure everything they need to know is written down for them to refer to while they’re working on it)
Large, formal assignments are often daunting. Sometimes students don’t know or have practice in all the rules of your discipline. By scaffolding you can help them figure out the pieces that need to come together and build up toward the final assignment to make it much easier to tackle.
Benefits:
help students see writing as an interactive exchange between writer and reader, and to see writing as a process of inquiry and discovery (combats “I can’t write a big research paper or lab report, I don’t know anything”). Links informal writing to formal writing.
Allows instructors to steadily assess student progress
Helps prevent plagiarism
Make explicit that everything above (except large formal assignments) can be scaffolding. Small formal writing, informal writing, reading writing.
Examples: brainstorm and critique thesis statements in small groups; do a lit review of a controversy in the discipline; write a prospectus for your final paper, drafts, peer review, rewrites
How to come up with ideas: Reverse-engineer – design last assignment first
e.g. – final research paper. Work backwards – 3 weeks before, exploratory essay about research/thinking process – or an annotated bibliography. 3 weeks before that, prospectus. Before that, make sure they start building skills for this – a mini research paper, say. Also do regular informal critical thinking to help generate ideas. DON”T GRADE ALL OF THIS!
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11. What is Scaffolding?
Systematically structuring smaller informal or semi-formal assignments that build towards a larger, formal assignment
Reverse-engineer your course

12. Example: College Writing
Paper I: Interpretation of a Personal Dream (5%)
Goal: to analyze a single primary source to support an arguable thesis.
Rough Draft: September 19th (bring two hard copies for peer review)
Final Draft: September 28th
 In this paper, you will select one of your own dreams (ideally one you’ve described in a blog post and gotten feedback on) and develop an interpretive argument using the techniques provided in class to answer the question: what is the dream’s psychic meaning? You must interpret it using Freudian or Jungian techniques and concepts, meaning your argument must be an attempt to reveal the latent content in the dream, and strive to “read” the dream closely, instead of coming to the most obvious conclusion.
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13. Skills to Demonstrate / Requirements
formatted using MLA guidelines: 3-5 pgs, 1 inch margins, Times New Roman (or similarly sized font), 12 pt. font, double-spaced, running header, etc.
a clear argument responding to the question: what is the dreams psychic meaning?
knowledge and use of Freud’s organization: Preliminary Statement, Description of the Dream, Analysis of the Dream (Method of Investigation)
use of Freudian and / or Jungian psychoanalysis to “dig deeper” and analyze the latent content of the dream versus the manifest content, cited in-text and in a Works Cited page using correct MLA format
use of the OED, cited in-text and in your Works Cited page using correct MLA format.
use of rhetorical devices (pathos, ethos, logos) to convince your audience
use of key terms and concepts (4-5)
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14. Scaffolding: informal assignments
blog post 1 due by 11:59PM: Describe a dream, from any time in your life that felt meaningful and resonant— one that you’d like to explore further. Reflect a little on why you think it stands out in your mind.
two comments due on blogs by 11:59PM, one that makes use of the OED to close-read a seemingly insignificant part of a described dream, illuminating the meaning.
reading quiz question: What does Freud mean when he states, “every dream is a fulfilment of a wish”? How does he explain nightmares or troubling dreams? What example does he give to demonstrate this? (hint: it involves a girl dreaming of her sister’s child.)
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15. Misconceptions About writing-Focused Learning
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Misconceptions About writing-Focused Learning
“Emphasizing writing in a course will take away from content”
“Writing assignments are unsuitable in non-English courses”
“Adding more writing to my course will bury me in paper grading”
“I am not knowledgeable enough about grammar to help students with their writing”
Conclude by noting that there are faculty in just about every department who have done this and would be happy to talk to you about how you do it in your discipline. You are not alone!
Emphasizing writing in a course will take away from content
Also mention that writing assignments are useful in a non-writing intensive class
Content delivered through assignments, rather than lectures
Writing aids students in learning content
Less is more
Focus on high-priority material & problem-solving
- Filling a bucket vs lighting a match – look up - both still need to happen, but you can mix it up.
- There is a difference between telling and teaching.
Shaping these assignments helps the teacher to prioritize material/learning outcomes
Writing assignments are unsuitable in non-English courses
- Especially in quantitative and technical courses, communication and writing are important skills to practice
- Writing helps students understand and apply quantitative and theoretical problems
“Adding more writing to my course will bury me in paper grading”
Informal writing doesn’t need to be graded
Encouraging student revision decreases final grading time and instructor frustration
- Efficiency in grading can lead to less grading time, yet more learning for students
- In November we’re providing a workshop to help you with this - Effective grading/minimal marking: 11/19, 1pm
- Remember, you don’t have to read or grade everything a student writes!
“I am not knowledgeable enough about grammar to help students with their writing”
Focus on thought & writing processes rather than grammatical details
If you’re not going to grade for grammar, you don’t need to teach grammar
In assessments and feedback, instructors can focus on ideas and clarity over grammar
Misconceptions About Assignment-Focused Learning (title)
- Respond honestly as a reader to student writing (e.g., I got lost in this part)
- You are teaching students to revise their work – grammar doesn’t play a large role in this
- You can use your own struggles with writing as a model
Source: Bean, “Engaging Ideas” p and p. 5
Writing to learn, learning to write
Writing assignments can decrease pressure for the professor (in reducing lecture time) – Inquiry based learning learning through curiosity and asking questions rather than being ‘filled’ with knowledge.

16. Writing-to-learn Writing promotes critical thinking
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Writing-to-learn
Writing promotes critical thinking
Students benefit when they do different kinds of writing
A well-designed writing assignment is the most intensive and demanding tool for eliciting sustained critical thought on a subject matter
Should treat writing assignments as useful tools to help students achieve course objectives
[make reference to updated WAC study]
To wrap up, we just want to underline the key idea that grounds the WAC way of thinking that we hope you take away, and that is that writing is an amazingly powerful tool for getting students to learn.
As teachers, we want to teach critical thinking, not just get students to passively absorb information and memorize facts.
We believe – and much research has shown - that writing is one of the best pedagogical instruments for cultivating students’ critical thinking abilities
Re-think what writing is: a process, not just a communication skill. Therefore writing assignments should be designed with course objectives and critical thinking objectives in mind, not just as a demonstration of student knowledge.
But student knowledge and their ability to demonstrate it will improve as a result.
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17. Summary Where designing effective assignments matters
11/10/2018
Summary
Where designing effective assignments matters
Informal writing assignments
Reading assignments
Formal writing assignments
Scaffolding toward a final assignment
Misconceptions about assignment-focused learning
Writing-to-learn philosophy
This workshop drew from Bean (2011)
Recommend especially chapters 1, 6, 7, and 8
11/10/2018

18. Upcoming Workshop Avoiding Plagiarism Tuesday, 10/17
Mention the other two workshops also and how these all continue what we’ve been working on here.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Tuesday, 10/17
4:00-5:15pm Location: N-819
The next workshop will focus on:
Understanding plagiarism
Strategies for preventing plagiarism
Responding to plagiarism