DOCUMENT RESUME ED 354 841DOCUMENT RESUME ED 354 841 HE 026 262 AUTHOR Masiello, Lea TITLE Write at the Start: A Guide to Using Writing in Freshman Seminars. The Freshman Year Experience:

DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 354 841 HE 026 262

AUTHOR Masiello, LeaTITLE Write at the Start: A Guide to Using Writing in

Freshman Seminars. The Freshman Year Experience:Monograph Series Number 9.

INSTITUTION South Carolina Univ., Columbia. Center for the Studyof the Freshman Year Experience.

PUB DATE 93NOTE 73p.; For other titles in this series, see ED 334

880-885, ED 343 519 and HE 026 260-263.AVAILABLE FROM National Resource Center for the Freshman Year

Experience, University of South Carolina, 1728College Street, Columbia, SC 29208 ($30).

PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom Use (055)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS *College Freshmen; Freshman Composition; Higher

Education; Learning Disabilities; Peer Teaching;Student Development; Study Skills; Tutoring;Undergraduate Study; Writing Across the Curriculum;*Writing Instruction; Writing Skills

IDENTIFIERS *Freshman Seminars

ABSTRACTThis monograph explores the ways in which first-year

college students can benefit from writing and offers concrete,practical suggestions for implementing writing in freshman seminarcourses. Chapter 1, "Why Use Writing in a Freshman Seminar?" buildson the notion that writing is a process of discovery. Chapter 2,"Write it More Than Once: The Benefits of a Process Approach,"identifies the stages of the writing process, and offers techniquesfor responding and grading with a focus on how to provide usefulfeedback and yet streamline work as an instructor. Chapter 3."Building Successful Peer Groups in Writing" provides ideas forplanning, organizing, and monitoring peer-group review of studentwriting. Chapter 4, "Writing and Study Skills Development" includesdescriptions of activities to be incorporated into study skillsinstruction. Chapter 5, "The Writing Process and Individual Needs ofFirst-Year Students" focuses on the value of conferences andindividualized assistance for students with learning disabilities.Chapter 6, "Diversity in Language and Writing" considers therelationship between variety in English and developing writingskills. The appendix offers practical suggestions for in-class andout-of-class writing assignments in various topic areas. Each chapteroffers references. (JB)

***********************************************************************

Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

***********************************************************************

Monograph SeriesNumber 9

The Freshman YearEXPERIENCE

WRITEa one

,TARTA

Guideto Using Writing

in Freshman Seminars

Lea Masiello

U DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONOthce of Educational Research and

improvement

EDUCATIONA L RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTE (ERIC)

This document has peen reproduced as

received from the person or organizat.on

origmehng it

o Miner changes nave beenmade to improve

reproduction Quality

Points of veyd or op,mons Slated in inisdocu.

man) do not necessary represent (Alicia,

OERi %Nihon or policy

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

University of South

Carolina

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)...

National Resource Center for The Freshman. Year ExperienceUniversity of South CarolinaDivision of Continuing Education1993

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

2

Monograph SeriesNumber 9

The Freshman YearEXPERIENCE

461

Wicri-7-7Efivat the

STARTA

Guideto Using Writing

in Freshman Seminars

Lea Masiello

National Resource Center for The Freshman Year ExperienceUniversity of South CarolinaDivision of Continuing Education1993

National Resource Center forThe Freshman Year Experience

DirectorJohn N. Gardner

Co-DirectorBetsy 0. Barefoot

Senior Managing EditorDorothy S. Fidler

Layout and DesignSusan M. Jennings

Additional copies of this monograph may be ordered at $30.00 each from:

The National Resource Center for The Freshman Year ExperienceUniversity of South Carolina

1728 College StreetColumbia, SC 29208

Telephone (803) 777 -6029

Copyright 1992 by the University of South Carolina. All rights reserved.No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form, by any means,

without written permission of the University of South Carolina.

The Freshman Year Experience and The First-Year Experience are trademarksof the University of South Carolina. A license may be granted upon written request to use these terms.

This license is not transferable without the written approval of the University of South Carolina.

4

Contents

Foreword

About the Author

Page

Introduction 1

Chapter One: Why Use Writing in a Freshman Seminar? 3

A New View of Writing 3Writing and Identity 4The Many Purposes of Writing 5Writing and Identity: Chickering's Vector System 9William Perry and Writing Instruction 11

Conclusion: Writing in Freshman Seminars 13References 13

Chapter Two: Write it More than Once: The Benefits of a Process Approach 15

The Ever Changing Writing Process 15Overview of the Writing Process 15Using the Process Approach in Student Writing Assignments 23Sample Student Writing 25Suggested Readings 26

Chapter Three: Building Successful Peer Groups in Writing 27

Peer Review Has Multiple Benefits 27Objectives for Peer Review Workshops 28Structuring and Monitoring Small Groups 29The Peer Review Process, Step by Step 30Your Role During Workshops 33Conclusion 34References and Suggested Readings 34

Chapter Four: Writing and Study Skills Development 37

Journal Writing: A Place to Begin Observing and Planning 37Journal Writing: Informal, Yet Structured 37Journal Assignments 38The Many Uses of Journal Writing 39Exploring Study Environments 41Textbook Reading and the Response Journal 43Lecture Note-Taking and the Response Journal 44Using Reader's Logs and Journals to Prepare for Essay Exams 45Conclusion 45Reference 45

Contents (continued)

Chapter Five: Writing and the Individual Needs of First-Year Students 47

4748494950505051

525353

Chapter Six: Diversity in Language and Writing 55

55555556575959606061

61

636363

Appendix: Additional Ideas for Writing Topics and Assignments 65

Writing Activities 65

Ten Tips for Creating Your Own Topics

Guidelines for Writing ConferencesUsing a Campus Writing CenterStudents with Learning DisabilitiesDefining Learning DisabilitiesLegal Definitions and Student RightsDiagnosis: Identifiable CharacteristicsCommon Characteristics of College Students with Learning DisabilitiesFirst-Year Students with Learning DisabilitiesDirective Assistance for First-Year Students with Learning DisabilitiesConclusionReferences and Suggested Readings

What Do We Mean by Diversity in Language?Slang and DialectThe Speaking/Writing RelationshipReinforce Conversation as a Technique for Gathering IdeasGroup Activities for Discussing Language VarietiesDialect and Written ErrorsProofreading Strategies You Can TeachProofreading TechniquesInternational StudentsTips for Working with International StudentsStudents with Limited English ProficiencyTips for Working with LEP WritersConclusionReferences and Suggested Readings

ForewordJohn N. Gardner

It is with great pleasure that I introduce Write at the Start, the ninth monograph in a growingseries from our National Resource Center. This monograph is devoted to the challenge of in-tegrating more writing into freshman seminars and other discipline-based first-year courses.

I believe that one q ;le most persistent structural problems of the first college year is thewoeful lack of attention paid to writing. This absence of any consistent, serious focus onwriting throughout the first-year curriculum is a problem which, in my opinion, must be ad-dressed not only in freshman composition but also in other first-year courses, especially thefreshman seminar. Although many would agree that writing is an essential academic skillfor first-year students, freshman seminar instructors sometimes fund it difficult to integratemeaningful writing assignments into the wide variety of activities that comprise most semi-nars.

At the University of South Carolina, a significant challenge in designing an effective Univer-sity 101 instructor training workshop has been "how to teach the teaching of writing to thosewho do not ordinarily teach writing." Another challenge has been how to increase the com-fort level of non-English department faculty and staff with assigning and evaluating writing.This monograph has been written to address these challenges. It suggests a variety ofstraightforward, easily adaptable ways to help first-year students at all levels of academicability enhance their writing skills. It also includes ideas for writing assignments in supportof other seminar goals including the development of study skills and time management.

We are indebted to Lea Masiello who, as her biography indicates, has the requisite back-ground, talents, and, of course, interest in first-year students to take on this project. With Lea,we offer this monograph for educators who believe, as I tell my students, that "writing is forlife, not just for English 101." We welcome your feedback and wish you the best in your ef-forts to help first-year men and women enhance their writing skills.

About the Author

Lea Masiello co-directs the Writing Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She holdsa Ph.D. in English from the University of Cincinnati. Before coming to Indiana University ofPennsylvania, she taught at Northeastern University and Babson College.

Masiello has authored a number of books and articles including Writing in Action: A Collabo-rative Rhetoric published by Macmillan. Her special interest is designing writing courses fornon-traditional students such as special admissions and adult students and those with learn-ing and/or physical disabilities. She supervises peer and graduate student tutors in the Writ-ing Center and has designed writing workshops for faculty and tutorial staff at Indiana Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and other colleges and universities.

Introduction

Write at the Start explores theways in which first -year collegestudents can benefit from writingand offers concrete, practical sug-gestions for implementing writ-ing in freshman seminar courses.Although introductory writingdasses are universal require-ments during the first collegeyear, the emphasis in thesecourses is primarily on fosteringimprovement in writing abilities.

In contrast, most freshman semi-nar courses emphasize social andpersonal development, explora-tions in new environments withdiverse populations, and re-sponses to intellectual challenges.

This book is intended to help in-structors of such courses designeffective writing projects that tieinto course content and purposeat the same time that they helpstudents improve their writingskills.

Personal Expression in theFirst Year of College:

Opportunities for Growth

Introductory writing classes arealmost universal requirementsduring the first year of college;many such courses emphasizepersonal expression and exposi-tion in the curriculum. Becauseof this emphasis on personal ex-perience, Freshman Year Experi-ence Programs can easily tap intothe writing process.

Although current writing pedagogyaffirms the value of providing as-signments about personal experi-ences in the beginning writing cur-riculum, such an approach still pre-sents unique challenges. Becausetopics of a highly personal and re-flective nature ask students to takerisks in self-revelation, the writingprocess associated with the tasksmust incorporate additional sup-port activities that are designed spe-cifically to develop trust in otherreaders, in instructors, and to fosterconfidence-building in the writer.In-class workshops, collaborativetasks, and individual conferencesare all strategies that help studentsgain trust in their composing envi-ronment. By partaking in peer con-ferences, collaboration, revision,and by taking risks without fear,students can experience personalempowerment.

Chapter One, "Why Use Writing ina Freshman Seminar?" builds onthe notion that writing is a processof discovery. Al ''.idents engage ina writing process. _lot involves on-going discovery, review, and reflec-tion, they can monitor their discov-eries and solidify their learningthrough clear expression in writing.

Chapter Two, "Write it More thanOnce: The Benefits of a Process Ap-proach," identifies the stages of thewriting process: prewriting andbrainstorming, drafting, reviewing,revising, proofreading, and editing.Techniques for re- ...Kling andgrading are included in this chap-ter, with a focus on how to provide

1

CU

useful feedback and yet streamlineyour work as an instructor.

Chapter Three, "Building SuccessfulPeer Groups in Writing," providesideas for planning, organizing, andmonitoring peer-group review ofstudent writing. This chapter fo-cuses on activities that integrate thespeaking, reading, and writing pro-cesses during peer-editing or reviewworkshops.

Chapter Four, "Writing and StudySkills Development," includes de-scriptions of writing activities ingoal-setting, creating internal moti-vation, time-management, text read-ing, note-taking, exam preparation,taking essay exams, and self-assess-ment. These activities can be incor-porated into study skills instruction.

Chapter Five, "The Writing Processand Individual Needs of First -YearStudents," focuses on the value ofconferences and especially the im-portance of individualized assistancefor students with learning disabili-ties. In this chapter, instructors willfind ideas for having effective con-versations about writing and helpingstudents with learning disabilities, aswell as those students with visual orhearing impairments or physical re-strictions.

Chapter Six, 'Diversity in Languageand Writing," considers the relation-ship between variety in English anddeveloping writing skills. In addi-tion to exploring the effect of re-gional dialects and slang on develop-ing writing skills, there are ideas for

assz:ting writers for whom Englishmay be a second language. Thesestudents may be either interna-tional students or they may beAmerican citizens for whom En-glish never became the dominantlanguage in speech, reading, orwriting. Both groups of studentsneed some unique assistance ingaining English writing skills andsensitivity to the ways in which lan-

guage use reflects and affects ethnicidentities.

The Appendix offers practical sug-gestions for in-class and out-of-classwriting assignments in a variety oftopic areas.

Just as we have begun paying moreattention to the ways in which wecreate links between learning and

2

S

writing, we also need to articulatemore clearly connections betweenthe writing process and FreshmanYear Experience programs. Theideas and suggestions in this bookare designed to help administrators,instructors, and paraprofessionalsidentify ways to make the first yearof college a more satisfying and re-warding experience for all those par-ticipating in a learning endeavor.

Chapter 1Why Use Writing in a Freshman Seminar?

Writing is many things, with manypurposes, with many audiences, withmany values and consequences.Also, each person is a unique writer,and each time we write, we create anew self through the process that it-self is ever-changing. If you wish tohelp students grow through the useof writing, you will need to addresstheir perceptions of the writing pro-cess, purposes for writing, and "senseof self' associated with writing tasksin the classroom. In this chapter, wewill look at how the way we teachwriting can promote the develop-ment of the self and the developmentof writing abilities or skills. Althoughit may seem like a huge job to accom-modate this perspective, the gains areimmeasurable. As Robert Brooke(1991) states in his book, Writing andSense of Self, "Classroom practiceswhich promote an understanding ofself as writer are likely to 'teach' writ-ing more effectively than practiceswhich focus only on expanding writ-ing processes or on internalizing for-mal rules" (p. 5). The goal of thismonograph is to help you discoverways to use writing in a freshmanseminar course that make connec-tions among intellectual, personal,and social arenas.

You may be wondering if you reallywant to make writing an integral partof your course. Visions of more as-signments to create and explain,more badly written essays to read,and more sentences to correct mayfloat before you. Although it is truethat making your course "writing in-tensive" will have consequences forthe structure of your course and your

own workload, creating assign-ments and responding to studentwriting are not tasks that have to beodious and overwhelming. Thismonograph suggests ways to makethese teaching responsibilities moremanageable. For example, in yourdedication to your profession, youmay never have considered the ap-proach of not reading and mark-ing everything your students write.There are a number of ways tostreamline responding to studentwriting with strategies that increasethe effectiveness of your response.When we keep in mind that studieshave clearly shown that studentsdo not benefit from copious com-ments on their writing, we knowthat there has to be another way togive helpful feedback

A consistent approach to instruc-tion, composing, and respondingshould help you and your studentsfind rewards in becoming writers.In her book, Helping Students WriteWell, Barbara Walvoord (1986) ex-plains,

First, writing is the yeast of thelearning process, not merely the frost-ing. To integrate writing as a signifi-cant element in your course is 20 enrichstudents' learning, and the thoughtfulteacher can increase the yield by carefulattention to the types of writing stu-dents do, the purposes writing fulfills,and the way assignments are explainedto students. (p. 240)

Above all, writing is a tool for ac-tive learning, and it is a very flex-ible tool that can enable you to nur-

0

ture students' growth whilehelping them learn to become in-dependent, active learners. Onceyou determine what kind oflearning you hope to nurture,you can proceed to integratewriting activities to further thatnurturing process.

A New View of Writing

First, let's look at the writing pro-cess very broadly and gathersome ideas about the benefits ofusing writing in a non-Englishcourse. One way to begin seeingwriting anew is to explore themultifold purposes and values ofwriting and to discover ways tointegrate creative, informal, orimaginative writing into aca-demic writing. Another way tobegin changing your views of us-ing writing is to understand thewriting process as recursive andcyclical, requiring writers to re-view, rewrite, and re-invent con-tinuously. As an instructor,therefore, your role will change;you can begin to perceive yourrole as an instructor of writing,not as just the "expert" who at-tacks a piece of student writingwith a red pen, but as a coachand collaborator who is involvedin your students' writing pro-cesses from the beginning to theend.

11e Teacher as Coach

Imagine yourself for a momentas a coach of a basketball team.

"Writing is whatmakes someonebecome a better

writer--writing ina non-threateningenvironment, with

support andencouragement to

help developconfidence and

control in usingwritten language

clearly andpurposefully."

Where are you and where are theplayers? Are you on the side-lineswatching, encouraging,commenting, advisingwhile theyare busy on the court? Occasion-ally, there are time-outs when youget together with the players andconfer briefly about what has beengoing on, and then you create astrategy for the next few minutes.

During the conference, you mightpoint out the best plays and thosethat weren't successful in gettingthe ball down the court. Afterspeaking together briefly, the play-ers return to the court with newmotivation for the game.

Coaching writing can be very simi-lar to this scenario: while your"players"the students writingare "on the court"in the middleof the composing processyou'rewatching, observing their actions,hesitations, and energy. Occasion-ally, you interrupt to give feedback,asking simple questions such as,"How are you doing? Do you haveany questions so far?"

You might read a paragraph or twoand give your response and thensend the students back into thethick of their composing. They re-turn to their writing encouragedthat they are on the right track, and,with your suggestions, they renewtheir motivation and commitmentto their topics. Becoming a writingcoach means that you get involvedin your students' composing pro-cesses. To coach effectively, you'llhave to devote some class time towriting or visiting your writingcenter with your students.

Later in this monograph, we'll lookat ways to turn your class into a"writing workshop" so that youcan be an active coach while yourstudents are working.

4

Writing and Identity

When students write in a college set-ting, they are responding to the so-cial situation of the classroom, andthey must simultaneously be work-ing on their identities, creating a pic-ture of themselves that helps themdetermine how they can becomewriters in a college community(Brooke, 1991). When we recognizethat writing necessarily entails thiskind of work on oneself, we can bet-ter understand the difficult learningprocess students are experiencing.Developing one's abilities as a writeris not just a matter of gaining skills.Learning to master sentence struc-ture and to identify subjects andverbs will not make someone awriter. Writing is what makes some-one become a better writerwritingin a non-threatening environment,with support and encouragement tohelp develop confidence and controlin using written language clearly andpurposefully.

Writing and Identity for theFirst-Year Student

Writing and identity are related andintertwined in complex ways, espe-cially for first-year students. All ofus teaching in higher education wereonce first-year students, and we needto recall that early experience to re-capture how writing fit into ouridentities at that point in our lives.Probably you remember an introduc-tory course in writing or literature,and you remember writing many es-says, getting some feedback, andstruggling to keep up with the re-quirements. There was a lot of work,and it probably wasn't always easy,but was it ever exciting or reward-ing? Did it seem to have a real placein your life that was meaningful?When did you feel you were in con-trol of what you wrote about andhow?

2

As an instructor in a freshman semi-nar program, you have the opportu-nity to help students find a meaning-ful role for writing on their own andto create meaningful tasks with pur-poses beyond fulfilling a require-ment. After interviewing first-yearstudents, Brooke (1991) feels thatmost are "not necessarily motivatedto learn writing in itself and for itsc If.... Most college students are pri-marily concerned with what theirperformance in these college classesimplies about them as college stu-dents" (p. 5). Instead, he suggests,"For first-year students, what moti-vates writing, what makes it signifi-cant, is its potential for finding or cre-ating a social place, a role for the self,a relationship to social groups the in-dividual considers important" (p. 8).Brooke's perspective is both disturb-ing and exciting for teachers: we real-ize that what we thought matteredabout writing doesn't equate to whatthe student values; but we can beginto grapple with ways to make writingassignments meaningful to students.Primarily, we need to find strategiesto integrate their important concernsinto assignment topics and ways tointegrate group writing activities intotheir social arenas.

The Many Purposes of Writing

One of the first and hardest obstaclesto overcome as a teacher of writing isyour students' conviction that writ-ing has no meaning beyond fulfillingan assignment. Often students inter-pret their writing tasks as merely re-porting on information gatheredfrom lectures and books. This beliefseverely limits the ways in whichwriting can be intertwined with per-sonal, social, and intellectual devel-opment because it eliminates the op-portunity for the expression of feel-ings and analysis of ideas and obser-vations. Freshman seminar courses

that incorporate observational andanalytical activities need to takeinto account the restricted view ofwriting that students may have andintroduce writing activities thathelp broaden their attitud2s andperceptions of writing. The viewsof writing listed below offer someways to change students' percep-tions of writing, to encourage themas developing writers and learners,and to emphasize the positive as-pects of writing while affinrdngtheir previously productive experi-ences with writing.

Writing is Discovering New Ideas

The writing process is a discoveryprocess, one that is inherently tiedto change and learning. The writ-ing process includes a focus on re-viewing, reflecting, and revisinglanguage, so that as students en-gage in ongoing discovery, review,and reflection, they can monitortheir discoveries and solidify theirlearning through clear expressionin writing. Students may presentyou with numerous reasons whythey can't write or think becausethey don't value their own experi-ences or ideas or observations.Their "writer's block" may stemfrom a lack of confidence or previ-ous success, but even more likelyfrom a fear of not having anything"important" to say. The instructor'sjob as a coach is to encourage writ-ers simply to begin, to trust theirexpression and experiencesandto realize that beginnings (earlydrafts) are meant to be hackedapart (by the writer), rewritten, re-thought, and yes, even thrown out.Because students have never real-ized that they do indeed havesomething unique to say in writing,it is often helpful just to explain,"You have something new and differ-ent to express about being alive. Al-though you and your reader have a lot

5

2

"One of thefirst and hardestobstacles toovercome as ateacher of writingis your students'conviction thatwriting has nomeaning beyondfulfilling anassignment."

"Helping studentsrecover their ownvoices is the most

beneficial thingyou can do for your

students in termsof developing their

writing abilitiesand their

identities."

in common as human beings, you arealso very different l'. cause your experi-ences and ideas are different. Your jobas a writer is to explain ihose differ-ences and draw upon what you have incommon."

Writing is Expressive

Students often separate "school"from "creative" writing when, infact, all writing is creative. Thisconviction that all writing is creativewriting is not as dangerous as itsounds; students will not, uponhearing that we encourage creativ-ity, submit wild personal narrativesor poetry instead of required es-says. Their hesitance to use theirown voices is so embedded in theirvvriting behavior that you will haveto encourage students repeatedly to"write naturally." And allowingoneself to be creative is the key tousing one's own voice.

Telling students, "Sure, be creativewhen you write this," gives them thefreedom to use their own voices asthey write, to be honest and direct.When students believe that you re-ally do want them to write honestlyand directly out of their own expe-riences, it often seems that a miraclehas occurred in overall clarity andexpression in their writing. Manyerrors disappear because writersare more relaxed and confident asthey write. It is easy to teach writ-ers to proofread for remaining er-rors that may be the result of writ-ing too much like they speakHelping students recover their ownvoices is the most .ieneficial thingyou can do for your students interms of developing their writingabilities and their identities.

Writing Builds Self-Confidence

Because writing is so personal, wealways take a risk when we write.

6

We are expressing our ideas in ourown language. In a sense, we arewhat we say, and when we expressourselves in language, we are reveal-ing aspects of our identity and, thus,opening ourselves up to others.Writing in a controlled process canhelp people develop self-confidenceas communicators when they havepositive and successful experiences.Briefly, two pedagogical techniquesare crucial for creating a confidence-building environment: "&-able" as-signments and peer review. Peerreading and review through smallgroep writing workshops and ex-changes between partners help stu-dents recognize that their writing"worked," and assignments that aredearly and explicitly made but arenot complex help students perceivethat they can meet requirements suc-cessfully.

Peer Review Builds Confidence andSuccess. When students exchangewriting and read each other'swork, a great deal happens, all ofwhich contributes to the develop-ment of their communication skills:they learn what others are thinkingand experiencing, they develop criti-cal reading skills when given specificpurposes for reading, they learn totalk with each other about writing,they learn to enjoy the social aspectof writing, and they learn that theirwriting "worked"that they did in-deed communicate with another per-son through their writing. Althoughin the first few sessions it may ap-pear that students are not learning

ach about improving their writing.rough peer review, it's important

CO realize that the skills necessary foreffective peer review build cumula-tively, and the act of conversing andexchanging writing has tremendousbenefits in itself. Peer-review skillsbuild cumulatively throughout acourse. Peer response is not thesame as instructor response: it has

different purposes and functions dif-ferently. Peers will never be "expert"readers, but they will become effec-tive respondents. Peer review work-shops do not have to be complex ortime-consuming either; fifteen-minute sessions that are allocated toreading and briefly responding toeach other's writing can be just as ef-fective as thirty-minute sessions thatmay involve more complicatedanalysis.

Effective Assignments: Guide, NotPrescribe. A positive experiencewith tackling a writing task, seeingan assignment through to the endsuccessfully and receiving positivefeedback on a piece of writing cancontribute tremendously to thedevelopment of self-confidence.For assignments to be effective,they must tap into familiar abilitiesand challenge students in new butaccessible ways. Instructionaldesigns must incorporate guide-lines that take students through theentire task but do not dictate ex-actly how the task is to be com-pleted. The writing "coach" has togive directions that allow writersroom to make their own choices sothat the writing remains their ownand not the teacher's. Writers willneed uncomplicated but clear direc-tions, frequent feedback on early andmiddle drafts, opportunities to revise,and final comments that identifystrengths as well as weaknesses.

Providing useful directions al an as-signment and offering substantial re-sponses during the early and middledrafting stages is different from giv-ing students a highly prescribed for-mat for style, expression, and organi-zation. As an instructor, you have tokeep helpful directions and feedbackfrom intruding into the student'sownership of the writing. When youstart telling a student to "write it likethis" and offering words and phrases,

the writing becomes yours and notthe student's. Instead, providingresponses based on your own read-ing experience will help the studentto discover his or her own better ex-pression. A comment like, "I gotlost in this paragraph. How do youthink you might provide your readerwith a stronger focus?" gives thewriter the responsibility and satis-faction of independently revising.Similarly, when providing guide-lines for organization, asking stu-dents to consider the purpose ofeach paragraph as they compose,rather than dictating; "In the firstparagraph, write your thesis in the sec-ond sentence," ensures that the writ-ers are in charge of choosing andcreating patterns for their workWhen students cannot choose orcreate, the "requirement" compo-nent of the writing task dominatestheir experience and eliminates thepossibility that the writing can bemeaningful. In the second chapter,we will look more closely at how todesign effective assignments.

Writing is Transactional

Something happens when wewrite, and in many college-levelwriting assignments, students per-ceive the transference of objectiveinformation between writer andreader to be the most dominantpurpose. It is important for stu-dents to learn to identify importantinformation and to learn to assesswhy one set of facts is more signifi-cant than another set, for example.And they need to be able to recordaccurately their observations andunderstandings and restate such in-fo -ration accurately and clearly.Most college instructors, however,expect students to do more thanjust report: because we associatewriting with discovering knowl-edge, gaining insights, and learningin general, we expect to see

71 c;

"When you starttelling a student to'write it like this'and offering wordsand phrases, thewriting becomesyours and not thestudent's. Instead,providing re-sponses based onyour own readingexperience willhelp the student todiscover his or herown betterexpression."

"First-yearstudents will need

specific guidance inlearning to develop

analytical andcritical thinking

skills. Then, theywill need specificactivities to help

them learn toexpress analysis in

writing."

opinions, analysis, and critical per-spectives in student writing. First-year students may be very sur-prised that you want to see their re-actions, responses, and criticalopinions in their writing, and evenwhen they do accept this new pur-pose for writing, they may not havethe styles or vocabulary necessaryto express themselves analytically.First-year students will need spe-cific guidance in learning to de-velop analytical and critical think-ing skills. Then, they will need spe-cific activities to help them learn toexpress analysis in writing.

AnalysisBeyond Reporting. Trans-actional writing can constitute animportant part of writing projectsin a freshman seminar course, butinstructors need to identify distinc-tions for students between writingthat reports or records and writingthat analyzes or reacts. For ex-ample, an instructor might give theassignment, "Write a report on an in-terview of someone in the health centerabout our AIDS program," and bedisappointed when the studentsmerely report on the interview oreven just provide a transcription ofthe interview, without offering anycritical or analytical response to theinterview or to the information un-covered through their conversa-tions with a health professional. Toreceive analysis, an instructor mustovertly ask for it by stating, "Evalu-ate our program. Explain what seemsto you to be good about it and whatisn't good. Make recommendations forimproving it." Even asking specifi-cally for evaluation is not enough,however, because students are notexperienced in expressing theiropinions. Instructors will have toprovide model statements thatshow analysis and explain howspecific words and phrases intro-duce evaluative statements. Some-times, students can easily be set on

8

the right path by being told, "It'salright to use 'I' when you write. I wantto know your opinion. Start a sentencewith 'I think' and finish it."

Instructors must overtly teach analy-sis and the expression of opinion,modeling this process and thesekinds of statements for students andgiving them opportunities to practiceanalysis and "opinionated" writingin a risk-free situation. When stu-dents do have an opportunity to de-velop critical and analytical skills inwriting, they learn that the "transac-tional" component of writing is morethan just reporting facts and obser "ations, but commenting on them.

Writing is Soda(

The image of a person writing alone,suffering, struggling, tearing upsheet after sheet of early drafts per-meates our culture. Popular moviessuch as Throw Mama From the Trainshow writers in such lonely, frus-trated, miserable states, unable tocompose. Recently, Karen BurkeLeFevre (1987) pointed out that thisview of the 14--,spired" writer whoworks alone has its origins in Pla-tonic philosophy and is now con-nected to the prevalent, traditional,and perhaps male approach that con-siders the writer as isolated. Shedraws upon Carol Gilligan's work toshow how this approach may bevery masculine, whereby moral deci-sions are made based on abstractprinciples rather than by the femaleapproach of making moral decisionsbased on the ways people are con-nected to each other and the conse-quences of actions on their relation-ships. LeFevre suggests that it is"masculine" for a writer to feel he orshe must "tough it out" alone ratherthan collaborate or seek help.

Let's Make Writing Unromantic. Thisoverly romantic, idealized, and

perhaps male perspective-on thecomposing process influences theway beginning college students viewwriting and their abilities to be suc-cessful. They expect that they have towrite alone and suffer. Instead, writ-ing is really a very social act, one thatdoes not occur in isolation, but ratheralways with a real or imagined audi-ence responding to writing, and oftenin collaboration with others duringall stages of the composing process.

It is not easy for beginning collegestudents to learn to work togetherand enjoy this social aspect of writ-ing. Le Fevre (1987) reminds us that'People may be so inexperienced atinventing together that they cannotstop competing long enough to real-ize the benefits of collaboration" (p.26). Although teaching collaborationmay be time-consuming for instruc-tors, it fits in with goals of creating in-dependent, self-reliant learners whoalso know how to work well withtheir peers. And it frees the instruc-tor from the burden of trying to pro-vide all response to individual stu-dent work single-handedly. In Chap-ter Three, we will consider more thor-oughly the use of peer groups.

Writing and Identity:Chickering's Vector System

We simply cannot talk about writingwithout talking about self-confidenceand self-esteem; learning to writewell is not just a matter of learningcertain "skills," such as clear sentenceconstruction, accurate punctuationand grammar, or using topic sen-tences. More likely, learning to writewell means overcoming some degreeof wnter's block, developing ideas,expressing one's feelings, and persist-ing with a challenging task until it'sfinished. These kinds of featuresabout the writing process can be nur-tured through effective teaching, and

it's useful to understand and de-velop a sensitivity to how they in-tersect with personal development.The development of writing abili-ties has clear parallels with ArthurChickering's (1978) model of stu-dent development. Chickering':.model helps us see how the com-posing process fosters growth.

Chickering's Model

Chickering maintains that there areseven primary tasks or "vectors" ofstudent development. These are

1. Achieving Competence2. Managing Emotions3. Becoming Autonomous4. Establishing Identity5. Freeing Interpersonal Relation-

ships6. Clarifying Purposes7. Developing Integrity

These vectors operate simulta-neously but carry varying weightand importance at different pointsin a person's life. Movementthrough the vectors is by no meanslinear; but, like the writing process,it is multi-directional and cyclical,with progress and regression de-pendent upon circumstances, theenvironment, the individual's char-acteristics, and his/her developingself-esteem and self-concept.

Growth in the first vector, "Achiev-ing Competence," refers to aperson's efforts in identifying, vali-dating, and clarifying his or bsense of intellectual, physical, andinterpersonal competence. Peoplecome to writing tasks concernedabout their competence as writers.We might consider in light of thisvector, these questions:

--How do students personally de-fine their own "competence" inwriting?

96

"Althoughteaching collabor-ation may betime-consumingfor instructors, itfits in with goalsof creating inde-pendent, self-reliant learnerswho also knowhow to work wellwith their peers."

"As a pivotal pointfor all the vectors,

establishingidentity draws

upon all thevectors, and yetthere are certain

questions specificto establishing

identity."

What previous experiences haveshaped their sense of competence?

--How do students' definitions ofcompetence in writing affect theirability to finish a writing task?

Growth in the second vector,"Managing Emotions," refers to theindividual's ability to act appropri-ately and to acknowledge personalemotions as well as the emotions ofothers. Included in this vector areincreased awareness and trust ofone's own emotions and an accep-tance that emotions vary widely.Self-confidence plays an importantrole in this process. Talking aboutone's writing requires self-confi-dence and self-esteem and the abil-ity to hear and integrate criticism.This vector prompts these ques-tions about student writing:

How do writers' levels of self-confidence affect their abilities todiscuss their writing?

--What kinds of emotional re-sponses are likely to occur during aconference or peer-review session?

Growth in the third vector, "Be-coming Autonomous," relates tostudents' efforts to become inde-pendent and to free themselvesfrom the need for continual ap-proval and acceptance. Studentsneed to achieve a balance betweenwriting independently and col-laboratively, between writing foroneself and writing for approval ora grade. This vector leads to thisquestion:

How can a person's level of inde-pendence affect his or her writingprocess?

Growth in the fourth vector, "Es-tablishing Identity," is measured bythe ways in which individuals dis-

10 17

cover essential features about them-selves. As a pivotal point for all thevectors, establishing identity drawsupon all the vectors, and yet thereare certain questions specific to es-tablishing identity.

Confrontations related to identity arean inescapable part of the writingprocess. No matter what the assign-ment, writing is personal because aswe write, we express our ideas andfeelings, showing part of ourselves tothe world. This is one of the mostchallenging aspects of writing in col-lege since the college environmentwill create confusions about identitywhich surface quickly in writingstyles, content, and especially in thevoices students adopt as they write.

To help students negotiate a path be-tween writing and identity, it is use-ful to address this relationship di-rectly by assigning freewriting topicsthat explore the general "writingidentity" students bring to college.For example, exploring the followingquestions will help students see 'howwriting has contributed and will con-tinue to contribute to their identities:

--What is my "writing history"?

--What kinds of writing have I donethat have been meaningful to me?

--What do I like about writing?

What is hard for me about thewriting process?

--What kinds of writing topics aremost satisfactory for me?

What does my writing style revealabout my identity?

--Do I use any particular expressionsthat are unique to my family or mycommunity?

--Is my association with a geographi-cal region revealed in my speech orwriting?

--How can writing successfully en-hance my identity as a student and asa communicator?

Growth in the fifth vector, "FreeingInterpersonal Relationships," relatesto students' understanding of and ap-preciation for other individuals andtheir differences. As people becomeless anxious and defensive abouttheir relationships, they assume morefriendly and spontaneous ap-proaches. Students also becomemore tolerant through an increasedcapacity to look beyond stereotypes.Student writers must develop anawareness of their readers as an audi-ence for their ideas. Writers need toconsider the needs of their readers asthey compose and revise. In this task,these questions are relevant:

--How can students' views of inter-personal relationships affect theirstance toward their readers?

--How might stereotypes influence awriter's choices in voice or tone?

Growth in the sixth vector, "Clarify-ing Purposes," relates to students'understandings of their personal as-pirations, both vocational andavocational. Other issues include ca-reer plans and priorities, family aspi-rations, lifestyle choices, and recre-ational habits. Writers are continu-ally clarifying the purpose of thewriting project for themselves as wellas for an instructor or other reader.This vector suggests these questions:

--How does the writer's sense ofpurpose affect her attitude and expec-tations for a writing project?

--How might a student's attitude to-ward writing and its purposes inter-

sect with his or her sense of priori-ties and overall purpose?

Growth in the seventh vector, "De-veloping Integrity," focuses on howstudents identify and acknowledgea set of personal values. Valuesabout work, expression, honesty,and clarity affect the developmentof writing abilities. Overcomingfear of self-expression is an impor-tant part of gaining self-confidenceas a writer. Students may have dif-ficulty articulating what they reallywant to say when they are unsureof their values. Asking these ques-tions may help us understand somestudents' attitudes toward writing:

- -What specific values are crucialto the development of writing abili-ties?

- -How can instructors help shapepositive values about writing?

William Perry andWriting Instruction

Like any other theoretical model,Perry's (1970) scheme for under-standing intellectual and moral de-velopment can be useful for illumi-nating certain aspects of concern toteachers. However, we must alsobe careful not to "overapply" thetheory in circumstances where it isnot truly relevant. In his essay,"Response Styles and Ways ofKnowing," Anson (1989) carefullyshows how Perry's scheme can behelpful to writing instructors.

Perry's scheme, which identifiespeople as operating within a set ofintelle:tual pages, will help us un-derstand why a student might re-spond in a very limited fashion to awriting topic about which our cul-ture has inculcated fixed attitudesor opinions. Perry's scheme also

11 I

"Student writersmust develop anawareness of theirreaders as anaudience for theirideas. Writersneed to considerthe needs of theirreaders as theycompose andrevise."

can help us understand students'reactions to our responses to theirwritingin particular, their abili-ties to integrate the teacher's per-ceptions about the way in whichthey developed an argument. Fi-nally, Perry's scheme helps, tosome degree, explain why stu-dents are initially resistant to re-vising their writing once they con-sider it completed.

Dualism and the Developmentof Writing Abilities

In considering Perry's theory withrespect to teachhig, writing, andlearning how to write, it is usefulto focus on the individual's move-ment from being a "dualistic"writer to being a "reflective" one.Briefly, students who approach awriting assignment from a dualis-tic framework are looking only forright and wrong answers. Whena student is taking a dualistic ap-proach to writing, he or she be-lieves that the teacher is the ulti-mate authority; in order to writewell, one has to please the teacherand write according to theteacher's prescriptions. When astudent writes from within a dual-istic perspective, he or she "splits"a subject into two possibilities:right and wrong. Following the"right" position acknowledges theteacher's authority, obeys his orher rules, and should therefore re-suit in a grade of A. When stu-dents have failed to find the"right" way to proceed with anassignment, they assume theydidn't know exactly what theteacher wanted. Many studentsperceive that there is only oneright way to write an essay. Theirgoals include "psyching out" theteacher to discover that right wayand then writing the essay accord-ing to those principles.

When students take this positiontoward "correct" writing, theyeliminate for themselves the aspectof choice and decision-making in-volved in the writing process. In-stead of making their own choices,they only want to do "what theteacher wants." This position iscommonly represented through thecomment, "I don't know if this is whatyou want." The idea that studentsmight "want" something from theirwriting isn't possible. If we wantstudents to become responsible,inter-dependent learners, we mustalways show them how they are incontrol of their learning. When stu-dents ask, while showing you adraft, "Is this what you want?" theyare asking you to confirm that theyare pleasing you. To turn the writ-ing back to the studentthe right-ful owneran instructor can reply,"Well, let's see: is this what youwanted to do with this topic?"

While adhering to the convictionthat teachers should tell them howto write correctly, dualistic writersare likely to resist making their owndecisions about how to proceed.They assume that there is one cor-rect way to write about a topic,both in terms of form and content,and they will feel frustrated when ateacher encourages them to maketheir own decisions. Teachers maybe tempted to give in to such stu-dents and to dictate form and con-tent. Yet, this approach will notfoster growth toward becoming a"relativistic" writer. Instead, teach-ers will have to work patiently withstudents while these students learnto make their own decisions aswriters. Teachers will have to beconscious that students need to re-ceive positive reinforcement asdecision-makers in order to de-velop enough confidence to movetoward becoming "relativ'stic"writers.

12

The Relativistic Writer

Relativistic writers still look towardsthe teacher as an authority whoholds all the cards, but they also feelthat diversity in ideas and expressionis acceptableeven necessary. Asthey open themselves to new possi-bilities, they may entertain all possi-bilities, and consequently have ahard time taking a dear stance intheir writing. Relativistic writersmay demonstrate skepticism or frus-tration with the teacher's expert re-sponse to their writing; they may re-ject the teacher's judgments and notunderstand a grade.

Students who seem to be in a relativ-istic frame of mind while writing willbenefit from clear and concrete re-sponses to their ideas and expres-sion, responses that are objective andbased on observable elements. Forexample, relativistic writers mightexpress themselves vaguely becausethey haven't been able to take a solidstance toward an idea. Students of-ten avcid writing a thesis statementbecause they are not certain of theiropinion, or if they are, lack confi-dence in the value of their opinion.Talking about main ideas in a confer-ence can help students learn to valuetheir own ideas and then feel confi-dent expressing them. But instruc-tors should be careful in framing re-sponses so that we do not put stu-dents on the defensive and thusblock their abilities to hear our ideas.If we say, "Your writing is unclear andvague," the writer really will notknow how the writing was ineffec-tive and will therefore attribute theproblem to the instructor, who obvi-ously just disagrees with the student.But if writers receive more objectivefeedback, based on the teacher'sreading experience, they can begin tosee how their choices as writers con-tributed to the ineffectiveness of the

writing. For example, to show stu-dents how their choices affectedyou as a reader, use an objectivereader-response comment that be-gins with "I" and then describeswhat happened to you while youwere reading the student's writing.Instead of penning in the margin,"Vague," tell a student in confer-ence, "I can't follow your idea in thissentence because you used the passivetense," or "I was looking for your mainidea in this first section, but I couldn'tfind it."

The Reflective Writer

Students who write relativistically,unable to take definitive stands onissues, can evolve toward becoming"committed relativists" or reflectivewriters when they receive encour-agement and specific feedback Asreflective writers, they will considermultiple possibilities as they ap-proach a writing assignment, butthey will not be stalled by their owninabilities to take a stance becausethey can become comfortable, se-cure, and confident in their intellec-tual development. We can expectthat these writers will be able tohandle multiple perspectives on anissue, yet find their own waythrough difficult topics. They bringthis maturity to their writing, whichbegins to look clear, convincing,and reasonable. In peer-group re-view sessions, reflective writershold their own, yet know how tolisten to others' ideas and considernew perspectives. Unfortunately,we are unlikely to work with manyreflective writers in freshman semi-nar courses, and thus must commitourselves as teachers to assistingdualistic and relativistic writers.along the path to maturity of ,ax-pression, thought, and confidencein decision making.

Conclusion: Writing inFreshman Seminars

Writing assignments can be tailoredto the developmental issues identi-fied in freshman seminar courses.Both the process and the topic ofthe writing task can reflect particu-lar developmental concerns. Doingthis, however, means that the in-structor will be actively involved inthe entire composing process; theinstructor does not just "give an as-signment" and wait for the studentto hand it in. In a sense, the in-structor's intervention and guid-ance makes him or her a collabora-tor or writing partner for the stu-dent. Yet such active involvementdoes not necessitate a great deal ofextra work for the instructor.When students get more guidancein the beginning and middle of awriting task, they produce betterwriting that is more satisfying tothem and to the instructor, prob-ably will take less time to read andgrade, and certainly will not requirethe kind of agony over grading pa-pers that just don't address an as-signment or are not readable. It canthus actually be a time-saver. Thetime that you will spend workingwith students throughout theirwriting process will pay off in im-proved final drafts, better attitudesabout writing, increased studentdevelopment, and in your moraleand sense of success as a teacher.

In the next chapter, we will look atspecific ways to integrate writinginto freshman seminar courses soas to foster development. The viewthat we can most effectively helpstudents developas writers,people, and learnersby empha-sizing the process of developmentrather than the product will guideyou through considerations of de-signing assignments, responding towriting, and grading. The empha-

130 '

sis will be upon becoming a partof the student's writing processwithout becoming a controllingcollaborator who suggestswords, phrases, or ideas. Addi-tionally, the information in thenext chapter is designed to helpyou become a more effectivewriting teacher, not a more over-whelmed one.

References

Anson, L. :989). Responsestyles and ways of knowing. InC. Anson (Ed.), Writing and re-sponse. Theory, practice, and re-search. Urbana, IL: NationalCouncil of Teachers of English.

Brooke, R. (1991). Writing andsense of self. Identity negotiation inwriting workshops. Urbana, IL:National Council of Teachers ofEnglish.

Chickering, A. (1978). Educationand identity. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass.

Jew ler, A. j., & Gardner, J. N.(1987). Step by step to collegesuccess. Belmont, CA: Wads-worth.

LeFevre, K. (1987). Invention as asocial act. Carbondale, IL:Southern Illinois UniversityPress.

Perry, W. (1970). Forms of intellec-tual and ethical development in thecollege years: A scheme. NewYork Holt, Rinehart and Win-ston.

Walvoord, B. (1986). Helping stu-dents write well. A guide forteachers in all disciplines. NewYork Modern Language Asso-ciation.

Chapter TwoWrite it More than Once: The Benefits of a Process Approach

In this chapter, a discussion of thevarious stages in the writing pro-cess emphasizes that writing is arecursive activity which comple-ments the overEll "review of self"occurring in the first year of college.We will consider specifically howvarious stages of the writing pro-cess can be used to foster adjust-ment to college. In the last section,a description of an extended writ-ing project provides a model of anapproach for integrating the writ-ing process into a freshmanseminar course.

Current composition pedagogy em-phasizes a "process approach" to in-struction, revision, and evaluation,and recent research supports the factthat this approach is more effectivethan an earlier emphasis simply onproducing and grading a writtenproduct. Taking a process approachto teaching writing actively involvesan instructor in the student's devel-opment. The instructor does not just"give an assignment" and then waitfor the student to hand it in. Instead,the instructor participates and guidesthe student through the process ofcomposing. The time that you willspend working with studentsthroughout their writing process willpay off in the improved final drafts,in their development, in their atti-tude, and in your morale and sense ofsuccess as a teacher.

The Ever ChangingWriting Process

As we consider these stages, whichinclude prewriting and brainstorm-

ing, drafting, reviewing, revising,proofreading, and editing, wewill want to recall that the writingprocess is complex and unpredict-able, with features that changeaccording to the writer and theassignment. For example, somewriters need to spend more timeon the beginning stages, strug-gling to get ideas before writinganything at all, and they mightneed to return to idea-gatheringeven while they are in the middleof the process. If students say,"It's not the writing that I'm havingtrouble with; it's getting started!"you might guess that they'reindecisive about choosing a focus.On the other hand, another writermight easily begin the sameassignment but need to spendmore time refining paragraphorganization, and returningfrequently to editorial consider-ations involving the order ofsentences within an individualparagraph. Although we canillustrate for students an idealmodel of the recursive writingprocess, it's important to be alertas instructors and to alert ourstudents to the idea that the pro-cess varies tremendously fromperson to person and from projectto project.

Overview of theWriting Process

Before discussing specific assign-ments, it will be useful to discussa recursive or cyclical model ofthe writing process. The ways in

154

which you give and respond toan assignment should be deter-mined by how a student is pro-ceeding through this model,but it is a good idea to respondto student writing often duringany particular assignment.

Being aware of a student'sprogress helps you and thestudent in several ways. First,by checking topics and earlywriting, you can help studentsavoid writing essays that donot fit your assignment. Whenyou review middle drafts, youcan suggest ideas for revisionthat help students recognizehow much work is left to bedone. Finally, because youhave seen an essay in its earlyand middle stages, you can becertain that a student nas notplagiarized an essay. Checkingon writing throughout thecomposing process may seemlike a lot of extra work, butremember that brief conversa-tions while writers are "in themiddle" of their work helpavoid extensive conferenceslater. Also, you can placeyourself at the door five or tenminutes before class ends, and,as students leave class, you cancheck their progress quickly byhaving them prEpare and showto you a short memo to youabout their ideas or revisions.

Invention

At the beginning of a recursiveor cyclical model of the writing

Invention

Proofr adingReview

Edi mgg

Brainst ming

Early D afting

TM WHIODDE ilDrIntSS

Middle rafting

Revi ing

process is the invention stage, aseries of moments during whichwriters gather ideas and "getstarted." During this stage,writers may think alone or ingroups, use specific brainstorm-ing techniques, plan their writing,or "rehearse" it. Invention notonly begins the writing process,but it also recurs throughout thewriting process as studentscontinually discover new thingsto say as they write. In this way,invention may be perhaps themost recursive feature of thewriting process.

Brainstorming is a specific tech-nique for getting ideas. Somebrainstorming activities includesmall-group discussion of a topic,large-class discussion with indi-viduals writing lists of ideas onthe board, and individualfreewriting activities.

Freewriting is another specificinvention-related activity. Whenfree writing, people suspend theirapprehensions about form, cor-rectness, structure, and coherence,and simply write as much aspossible in a limited time. Timed

Developing

Revi

DevelOrgani ing

wingping

freewriting activities are usefulfor getting students started.When you give an instructionsuch as, "Now write for ten minutesabout your experiences during yourfirst week on caanpus," you shouldalso include comments such as,"Just write without worrying aboutgrammar or spel!;ng. It's importantjust to write as much as you can andget your ideas out on paper." Stu-dents may be incredulous thatthey should not write perfectlythe first time they lay pen topaper, but freewriting has beenfound to be a good way to gener-ate ideas for revision, for small-group discussion, and to helpnarrow topics. With practice overa term, students will also findthat freewriting helps them toincrease their fluency in writingand their confidence. Of coursefreewriting is a mec,! But withthat first mess, there is somethingto be pondered and revised.

Responding to writing in the inven-tion stage

As writers are beginning to gatherideas and experiment, instructor re-sponse should be limited, allowing

16

room for the writer to explore inde-pendently and make decisions aboutchoosing a topic. It is crucial at thispoint that writers feel they are choos-ing their own topics; many studentsreport that the kind of writing theymost dislike and on which they do .

most poorly is a required assign-ment that allows no room for choice.When instructors respond to earlydrafts or invention material, theycan affirm and confirm a student'schoices or redirect a topic that is notin line with the assignment.

Exc,. mging invention material withother students. Instructors do notreally need to read any materialwritten during the invention stage;peer review can be used alone toprovide encouragement andfeedback. After students havecompleted some freewriting, theycan exchange their material insmall groups, just reading whateach person has written. Follow-ing this reading exchange, studentscan discuss ideas together.

Your primary role at this stageshould be to confirm for studentsthat they are heading in a produc-tive direction. You may want to

allow ten minutes at the end of aclass simply to check the topic andfocus with each student in order tohear from the students that theyhave made a choice and are readyto proceed. It is important to askstudents to write topic and focusstatements on paper, and then tofollow this brief task a spokeninteraction that requires them tostate their intentions orally to you.In most cases, you will need only tonod and say, "That sounds fine," butyou may hear statements that donot reflect your assignment, andyou can ask a student to reconsidera topic in that light.

Early Drafting

Freewriting and brainstorming leadwriters into their first drafts. Fol-lowing peer-reading sessions,during which students exchangefr?ewriting, read it aloud to eachof ler, and make comments that arestiictly non-judgmental or evalua-tive, writers can choose ideas thatthey have generated and worktowards a more sustained, focuseddraft. Often, starting in the middleof an essay helps unblock a writerwho is struggling to write theperfect first paragraph, can't get itright, and never gets past thateffort. It's hard, after all, to write afirst paragraph that is supposed tointroduce or summarize the mainideas in an essay before the entireessay has been composed, espe-cially when we recognize howmuch discovery occurs during thecomposing process. Again, stu-dents will be astonished at theadvice, "Why don't you just skip yourfirst paragraph and go on to themiddle?" because it breaks too manyrules about their assumptions aboutthe right way to write an essay.However, they must learn thatwriting well involves makingchoices and considering the pur-

pose of each choice rather thanslavishly following rules.

Peer review of early drafts. A firstdraft is just that: first. It is fo-cused, perhaps, but probably notwell organized, fully developed,or coherent. It is a start, however,and an important one. On theday that you ask for a full firstdraft, plan on having studentsread their work again to eachother and provide feedback totheir peers. It will be important toprovide careful instructions abouthow to respond to a peer's writ-ing so that students are notmerely giving an affirmative nod,over-praising, or over-criticizing.You will need to provide mini-scripts for peer-response, such as,"I want to know more about yourideas in the second paragraph," or "Ihad a similar experience to the oneyou describe"comments that leadstudents towards discussing ideasrather than style at this stage.Peer responses to writing shouldbe non-judgmental. Studentsgain confidence and skills cumu-latively through peer review and,above all, learn that their writinghas a real audience beyond theinstructor. As they gain interestin another's writing, they becomemore committed to improvingtheir own.

Instructor response to early drafts.Again, it is important to remem-ber that a first draft is a very earlydraft, and writers feel self-con-scious receiving feedback onwork that they know is notpolished or finished. But yourresponse as an expert reader willbe extremely important to yourstudents. First-year collegewriters generally are weakest indevelopment because they havenot been previously required toexplain their ideas, to "show"

17 (-)L. 0

"Peer responses towriting should benon-judgmental.Students gainconfidence andskills cumulativelythrough peerreview and, aboveall, learn that theirwriting tics a realaudience beyondthe instructor."

"Middle drafts willbe more developedthan early drafts,

but they may lackclear and strongorganizational

patterns ortransitional words

or sentencesbetween

paragraphs.. .

During this stage,it's time to provide

strategies forreading andrevising for

organization andcoherence, and tosuggest ways to

create purposefulconclusions."

their thinking or create vividdescriptions. You will need toprovide direction for develop-ment by continuing to identifyplaces in their early drafts thatcan be expanded.

Al this stage, students need someaffirmation that they are "on theright track" and are developinginteresting and sound ideas.Limit your responses to providingthis kind of affirmation as well asidentifying points that can befurther developed or explained.Try not to be overly directive inyour comments or suggestions;that is, avoid telling a writer howto develop an idea, but say, forexample, "Your idea here intriguesme. What else can you tell me aboutit?" Suggest that students use the"question words"who, what,where, when, how, and why asthey read their own material.You can show them how to useeach of these words in response tosentences they have written toform questions that will leadthem to discover ways to developtheir writing.

Middle Drafts

When writers reach the middlestage of the writing process, theyhave already produced a reviseddraft and are ready to reconsidertheir writing more specifically.Middle drafts will be more devel-oped than early drafts, but theymay lack clear and strong organi-zational patterns or transitionalwords or sentences betweenparagraphs. Additionally, writersusually feel at this stage that theirconclusions are weak. Duringthis stage, it's time to providestrategies for reading and revisingfor organization and coherence,and to suggest ways to createpurposeful conclusions.

18 24

Be selective in your response. It ishard to read one's own writingcarefully. Therefore, writers needspecific techniques to help themlearn how to focus their reading foridentifying specific features itpersonal writing. As the instruc-tor, you will need to decide whatfeatures are important and desir-able and then provide readingtechniques that focus on thosefeatures. For example, if you wantto see a strong thesis statement,then ask students to read specifi-cally to identify such a statement.Give a direction such as, "After youhave read the essay through once,reread the first paragraph and under-line the thesis statement. Now rereadthe rest of the essay and determine ifthe writer has really explained thisidea. If the writer hasn't, makesuggestions about ways he or she couldeither change the thesis to fit the essay,or rework the essay to fit the thesis."

Peer review in the middle stages. Acombination of peer-review andindependent reading should beused at this stage. As studentspractice reading the writing ofothers, they build skills to readtheir own work more carefully.Additionally, when students findthat they agree with peers' com-ments about their writing, theirreading abilities are reinforced, andthey gain confidence in their dev-elopment as independent editors oftheir own work. When they dis-agree with their peers' comments,they learn that not everyone seesthings the same way and that,finally, they must make their owndecisions about how to proceedwith their work while integratingothers' responses. It would beappropriate in the middle stages toask students to respond to specificfeatures in a peer's writing. Forexample, ask students to read andidentify the main idea in the

writing and then check to see iftheir view of the main idea matchesthat of the writer. Decisions torevise the main statement canfollow from this conversation.

Instructor response to middle drafts.Students will probably seek affir-mation from you at this stage thattheir essay is "okay." You mayneed to provide some feedbackindicating the strengths and weak-nesses of the middle draft, recog-nizing that the student considersthis draft almost complete and maybe unwilling to revise it substan-tially unless you indicate that it'sreally necessary. Again, respond tothose features that you have identi-fied as important in the assignment.It's impossible to try to respond toall features of writingfrom spell-ing to organizationall at once,and doing so will only overwhelmthe writer. It's better to limit yourresponse to selected features,recognizing that student writingabilities are developing, and, that insubsequent assignments, you willsee growth in other areas youhaven't targeted this time.

Editing and Proofreading

All through the writing process,you may have noticed errors inspelling, grammar, or punctuation,but by the time a student getsthrough a middle draft, he or shewill probably have corrected mosterrors alone. It's wise not to pointout such errors until writers arealmost finished because focusing onerrors when a writer needs to focuson development or organizationwill lead a writer away from themain purpose of the assignment.The time to talk about proofreadingand editing is when the writer feelshe or she is almost finished. Eventhen, it is best if you discuss errors

individually with each writer,rather than spend class timereviewing and boring studentswith grammatical explanations,most of which they have heardbefore and have never integratedinto their own writing. If you donot have the time for individualconferences, refer students fortutorial help at your campuswriting center where trainedtutors can give assistance tailoredspecifically to the students' needs.

Reading strategies for proofreading

There are several effective read-ing techniques you can teach thatwill help students learn to edittheir own work. Effective proof-reading requires that writers slowdown their reading and simulta-neously read closely and care-fully. Present the followingtechniques in a workshop whenstudents have time to experimentwith your guidance:

Reading aloud. Ask students toread their writing aloud to apartner. They will find errors asthey read.

Slowing down the reading process.Suggest that students read with apencil in hand, moving the pencilfrom word to word only afterthey have read each word closelyand carefully.

Rereading for specific kinds of errorswriters typically make. For ex-ample, some students may wantto reread, looking only for onespecific spelling error, such as theuse of the apostrophe with con-tractions and possessives.

Reading backwards. Suggest thatwriters begin at the last word,reading each word carefully

19

"If you do not havethe time for indi-vidual conferences,refer students fortutorial help atyour campuswriting centerwhere trainedtutors can giveassistance tailoredspecifically to thestudents' needs."

"When a studenttells you, 'I'm not

really satisfiedwith this, but here

it is,' you knowyou've done your

job: they will onlybe reluctant to give

up a piece ofwriting after they

have begun to learnwhat really makes

good writing."

before moving onto the next.While this process will effectivelycatch spelling mistakes, it will nothelp identify errors due to sen-tence structure, punctuation, orgrammar.

Using a spell-checker on a computer.Students may need some assis-tance as they learn to use a spell-checker properly so that they donot simply hit "skip" each timethe computer identifies a possibleerror.

Worrying about grammar. A greatdeal of research has been con-ducted over the last 70 years todemonstrate that teaching formalgrammar has no positive effect onimproving students' writing. Infact, teaching formal grammarmay have negative effects becausesuch instruction takes time awayfrom the real practice of writingand focuses a writer's attentionon correcting mistakes rather thandeveloping ideas.

Students will usually be con-cerned about their grammarbecause they have had years ofschooling that reinforces the ideathat writing is grammar. If theycome from secondary schoolbackgrounds where grammar wasemphasized over writing, yourstudents may have very limitedvocabularies for talking aboutwriting, and so you may hearthem say, "I'm worried about mygrammar," or "/'m a terriblespeller." Ask students to point outplaces in their writing that theythink contain grammatical errors,and expect that they will, instead,start talking about ideas or style,which are the topics they arereally concerned about but didnot have the vocabulary to intro-duce.

20 c

Final Drafts

Final drafts are finished productssort of. After students haveworked through the writing pro-cess, they will never feel that theyare really ready to submit an essayfor a grade, because they will beaware of all the things they couldredo. When a student tells you,"I'm not really satisfied with this, buthere it is," you know you've doneyour job: they will only be reluc-tant to give up a piece of writingafter they have begun to learn whatreally makes good writing.

A final self-assessment. Beforegrading final drafts, ask students todo their own review of their w irk.Because your students will haverevised their essays multiple timesand will have a clear awareness oftheir strengths and remainingweaknesses, they will want to tellyou about their responses to theassignment. When students areready to submit their writing toyou, first ask them to write a"cover letter" to you in which theyexplain their experiences in writingthis assignment. Use these ques-tions to direct the students'responses:

1. What was easiest for you to do inthis assignment? What was hardest?

2. How long did you work on ti isassignment? At what points did yourun into blocks or other problems?

3. What kind of assistance (frompeers, tutors, or me) was helpful toyou?

4. Identify the strengths and weak-nesses of the writing as you perceivethem.

5. If you could rewrite this essay oncemore, what would you work on?

Their final "self-assessment" will beuseful in several ways. First, ithelps them reflect on the writingexperience and articulate what theyhave learned. Second, it helps youunderstand their writing process.Third, it initiates a plan for the nextwriting task; and fourth, it helpsyou assess the writing from thestudent's perspective, gettingfeedback about the assignment sothat you can revise it if recessary.Also, students, when given achance, generally assess their ownwork very honestly and accurately,and the instructor's "expert" re-sponses match their assessments.

Grading

It's hard to grade writingthere issimply no way to avoid that fact.But responding to student writingfrom its beginning and through itsvarious stages eases the gradingprocess. It is especially challengingto make comments that help stu-dents understand their strengthsand weaknesses in a particularassignment. However, with apurposeful plan for your assess-ment of student writing, you canstreamline your responses withoutsacrificing thoroughness.

Determine the purpose for grading.While you are writing your sylla-bus, consider your grading prin-ciples, and determine a plan thatfits your purpose. Obviously, in acourse such as a freshman seminarthat is not designed specifically as awriting intensive course, you canneither teach nor grade for allwriting elements. You will have tochoose which elements to empha-size, depending upon your ownpriorities. In making these choices,consider which elements really helpfoster growth in writing, in learn-ing, in thinking, and in personaland social development.

For example, suppose you haveasked students to write a reporton an interview with libraryreference staff. Teaching andevaluating the focus of such areport reinforces their need toknow what is most importantabout using the current periodicalroom, interlibrary loan, or thereserve desk. Additionally, sucha focus might include informationabout how to request informationfrom library staff, and this taskreinforces communication skillswith campus personnel.

As you create a grading strategy,ask yourself these four questionsin order to determine the writingelements you wish to assess:

1. What is the purpose of thiswriting task?

2. What do I want the students tolearn as a result of this writingtask?

3. What features of writing do Iwant to assess in a final draft?Am I willing to provide instruc-tion in these areas?

4. Which features of writing andunderstanding are most impor-tant for me to assess? How can Iweigh different features in agrading system?

Recognize that you are obliged toprovide instruction in writingelements you choose to assess. Inother words, you can't gradestudents on thesis statementsunless you have explained whatyour expectations are for a thesisstatement, given them strategiesfor checking and revising theirthesis statements, and respondedto their early or middle draftthesis statements.

21 27

"It's hard to gradewritingthere issimply no way toavoid that fact.. .

However, with apurposeful plan foryour assessment ofstudent writing,you can streamlineyour responseswithout sacrificingthoroughness."

"Instead ofmarking errors inthe writer's text,

you may choose toput checks along

the margin in lineswhere there are

mistakes, and thenask the writer to

review the writingagain, finding the

errors in those lines. . . You will be able

to tell what kindsof errors they

actually cannotfind because they

are unfamiliar withthe rules."

Streamline your written response.Research shows that students donot effectively read nor utilizemarginal comments that instruc-tors make (often laboriously) ontheir writing. So if you wereplanning on taking out your redpen (ouch!) and writing at lengthalong the sides of your students'work, put your pen back andreconsider the purpose of yourcomments. Consider yourself arespondent, not a professionalproofreader or editor.

Categorize your comments. Re-search does show us thatcategorizing errors for writersand commenting generally on thecategories will be helpful becausewhen writers know what kinds ofmistakes they generally make,they can learn to read for themwhen editing and proofreading.So, instead of marking everysentence fragment in the text, itwill be more useful to write acomment at the end of the paper,such as, "You need to review andproofread for sentence fragments."

Identifying errors in the marginsof a student's writing either bycorrecting them or by pointingthem out through an editingsystem can actually sabotage thelearning process: if you point outall the errors for the writer, he orshe will never learn to find them.Instead of marking errors in thewriter's text, ,u may choose toput checks a: mg the margin inlines where there are mistakes,and then ask the writer to reviewthe writing again, finding theerrors in those lines. Goingthrough this process helps writersdevelop sharper proofreadingskills as they start to narrow theirline of vision while reading forerrors. You will also be able to tellwhat kinds of errors they actually

222 0

cannot find because they areunfamiliar with the rules.

Explain and assess categories througha point system. If you have chosen,for example, to assess these writingfeaturesfocus, development,organization, and clarityusethese terms as categories for yourcomments at the end of a student'sessay. You must also, however,know how you are assessing theseindividual terms and explain thatto the students.

For example, you could identify"focus" as a clear thesis statementin one essay and assess that fea-ture. In another essay, you couldexplain that "focus" also includesfollowing through with strongtopic sentences; and, in this secondassignment, you would assess boththe thesis statement and the topicsentences. "Development" couldinclude explanations, analysis, ordescriptions, depending upon yourinterpretation of the term. "Clar-ity" could be a general category forclear expression, including catego-ries of specific errors.

Assign points for each categorythat fit the purpose of the assign-ment and the course, and take intoaccount the amount of instructionthat you provided in that element.For example, you might spendmost of your time in class discuss-ing focus and development andvery little time talking about orproofreading for errors. Therefore,you would want to assign morepoints in the categories of focusand development than clarity.Later in a term, you might want toemphasize the need to communi-cate clearly and correctly andtherefore dedicate more class timeto proofreading strategies andrequire students to receive tutorialhelp in this area. It might be

appropriate, therefore, to increasethe number of points in the "clar-ity" category.

Identify strengths and weaknesses. Ifyou have explained your use ofterms, listing categories and givingpoints in each category lets astudent know what areas they needto work on in the future. You mayalso want to provide additionalgeneral feedback on strengths andweaknesses, emphasizing whatstudent writers did well rather thanwhat they did poorly. We learnmore from positive than negativefeedback, although it is sometimeseasier to respond negatively. Byfirst identifying and listing particu-lar strengths and then particularweaknesses in student writing,instructors can say somethingpositive to the writer before articu-lating the weaknesses.

Using the Process Approach inStudent Writing Assignments

Freshman seminars often addressmany topics and issues, any one ofwhich can become the focus forwriting assignments. Following is asuggested step-by-step process forassigning and evaluating a typicalstudent essay.

Step One: Identify and Define theAssignment

State the assignment clearly inwriting and orally. Limit yourassignment statement to one or twosentences; do not make the assign-ment so complex that students areconfused or unsure of what you arerequesting.

Sample Assignment. Describe andexplain your purposes and goalsfor attending college.

To further elaborate on yourassignment, define the key words,and suggest topics students canconsider. In this project, explain"describe" and "explain," empha-sizing that "describe" means toprovide objective statementsabout a college choice, and "ex-plain" means to providesubjective commentary.

Step Two: Begin BrainstormingActivities

Class discussion. Ask the ciass tolist possible ways to approach thetopic. They may list these itemsindividually and then writeseveral items from their lists onthe board. Ask students to con-sider brainstorming questionsthat will lead to ideas: Why didyou choose this college? Whoinfluenced your decision? Whatdo you hope to achieve while incollege?

Individual freewriting. Ask stu-dents to freewrite for ten minutesabout one topic identified duringclass discussion.

Peer exchange. In small groups,students exchange their free-writing, with instructions only toread the writing in order tounderstand the writer's idea. Oneperson in each group is identifiedas a recorder. After each studenthas read all of the writing in thegroup, the members discuss thegeneral ideas they found in thewriting. The recorder notes theideas during the discussion andbrings these ideas to a whole-classdiscussion.

Step Three: Continue InventionActivities Individually

Give an out-of-class writingassignment that helps students

2329

"If you haveexplained your useof terms, listingcategories andgiving points ineach category letsa student knowwhat areas theyneed to work on inthe future."

"Oralpresentations of

written work helpintegrate speakingand writing skills.

Before studentsfinish their final

drafts, request thatthey prepare athree-minute

presentation oftheir ideas to their

small group."

generate early draft material. Forexample, ask them to write for 20minutes on two topics listedduring class discussion.

Step Four: Identify a General Planfor the Essay

Present a general outline of howthe essay might be developed.Students will want to follow thisslavishly, resulting in writer'sblock for those who believe theyhave to write exactly as yousuggest. Therefore, it is impor-tant to emphasize that your planis only one way to proceed. Ageneral outline, however, identi-fies major components of theessay.

Sample Plan.

Introductory section - introduceyour main idea about your col-lege choice. Briefly explain youridea.

Middle Section - Develop yourmain idea by giving details aboutyour choice. Describe the majorfactors that helped you makeyour decision. Devote a separateparagraph to each factor that youchoose to explain in detail.

Concluding section - Assess thepresent and anticipate the future.Explain your present attitudetoward your choice. Identifypossible problems and ways youmight solve them.

Step Five: Respond to an Early Draft

Request that students bring acompleted early draft to class on aspecific day. Working in pairs,they can exchange these draftsand respond globally to eachother's writing. You may alsowant to ask students to respond

24 30

specifically to one writing element,such as a main idea statement.

Ask students to prepare a revisionplan that they will show to youand briefly discuss individually. Intheir plan, they should state one ortwo things they plan to work on asthey write the next draft.

As you check these plans, commenton the specificity of the proposal.For example, "I'm going to developmy ideas" isn't specific enough, but"I'm going to explain how my brotherinfluenced my decision" is specific.

Step Six: Repeat Writing Workshopand Peer Review of Middle Drafts

Depending upon your goals andtime limitations, you may decide torepeat the writing workshop andpeer review of middle drafts,including the revision plan state-ments and the mini-conferencewith you.

Step Seven: Oral Presentations inSmall Groups

Oral presentations of written workhelp integrate speaking and writ-ing skills. Before students finishtheir final drafts, request that theyprepare a three-minute presenta-tion of their ideas to their smallgroup. In these presentations, theyshould identify their main andsupporting ideas. The small-groupactivity should conclude with awritten task that helps studentsarticulate what they have learnedfrom their classmates. Followingthe presentations, ask students towrite a response to what theyheard: how were other people'sexperiences the same or differentfrom their own? What was mostinteresting?

Step Eight: Teach ProofreadingTechniques

Always allow time in class topractice proofreading on "almost"final drafts. Give students one ortwo techniques at a time. As theirskills build, they will be able to usemultiple techniques simulta-neously; but at the beginning, showthem how to slow down theirreading and attend to each indi-vidual printed word.

Step Nine: Submit the Final Draft

On the day that the project is due,plan ten minutes for a self-assess-ment. Ask students to submit theirassessment on the very top, withthe final draft next, and all earlydraft material placed beneath.Collecting early writing helps youassess the effort and time a studentgave to the project, and again,assures you that the writing is notplagiarized.

Step Ten: Grading and Conferencing

After you have read and com-mented on the students' projects, itis most productive, although time-consuming, to return graded workduring conferences. Students willreceive their grades more positivelyif you speak briefly with themabout the strengths and weaknessesof their work In such conferences,identify what you liked about thewriting, and then make suggestionsfor strengthening the writing if thestudent should choose to revise.

Step Eleven: Revision

Allowing students to revise anessay after it has been graded is acontroversial technique. Someteachers feel that it encouragesstudents not to do their best workthe first time around. However,

allowing revisions does "keep thedoor open" for learning aboutwriting and for maturing as acollege student. If you choose toallow revisions, set guidelines:revisions must be turned in oneweek after students receive thegraded draft; students mustdescribe a revision plan to youbefore they submit a revision; andrevisions must be substantial, notmerely the correcting of spellingerrors.

Sample Student Writing

The essay that follows is a finaldraft that was revised severaltimes. The student was writing inresponse to the assignment,"Describe the relationship betweenyour career goals and a collegeeducation." As you read the essay,notice how this writer is comfort-able with his own voice; hefrequently cites himself "thinkingaloud," and he is also open abouthis process of personal discovery.Without this level of comfort withhimself, the writing processwould not have been a process ofdiscovery. He was not afraid toconfront, in writing, his struggleswith choosing a major.

In determining his grade, it wasimportant to consider his honestyand lively voice, both of whichcontributed to the solid develop-ment and focus. However, hehad not fulfilled one requirementof the courseto submit all earlydrafts with the final draftnorhad he shown evidence of work-ing with a tutor, an activity whichwas strongly recommended.Before the final essay gradeanine out of a possible tenarelisted first the strengths and thenthe weaknesses of the student'swriting.

253

"Collecting earlywriting helps youassess the effortand time a studentgave to the project,and again, assuresyou that thewriting is notplagiarized."

A Good Reason for CollegeTy lk "enzie

The experts say that the average college student will change his mind about his major at least three times. For me, this has beenmore than true. I have probably changed my mind about professions at least six times since I started thinking about why I want tobe in college. Right now, I feel very positive about my choice to be here in this school, with a marketing major. It wasn't an easydecision to make, but I know that it has been my own decision, and that helps me feel that it's the right one.

When I was little, I always had the usual dreams of a glamorous job as a professional athlete, or maybe even a fireman. At thattime, those dreams felt so real that I thought I would do one of those things for sure. Unfortunately, everyone has to grow upsooner or later, and their feelings and knowledge about certain careers change. No longer did I want to be a fireman, because Iwas no longer that carefree ten-year-old boy who didn't really have a sense of life or death: everything was simply fun. Duringmy senior year of high school, I began to ask myself what I wanted to do in life. I asked myself, "Do you really want to have a jobwhere you're active, or do you want to have a desk job?" and "Are you willing to sacrifice a higher salary just so you cancontinuewith your track and field activities?" These answers varied from day to day, but I did manage to answer one question: I want tohave fun in whatever job I get.

The list of questions about my career choice was endless. I would keep asking myself the same questions every day, but stillwould not have any answers for them. Then one day, about a week away from the end 1 the first semester of my senior year ofhigh school, I heard a voice in my head yelling at me. Naturally, I was talking to myself, et it didn't seem like it wasprovoked byanything, so I kept listening. The voice paused for a second, then said, "What are you doing? All you have been talking aboutlately is what you want to do when you get out of college, but you have eve:, el:ieet.! a colleg? to go to yet! You have to learnhow to walk before you can run!"

Then it hit me. I realized I was sounding like my parents, but t'ais time, the questions were coming; from me, not them. I knewthat I was facing the fact that it was time to grow up. I could :tot put the future on hold any longer . So I began my quest forchoosing the right college. This time, the questions were a "tat more detailed: "What state would you like to go to college in? Howbig of a school would you like to go to? What is the average class size? How good is their track and field program?" and finally,one question that was really important, "What is the proportion of men and women studenar These questions helped menarrow my choices, and by the end of the first semester of my senior year, I had decided to come here. Now that I amin college, Ifind that I keep changing my ideas about what I would like to do. Sometimes I think I want to be a lawyerthis would bechallenging and well paying. But it is mostly desk work, so I have decided against it. considered bccuming a psychiatrist, but Idon't think I want to go to medical school. Recently, I've heard "that voice" again, yelling at me. but sending me in what feels likethe right direction. "Why don't you just consider what you're best at? You can talk just about anyane into anything, and youhaven't even thought about something in that area!"

Since this idea occurred to me, I've decided that marketing is the right field for me. However, my long range goals includeteaching marketing, so I will want to go to graduate school. Teaching will allow me to have a career with people, work with salesstrategies, and continue my track activities. I hope that with hard work and determination, the rest of college will go the way Iplan.

Strengths: Your "voice" is honest and interesting; I especially like the quotations of the "voice" yelling at you. I couldeasily follow the process you went through to make your decision about your major.

Weaknesses:I want to know more about your parents' role in helping you choose a college. Was anyone else helpful?Explain abo'it track and field. Why was that important in your choice?

Grade: 9 (out of a possible 10). Focus: 2 Development: 1.5 Clarity: 2 Voice: 2 Effort: 1.5

(Your early drafts were missing. Also, did you confer with a tutor at the Writing Center?)

Suggested Readings

Donovan, T., dr McClelland, B. (Eds.). (1980). Eight approaches to teaching composition. Urbana, 1L: National Council ofTeachers of English.

Emig, J. (1971). The composing process of twelfth graders. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

26 3 2

Chapter ThreeBuilding Successful Peer Groups in Writing

The benefits of using small-groupdiscussion and activities in anycourse also apply to writing instruc-tion. We know that small-groupworkshops give students opportuni-ties to practice communication skills,to work collaboratively on specifictasks, and to develop comfort, confi-dence, and trust in the classroom en-vironment. Yet these elements haveto be carefully nurtured by the in-structor through the design of peer-group workshops. As ThomHawkins (1976) writes in Group In-quinj Techniques for Teaching Writing,"The small peer group provides aclose approximation to the way com-munication takes place in the realworld, but it is important that theclassroom instructor knows how toencourage helpful relationshipsamong students" (p. 5).

In regard both to developing writingskills and "helpful relationships,"peer group work on writing taskspresents a few unique challenges.Many instructors are concerned withthe quality of response that actuallyoccurs during peer review of student-produced texts; they fear that thetime spent in small groups will notchange student writing very substan-tially. Additionally, it seems difficultto keep students "on task" duringpeer review. Instructors may observethat students take advantage of beingin small groups to talk about subjectsseemingly unrelated to the writingproject, and it appears that the peerreview sessions easily change intoopen discussion opportunities. Fi-nally, instructors may feel that whenthey conduct small-group work-

shops, they are sacrificing too muchtime that they need for content dis-cussion or lecture. All of these con-cerns are important, and there areways to address them effectively.In this chapter, the focus is uponplanning, organizing, and monitor-ing peer-group review of studentwriting so that the sessions meetyour expectations for productivity.

Peer Review HasMultiple Benefits

Peer Groups Build Language Skills

Peer group interaction can beguided so that it builds college-level language skills in both speak-ing and writing. Because of theclose relationship between ourspeaking wiling "identities,"the skills that people develop asspeakers help their writing abilitiesgrow also. As students develop a"rhetorical" awareness of languagebehavior in small-group discus-sions, they are laying a ground-work for their written rhetoricalawareness.

For a variety of reasons, many stu-dents will not participate in whole-class discussions, or they partici-pate too frequently and disrupt thelearning process for others. Small-group workshops can help bothtypes of students become more ef-fective communicators.

Some people are naturally quiet orinexperienced at speaking in frontof groups. Others are not self-

27

assured enough to speak up infront of an entire class becausethey fear the instructor's re-sponse to their comments or an-ticipate feeling foolish in front oftheir peers. On the other hand,some students regularly volun-teer to respond to an instructor'squestions and often dominatediscussions, antagonize otherstudents, or lead conversationsastray. The key to helping bothtypes of students learn to com-municate more effectively is toprovide concrete tasks andguidelines for discussion. Theoral communication skills thatstudents build during work-shops carry over into their writ-ing in significant ways: as stu-dents are learning how to speakand listen more carefully to oneanother, they are learning aboutaudience, purpose, and stylecrucial features of writing thatstudents need to develop.

Peer Groups Build Self-Confidence

While in peer groups, studentsget a chance to practice college-level conversation with less riskthan if they were speaking infront of the whole class. Devel-oping the confidence to take riskswhile speakingand experienc-ing successwill help studentsfeel more confident about takingrisks in their writing.

Small groups contribute to thecreation of on overall class envi-ronment in which risk-taking isvalued and rewarded. One way

"Although teachersmay feel that theprimary purpose

for peer-reviewworkshops is forstudents to gain

ideas aboutrevising their

writing, studentsoften identify the

opportunity to readwhat others have

written as the mostvaluable aspect of

the workshop."

in which students can receive re-wards for taking risks is throughtheir recognition that the risk re-sulted in an achievement, such asfinishing a small-group task suc-cessfully. Successful peer groupsthat build confidence in the use oflanguage respond to structuredtasks from an instructor but are stillable to keep interactions informaland friendly. The comfort, confi-dence, and trust that students de-velop speaking in small groups willcarry over into whole-class discus-sion and individual conversationswith their instructors.

Instructors need to provide guide-lines for small-group conversationso that these goals are not sabo.taged by students who tend todominate any kind of conversationor by student resistance to speakingin any situation. Each student musthave a speaking role and a writingtask that fit the overall objective ofthe small-group session.

Peer Review Broadens Students'tieriences

Although teachers may feel that theprimary purpose for peer-reviewworkshops is for students to gainideas about revising their writing,students often identify the opportu-nity to read what others have writ-ten as the most valuable aspect ofthe workshop. Stu.i.ents simply en-joy the chance to see how othershave lived their lives and havethought about their experiences.After overcoming an initial fearabout having their own writingread by someone else, they also en-joy the experience of having an au-dience other than the instructor.

There are significant benefits fromthe sharing of writing that fit thepurpose of freshman seminars.Small-group workshops focused on

28

peer response to writing are richwith opportunities to help studentsdevelop in ways that are congruentwith the schemata of developmentaltheorists such as Perry (1970) andChickering (1978). By reading thewriting of their peers, studentsbroaden their perspectives on theworld and thus are aided in theirmovement along Perry's scheme ofdevelopment. Exchanging writing,in other words, helps students gain areflective stance. By learning overthe course of a school term how tocommunicate in a small group, towork collaboratively with peers, tolisten and integrate responses to theirwriting as well as to offer helpful re-sponses, students grow inChickering's vectors of achievingcompetence, managing emotions,and developing interpersonal rela-tionships. Again, instructors mustprovide specific tasks, guidelines,and even mini-conversations or"scripts" in order for students toreap optimal benefits from small-group writing workshops.

Objectives forPeer Review Workshops

Integrating peer-group review intothe writing process allows for the de-velopment of reading, writing, anddiscussion skills. The first step inplanning a peer-review session is todetermine the skills you wish to seestudents develop. Because effectivepeer review involves four sets ofskillsspeaking, listening, reading,and writingit is helpful to begin bylisting objectives in each area. Ask-ing yourself these questions will helpyou identify objectives for your stu-dents:

Speaking Skills

--With what kind of tone do I wantstudents to speak to each other?

--What "mini-scripts" can I givethem to help them achieve this tone?

--What kind of turn-taking do I wantstudents to use?

--What instructions can I give themso that they take turns naturally?

Listening Skills

--- What should students listen forduring conversations with peers?

---How can I help them learn to pickup cues for getting Helpful informa-tion from peer responses?

--What mini-scripts will help stu-dents avoid becoming defensive orargumentative?

--- What techniques will help themhear their classmates' comments withgreater sensitivity?

Reading Skills

---Which reading skills can be iso-lated during a peer response work-shop?

---What kinds of directions will helpstudents read for specific elements?

Writing Skills

---Which features of clear writing canstudents identify in one peer re-sponse workshop?

---What mini-scripts will help stu-dents talk to each other about specificfeatures of clear writing?

This list of questions is fairly compre-hensive; your responses to it shouldform enough material to direct small-group workshops for at least a fullterm. Choose those particular fea-tures that are congruent with thegoals and objectives of your course.

Structuring and MonitoringSmall Groups

Instructors need to give specifictasks that can be accomplishedwithin the time restrictions avail-able during class. The tasks shouldmove from uncritical reading andopen, nonjudgmental conversationto more focused reading, writtenresponses, and focused conversa-tions. Students are not familiarwith the process of reading and re-sponding to each other's essays;they have neither the reading skillsfor competently commenting oneach other's writing nor the vo-cabulary and pedagogical expertisefor helping each other. Therefore,they need guidance and practice tobecome helpful readers of eachother's texts.

Instructors need to be patient asthey watch students develop theabilities to help each other changetheir writing. After one or two peersessions, you may not necessarilysee substantial changes in your stu-dents' writing, but you will seetheir attitudes and their classroomperformances change. They shouldbecome more comfortable, trusting,and active. After several more peersessions, you will see them begin tohelp each other create ideas for ef-fective revising.

Give Specific Directions

These three principles will help youlead students in effective small-group sessions in writing.

1. Set specific goals that involve fo-cused and repetitive reading.

2. Ask students to hold focusedconversations about what theyhave read.

29

"Instructors needto give specifictasks that can beaccomplishedwithin the timerestrictionsavailable duringclass."

"Most first-yearcollege writers are

weakest in twoareas: focus and

development."

3. Ask students to write a responseto the peer review of their workand to formulate a revision plan.

The Peer Review Process,Step by Step

In this section, we will considerstructuring, monitoring, and assess-ing a peer review workshop for asample writing project. One of thefirst topics that you might addressin a freshman seminar course isanalyzing the differences betweenhigh school and college learning.

Step One Present the AssignmentClearly and Specifically

Ask students to bring a completedearly draft to class on a specifiz dayfor a writing workshop. Imaginethat you have given this assign-ment to your students:

Describe and analyze differences be-tween high school and college educa-tion. Draw upon your own experiencesso far in college and your previous ex-periences in high school. Describe andexplain the differences you notice inany of these areas: your personallifestyle, expectations for class atten-dance and participation, the amount ofhomework, interactions with peers andprofessors, and the amount of free timeavailable. Finally, assess the way inwhich you are adjusting to the differ-ences you have discussed. Describehow you have been successful in adjust-ing, and identify those areas that arepresenting difficulties for you.

Step Two Set Specific Goals for theWorkshop

Most first-year college writers areweakest in two areas: focus and de-velopment. To improve their writ-ing in these areas, they need tolearn how to make effective andlimited choices in stating a main

30 3C

idea and explaining their main idea.With this assignment, you will ex-pect students to make a global state-mentwhich they may or may notrecognize as a "thesis statement"about the differences between highschool and college learning. A globalstatement such as, "In college, youhave to be more independent anddisciplined to succeed," will focus anessay. This statement, for example,would allow a writer to choose spe-cific subtopics from those listed inthe assignment and to show how in-dependence and discipline areneeded in those areas. The tasks youprovide for a writing workshopshould ask students to identify astatement that responds to the as-signment and focuses the writer'sideas. In terms of building skills inthe development of an essay, this as-signment is fairly complex, askingstudents to describe, analyze, and as-sess.

Because this assignment asks writersto perform these three kinds of criti-cal thinking skillsdescription,analysis, and evaluationit is im-portant to create objectives that de-velop these skills. How you ask stu-dents to read and respond to eachother's writing must address de-scription, analysis, and evaluation.Remember that beginning collegestudents will probably not under-stand what you mean by analysis;also, their preconceptions aboutwhat constitutes adequate descrip-tion is limited. They will find iteasier to assess or evaluate their ownsuccess because they are aware ofhow they are performing.

Therefore, reasonable goals for awriting workshop on this assign-ment would be to address four chiefareas:

1. Identify a focusing statement inthe beginning of the essay.

2. Identify analytical statementsthroughout the body of the essay.

3. Identify description passagesthroughout the body of the essay.

4. Identify personal evaluation in theconclusion.

With these goals in mind, you cancreate tasks for reading, discussing,and responding.

Step Three - Create Critical ReadingTasks

Students will need a set of specific di-rections to guide their reading. Re-member that they should learn toread multiple times for multiple pur-poses. General principles for creatingdirections for close reading includethese two:

1. Instruct students to read theirclassmate's essay once all the waythrough, without pausing to com-ment on it. Or ask that each studenttake a turn reading his or her draftaloud, without receiving responsesfrom peers. After the oral reading,students then exchange drafts. Theyare then familiar with the writing infront of them and more prepared forcloser readings. Oral reading of indi-vidual work allows students to heartheir writing, a process that canchange their perceptions of their ownstyle and clarity.

2 Use specific guidelines for closer,critical readings that ask students toperform multiple readings with eachreading focused on a single purpose.

The following directions for perform-ing close, critical readings are congru-ent with the plan outlined above fordeveloping writing skills. Notice thatthese directions ask students to readand mark essays in particular ways,

but not to correct or comment onwriting. Commentary on theirfindings from these directions willoccur during the discussion sectionof the workshop. In this plan, stu-dents will be exchanging their writ-ing with only one partner for adose, critical reading. They havealready had the opportunity to reador hear all the essays written byclassmates in their peer groups.

Sample Directions for PeerPisteis

1. After you have read the essay allthe way through, begin reading itagain. This time, underline the fo-cusing statement in the beginningof the essay that announces thewriter's main idea about the differ-ences between high school and col-lege life.

2 Read the essay again, and thistime, put checks in the margin bysentences in the middle paragraphsof the essay that show the writer'sanalysis of his or her observationsabout the differences between highschool and college life. Rememberthat analytic sentences show howthe writer understands or thinksabout what he or she descilbes.These sentences should come at thebeginning of middle paragraprisand will function as "topic sen-tences," which are main idea state-ments about the details in eachparagraph.

3. Read the essay once more andput parentheses ( ) around sen-tences that provide descriptions ofhigh school and college learning.Each middle paragraph shouldhave numerous descriptive sen-tences that illustrate the analyticalor main idea statements in eachparagraph.

4. Read the last paragraph closely.Put brackets around those

31

37

"Students willneed a set ofspecific directionsto guide theirreading . .theyshould learn toread multiple timesfor multiplepurposes."

"Vtihat novicecritical readers do

need to learn ishow to providestatements thatidentify spots inthe writing that

were under-developed and

need furtherexplanation,

description, orillustration."

sentences that show how the writerassesses or evaluates his or her ad-ju.siment to college learning.

Step Four - Create Goals forDiscussion

Following the close-reading activ-ity, students will need to discusstheir rindings with their partners.This discussion should be purpose-ful and should help writers dis-cover discrepancies between theirperceptions of their writing and theresponse of an actual reader.

Generally, students will praise eachothers' writing and will be reluctantto identify weaknesses. In the mini-scripts that you give students tohelp them through these discus-sions, take this stance into account.They do not need to identify weak-nesses at this stage, and they shouldtell each other what they likedabout one another's writing. Thegeneral praise that students willgive each other is part of the affirm-ing and confirming process thathelps writers identify what theyhave done well. What novice criti-cal readers do need to learn is howto provide statements that identifyspots in the writing that were un-derdeveloped and need further ex-planation, description, or illustra-tion.

Step Five - Create Mini-Scripts forPeer Discussion

To help students learn to provideresponses to each other that helpwriters develop or clarify their writ-ing, these four mini-scripts will behelpful:

Sample Mini-Scripts.

1. First, tell the writer what youliked about his or her essay, whatyou found most interesting, and

32 3 5.:

what related to your own experi-ences in a similar or different way.For example, you can say, "1 enjoyedreading about your experiences in highschool math class. It was interesting tosee that you had a teacher who gave a lotof homework. In my math class, we didall our work in class."

2. Tell the writer what you wouldlike to know about. For example,you might say, "I was interested inhow your college math teacher is helpfulto you. Can you tell me about how sheanswers your questions?"

3. Show the writer where you identi-fied focusing statement analyticalstatements, descriptive statements,and evaluative statements. Ask thewriter if there were the statements heor she intended to use in these ways,For example, ask "Is this statementthat I have underlined as your main ideareally the main idea you have about thedifferences between college and highschool learning?"

4. Ask the writer what he or shewould like most to add to the essay.

Step Six - Ask for a Revision Plan

As an instructor, you will want to as-sess the group workshop and, in par-ticular, the value of the peer ex-change and close reading. To do so,you will need a written responsesheet from each student. There aretwo kinds of response records thatyou can collect.

1. Create a response sheet for theclose-reading questions. A sample ofsuch a sheet is at the end of thischapter.

2. Ask students to write their ownrevision plans following the discus-sion with their partner about theirwriting. Emphasize that they makethe final decisions about how to

change their essays, but they shouldconsider their partner's comments asthey make their decisions. A sampleof a revision plan worksheet is also atthe end of this chapter.

Step Seven - Evaluate GroupEffectiveness

To determine the value of the work-shop, ask students to assess brieflytheir experiences in writing. A sam-ple of this assessment instrument is atthe end of the chapter.

Your Role During Workshops

Because small-group workshops aredesigned to encourage students totake responsibility for their ownlearning, your role as the course in-structor will change radically duringthese workshops. It may be difficultat first for you to "let go" of control-ling the learning, but for your work-shop to succeed, you have to demon-strate to students that you expect theycan learn on their own, without yourinterference. However, while small-group workshops are occurring, youstill have an active presence in theclassroom. You will become a facili-tator, occasionally a mediator, themajor director, and the resident ex-pert. If you have the opportunity toinvolve a peer tutor in your class-room workshops, do so. Upper-classstudents will model effective collegecommunication styles and content forfirst-year students in a way that in-structors cannot.

The Facilitator

As the classroom facilitator, circulateamong the small groups, especially atthe beginning, noticing whether ornot they understand your directionsand are ready to work. Asking, "Ev-enything okay here?" is a non-threaten-ing and non-intrusive way to checkon their process. Return once or

twice more during the workshopsasking the same question just toprovide your students with the op-portunity to check on their progresswith you.

The Mediator and Expert

Occasionally, students will have adisagreement about the directions,their ideas, or particular aspects ofwriting. Students may ask you toresolve such disputes. You maywant to answer some questions di-rectly, but others you may chooseto turn back to them. For example,if students are arguing over a ruleof grammar or usage, you can cer-tainly answer their question, but it'salso helpful to encourage them tofind the answer themselves by re-ferring to a handbook Other dis-putes of a more personal naturehave to be handled carefully so thatstudents do not interpret a peer'sresponse as a "put-down" of theirwriting.

The Director

You will want to notice whichgroups are moving too far off taskand suggest ways to help them re-focus their conversation. This doesnot mean that conversation aboutrelated topics is to be utterly dis-couraged; in fact, you want to en-courage students to have a goodconversation about their ideas.Asking "How's it going here?" or"Are you getting some ideas aboutyour essays?" should elicit responsesfrom students that will let youknow how far off task they reallyare. If the conversation has driftedtoo far from the assigned subjectand task, point them back to thecenter by asking to see their revi-sion plans.

As you are circulating, notice com-munication styles among students.

33

. . . while small-group workshopsare occurring . . .

you will become afacilitator,occasionally amediator, themajor director, andthe residentexpert."

For example, observe body lan-guage and tone to identify resistantor hostile students who may choosecomplete silence or move outside ofthe group boundaries. You mayneed to address such students gen-tly and quietly, but firmly: "Sandra,how about moving closer to Jeanne soyou can hear each other," or "Carl, didyou hear anything especially interest-ing when Alice read her essay?"

In all of these roles, you are still let-ting students know that you areavailable to answer questions andprovide additional direction for theworkshop process. Your presenceand support lets them know thatyou are interested in the learningthat occurs during the workshop.They must know that you expectthem to work responsibly and to be"in charge" of the interaction. Yet,they still must be able to drawupon your ideas and expertise, es-pecially in during the early stagesof learning to work collaboratively.

Condusion References and SuggestedReadings

The writing workshop is an interac-tive approach to learning to write.In this approach, learning occurs inthe classroom under the instructor'sdirection, but students are in controlof the activities. Because writingworkshops are student-centered,they will often result in more growththan is generated by traditionalteacher-centered models. Althoughyou will not have to plan lectures ordiscussionsand that will save youtimeyou do have to plan a process.As you determine the process foreach workshop, remember to listyour objectives, and keep each of thetasks concrete. Above all, studentsmust be able to perceive how theworkshop helped them change theirwriting. If students leave each work-shop with a single new idea abouthow to revise their work, you willknow that the workshop process hasbeen successful.

34

Chickering, A. (1978). Educationand identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Elbow, P. (1973). Writing withoutteachers. New York: Oxford.

Harris, M. (1986). Teaching one toone: The writing conference. Urbana,IL: National Council of Teachers ofEnglish.

Hawkins, T. (1976). Group inquirytechniques for teaching writing.Urbana, IL: National Council ofTeachers of English.

Jewler, A. J., & Gardner, J. N.(1987). Step by step to college success.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Perry, W. (1970). Forms of intellec-tual and ethical development in the col-lege years: A scheme. New York:Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Sample Workshop Materials

In designing workshop materials, prepare questions that help generate facts and ideas students canuse during discussion. Create questions that are open-ended and that cannot be answered with asimple "yes" or "no."

I. Worksheet for Close Reading Response

Your name:Writer's name:Title of essay:

Complete the tasks below, and use your responses during your conversation with your partner.

1. Read the essay all the way through, and do not comment on it right away.2. Describe what you found most interesting about the essay.3. Describe what related to your experiences.4. What you would like to know more about?5. In your own words, state the writer's main idea.6. In your own words, summarize the writer's analysis.7. What does the writer describe thoroughly?8. In your own words, state the writer's evaluation of his or her adjustment to college.9. Suggest what the writer could do to improve the essay.

R. Revision Plan Worksheet

Your Name:

Classmate who read your essay

fi-nal decisions about how to change your writing, but also remember that your partner gave you someserious responses to your writing.

3. Describe revisions you are planning to make in evaluating your adjustment to college.

111. Workshop Assessment

Following the discussion with your partner, make a revision plan. Remember that you make the B.-

2. Describe revisions you are planning to make in developing your ideas, and state specifically1. Describe revisions you are planning to make in stating your focus.

where and how you are going to add information.

Your Name:

4. What suggestions do you have for improving the workshop?3. What did you learn during the workshop?

1. What did you like best about the workshop?2. What did you find least helpful during the workshop?

35' t ,

. .

In many freshman seminars, the pri-mary focus is upon the developmentor improvement of essential studyskills. Such "study skills seminars"give students many strategies for im-proving study habits, one of which isthe need to perform a task more thanonceto "revise" their reading,studying, planning, and note-taking.Writing activities can be instrumentalin developing effective study skillsbecause of the way in which writinghelps students create and assessstudy plans. In this chapter, we willconsider writing activities that canhelp students design, implement, andassess their performance in such basicstudy skills as goal-setting and time-management, and we will considerways to use a specific type of writ-ingwriting in journalsto improvenotetaking skills, skills in writing es-say exams, and reading comprehen-sion of college-level textbooks.

Journal Writing: A Place toBegin Observing and Planning

In order to develop effective studyhabits, first-year students must be-come aware of how they actuallyspend their discretionary time, in-cluding the time they allocate tostudying. We can help students be-gin strengthening their study skillsby asking them to record their activi-ties in a journal and by giving themsteps for reviewing and assessingtheir day's work. An "observationand evaluation journal" combinesboth objective and subjective writingfor specific purposes and forces stu-

Chap ter 4Writing and Study Skills Development

dents to confront the realities oftheir behavior during study times.When they learn to assess andevaluate their behavior, they canthen design individualized plansfor improving their study skills, es-pecially their time managementand concentration. Such a journalmay be the first step in learning tomanage time, set goals, and assesspersonal strengths and weaknesses.

Journal Writing: Informal,Yet Structured

If you decide to ask students tokeep a study journal, you will needto establish a few principles aboutjournal writing. First of all, journalsare not diaries, and they are notsimply factual records of a day'sevents. Instead, they are reflectiverecords which include both objec-tive information as well as subjec-tive reflection or analysis. Studentswill need to be reminded that theymust go beyond simply listingwhat happened on a specific day intheir journal to an exploration ofthe consequences of an event. Theywill also need from you additionalspecific directions for their journalassignments, so that they knowwhat structure you expect.

Although journals can be struc-tured, they should also be informal.In order to write freely about theirexperiences, students need to knowthat you will not grade their journalentries in the same way that yougrade a formal, revised essay. Re-

37 42

member that journal entries arenever revised; all journal entriesare early drafts and, like all earlydrafts, will have errors andweaknesses in organization anddevelopment. When assessingjournals, remember that the writ-ing is exploratory and may rep-resent a great deal of risk for thewriter. Journal entries are by na-ture "first drafts" and thereforecannot be graded like revised es-says. They can, however, be as-sessed and evaluated.

Like diaries, journals are per-sonal; consequently, writers willhave a strong sense of identityand control over their journals,and instructors must respect this.Respecting a writer's journal willinfluence the way in which youchoose to respond to it as theteacher. Comment, if you like,but do not criticize or correct.Students will value your re-sponses to their experiences andideas, recognizing that a com-ment or response here and therein the journal demonstrates thatyou did indeed read and appre-ciate their effort and thought.

Responding to a journal is im-portant, but grading it can be amajor problem. Many freshmanseminar instructors have askedthe valid question: how and onwhat basis do you grade a jour-nal? If you are not "counting"spelling and grammar errors,what should your approach be?In journal writing, elements other

"Provide a specificframework for

students to recordtheir day's work

and to assess theirperformance so

that they will focusthe journal on an

analysis andcritique of personal

study skills."

than spelling and grammar aremost important in your evaluation.For instance, you can consider howmuch effort and thought the writercontributed to the task, and, in sodoing, you are assessing develop-ment and organizationtwo veryimportant elements in the writingprocess.

To be effective, journals must bekept regularly. Although this doesnot mean a journal entry must bemade every day, it does mean thatyou have to direct students to writein their journals a specified numberof times each week. Therefore, animportant element to evaluate is thequantity of writing. Check to seethat if you made four assignments,four have been completed. You canthen assign a point or two for justcompleting the assignment. Youcan give additional points for qual-ity of development, which, in thecase of journal writing, is deter-mined by how extensively andwisely writers describe and analyzetheir experiences.

You might choose to use in-classjournals, allocating five to ten min-utes at the beginning of a class pe-riod for writing. Beginning a classwith a short period of writing alsohelps focus the students' attentionon course content, gets them imme-diately involved in their learningprocess, and allows them to gener-ate questions for discussions. Theadvantages of in-class journal writ-ing are important. Because stu-dents are writing when you arepresent, you can assist with direc-tions and give immediate re-sponses. Secondly, writing in classwill often relieve the students' feel-ings that journal writing is burden-some. A combination of in-classand out-of-class journal assign-ments can lead to the most effectiveuse of journals.

38 4 3

Journal Assignments

Observing and Assessing Study Skills

To help students begin the process ofassessing their own study skills, askthem to observe and record a singleday's study activities in a journal.Stress that journals will not begraded for punctuation, grammar,and spelling, but will be reviewedand evaluated for their thorough-ness, consistency, and actual effec-tiveness. Provide a specific frame-work for students to record theirday's work and to assess their per-formance so that they will focus thejournal on an analysis and critique ofpersonal study skills. Following aresample directions for beginning astudy skills journal.

Sample Directions for a Study SkillsJournal.

As you write in your journal, keepyour prose clear and concise. Recordyour day's work objectively, notingthe facts of your day. At the end ofeach day, when you are reviewingand assessing the day's activities, feelfree to write more expressively.Consider your day, and try to under-stand the choices you made abouthow to spend your time.

1. Begin your daily journal by statingyour goals for that day. You mayneed to do this the evening before orearly in the morning.

2. Take notes on how you spendyour time throughcut each day. Cre-ate an hourly chart in your journal,and for each hour, describe the wayin which you used your time.

3. At the end of each day, assess theway in which you accomplishedyour goals for that day, and make aplan to improve the next day. Forexample, if you planned to review

your notes in the library followingyour biology lecture but got dis-tracted by friends on your way to thelibrary, note the distraction and makea plan for overcoming it the next timeit occurs.

4. At the end of each week, reviewand describe the week's record, andassess your accomplishments andweaknesses. Write a paragraph sum-marizing the week's work, pinpoint-ing important achievements and sig-nificant weaknesses.

5. Make a plan. for the coming week.Write your goals for the week, thenwrite goals each day. Begin the self-observation, recording, and assessingprocess again.

The Many Uses ofJournal Writing

Journal writing is flexible and usefulbecause it is informal, unrevised, andallows you to change your directionsaccording to the study skills you areteaching. Many professional writersuse their journals as a discovery note-book, and the directions that you pro-vide for your students should helpthem focus the observational taskand direct them to discover specificactions. Topics for which you canprovide specific directions includethese: monitoring grades, class par-ticipation, residence hall life, extra-curricular activities, and use of freetime.

Monitoring Grades

Students can use journals to monitortheir grades by keeping their owngrade records and by reviewing theirgrade standing regularly. This willprovide a "reality check" on theirperformance. By looking at a con-crete record of their grades, it isharder for students to deceive them-

selves about their progress andachievement. Another purpose forself-monitoring of grades is that itgives students some control overtheir progress and helps them de-velop responsibility for theirachievements. These two factorscontrol and responsibilitycan benurtured through writing activitiesto help students turn the externalmotivation of grades into the inter-nal motivation of learning. The fol-lowing are sample directions for us-ing journals to monitor grades.

Sample Directions for MonitoringGrades in Journals.

1. For each course that you arepresently taking, make a recordsheet on which to list your grades.

2. For each record sheet, design achart with five columns on whichto list these items:

a. your assignments

b. due dates

c. your goals far that assignment

d. grades received

e. your assessment of how youmet your goal.

3. Use this record sheet to keeptrack of your assignments, yourprogress, and the way in which youwere able to meet your goals.

4. Every two or three weeks, re-view each record sheet, and assessyour progress to date. Write aparagraph on a separate sheet ofpaper in your journal, assessing theway in which you are meeting yourgoals. Ask yourself these questionsas you assess your work:

a. How have I been successful?

39

41,'2

"Journal writing isflexible and usefulbecause it isinformal, un-revised, and allowsyou to change yourdirectionsaccording to thestudy skills youare teaching."

"To developinternal

motivation anddiscipline to studyregularly, studentsneed to know thatthey are in charge

of setting andmeeting their

goals."

b. Where have I not achieved mygoals?

c. What is getting in the way ofmy ability to meet my goals?

d.. What changes can I make toimprove my success?

Goal Setting and the "Pledge Journal"

A pledge journal can be an effectivemeans of setting personal goalsthrough a "pledge statement" andof measuring progress towardthose goals. A pledge statement issimply a few sentences that stu-dents write in response to this ques-tion: What do I promise to do to-day? The promise that they maketo themselves will help them orga-nize their priorities for studying;and the knowledge that, in a day ortwo, they will assess their pledge inwriting and orally heightens theircommitment to fulfilling theirpromises.

Pledge statements should reflecttopic areas that students are exam-ining during a study skills course;and, as they gain an awareness ofthe many components that contrib-ute to academic success, theirpledge statements will becomemore complex. For example, at thebeginning of a course, a studentmight only pledge, "1 promise to at-tend all my classes this week." But af-ter workshops on time manage-ment and study environment, apledge might look like this: "1promise to attend all classes this week,review my biology lecture notes in thelibrary immediately after class, andstudy tonight in the study lounge withmy study group."

To develop internal motivation anddiscipline to study regularly, stu-dents need to know that they are incharge of setting and meeting their

40 4 S

goals. Writing pledge statementsthat describe daily goals helps themtake control of their studying behav-ior, monitor their weaknesses, andreward themselves for success.

Assessing pledge statements. Assess-ment is essential to growth, so it isimportant to set aside a few minutesin a study skills course to allow stu-dents to review their pledges pri-vately and write a response to them-selves about whether and how theywere able to keep their promises.They should continue to use theirjournals to assess their pledges, writ-ing a commentary on their behavior,revising their pledges, and makingplans for the next day. These sampledirections will prompt students toassess their pledges.

Sample Directions for Pledge Assess-ment

Review your pledge, and list ways inwhich you succeeded in meetingyour pledge and ways in which youfailed. Look at your list, and explorethe reasons why you were some-times successful and sometimes notsuccessful. List any changes youneed to make. Write a few sentencesexplaining how you can improve theway in which you can keep yourpromises to yourself.

Pledge Journals and Group Discussion

After private writing time, studentscan meet in small groups and discussthe plans they have made for thenext day's pledge. They may or maynot choose to exchange journal writ-ing or to discuss specific details oftheir writing, but they can share newstrategies for success. Small groupdiscussion should lead to brain-storming about successful pledges,and the instructor can ask for theseideas from the whole group.

*.

Focusing on Time Management

When students write about the differ-ences between their high school andcollege lives, they will certainly de-scribe the changes in the availabilityof time to accomplish their work andmeet their personal needs. It's notunusual for students to become over-whelmed with their new freedomand completely misuse their time, orto become so dedicated to their stud-ies that they do not allow themselvestime for recreation, relaxation, andexercise cssential components ofacademic success. In between thesetwo extremes are students who arenot entirely satisfied with their use rtime. All students can benefit fromobjectively identifying their timeneeds, making clear plans for ways touse their time, and reviewing theirbehavior through writing and reflec-tion. This process of listing, identify-ing, planning, reviewing, and assess-ing in writing incorporates criticalthinking skills on a personal level.

Most students have trouble acceptingthe need to keep term, weekly, anddaily calendars, but the most success-ful students write, review, and moni-tor their schedules rigorously. Again,students can use their journals forthis process, but they will, of course,need to have standard book calen-dars to record appointments andother regular obligations.

Time Management Journa! Assignments

To focus on time management issuesthrough journal writing, give assign-ments that follow the process of list-ng, identifying, planning, reviewing,and assessing.

Sample Time Management Journal As-signment

1. Describe your present use of time.When do you feel that you lack ad-

equate time to complete tasks?What strategies do you presentlyhave to using your time wisely?

2. On a chart for each day of theweek, list all the regular require-ments you have during each day,including classes, work, and prac-tice for sports or music.

3. Describe other needs that youhave during each day, such asmeals, sleep, recreation, relaxation,and exercise. Identify how muchtime you need for each activity, andrecord it on the chart.

4. Describe the courses you arepresently taking and the amount oftime you need to study for eachone. Write these times on yourchart. Try to arrange study hoursaround classes, and avoid schedul-ing your heaviest study times verylate at night.

5. List other activities related tostudying, such as labs and tutoring,and write these on your chart.

6. Review your chart before goingany further. Assess the amount oftime you have allocated to study-ing, relaxing, and working. Haveyou identified sufficient studytime? Have you allocated toomuch relaxation time?

7. Follow your chart each day, andat the end of each day, write a fewsentences describing your successin following your time manage-ment plan. Identify changes youneed to make for the next day.

Exploring StudyEnvironments

Another way in which studentssabotage their time managementplans is by choosing the wrong

41 G.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

" All students canbenefit from objec-tively id _Intifyingtheir time needs,making clear plansfor ways to use theirtime, and reviewingtheir behaviorthrough writing andreflection."

study environment. Writing aboutan ideal study environment, as-sessing their present study envi-ronment, and designing a plan toimprove their present environmentcan help students make changes.

Imaginative Writing: The Ideal StudyRoom

Imaginative writing can help stu-dents uncover their needs and planeffective strategies for improvingtheir study habits. After reviewingfactors that contribute to creating agood study environmentlight-ing, heat, quiet, lack of distraction,moderate level of comfort, isola-tion, furniture, temperature, andpossibility of short breaks withfood or companyask students towrite an essay describing their fa-vorite place to be. They mightchoose a favorite beach, woods,

room, or fishing spot; but, in allcases, they sho. Aid focus on identi-fying the general features aboutthe place that they like as well asspecific details.

Following this writing activity,ask students to exchange writingin small groups, and then reportto the class at large, identifyingthe features that create positiveenvironments. Ask students,"What do these features have in com-mon with the optimum features instudy environments?" You willfind that they can identify thosefeatures that are similar to bothkinds of places as well as featuresthat are irrelevant in designing agood study environment.

Next, ask students to describetheir present study environment,focusing on general features and

Study Environment

Chris Gerencher

specific details. Ask them to assessthis environment, noting itsstrengths and weaknesses. Followthis assessment activity by askingthe students to wnte an essay de-scribing their ideal study environ-ment, and stress that this is "cre-ative" writingthey are to describetheir ideal, even if it seems impos-sible. They can exchange theseimaginative essays in small groupsand discuss those features from theideal that can be transferred to de-signing their real study environ-ment. Finally, ask students to listchanges they can make in theirpresent study environments thathelp bring it closer to their ideaL

The sample below shows how onestudent used a description of his fa-vorite vacation spot as a startingpoint to assess his present study en-vironment and plan changes.

My favorite place is Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I love going there.. I especially like watching the sun rise.Usually I do this by myself, but every now and then my brother will join me.. Myrtle. Beach is normallycrowded, but I usually stay away from the beach during mid-afternoon because I get burned too easily. Thething I like about being there the most Is freedomfreedom to do as I please, when I please, and how I please.

My present study environment gives me freedom, but right now it is too cluttered to be useful. I have papers,clothing, books, speakers, and CDs scattered everywhere. I am too unorganized. I am amazed that I foundmy notebook or pen. Even though my room is a mess, my desk and chair are dear so when I study I am freefrom therest of the teenage wasteland.

When Istudy I find dim light the easiest to study by. If the light is too bright I get a headache and decide toquit early. Without some type of noise I would probably go crazy, so I play soft music because it is relaxing.I try to take my shoes off when I study and not wear tight jeans. Above all, I need to be comfortable. I have achair in my room that is so comfortable it is easy to sleep in, but I try not to. To my side I need a can of Sprite.Finally about every forty minutes I find someone to joke with for awhile, then it's back to studying. To get tothis point, though, my room needs some serious spring cleaning.

42 a.P1

Textbook Reading and theResponse Journal

A response journal encourages stu-dents to keep written records of theirunderstanding and questions abouttheir reading assignments. In a re-sponse journal, students record theirreading process, identifying andcommenting on passages that aredear and listing questions about pas-sages that are not. This kind of writ-ing helps them take charge of theirreading process, focus on what theydo understand, and identify ques-tions for instructors or tutors aboutdifficult material. In a study skillscourse, you might ask students tokeep a response journal for a text thatis particularly difficult. They can alsobe encouraged to show these journalsto the course instructor during indi-vidual conferences so that the instruc-tor can identify the ways in which thetext is difficult for a student.

Dr. Sally Lipsky, a reading and studyskills specialist in the Learning Cen-ter at Indiana University of Pennsyl-vania, explains the connections be-tween reading and writing develop-ment by focusing on how combiningthe two activities builds confidence:

Effective reading and writing are allabout the same things: gaining confidenceand making connections. Working onwriting and reading simultaneouslymakes students more comfortable withlanguage, and in particular, to the receiv-ing process involved in reading. Whenstudents come back into a reading classafter working on a journal entry in thewriting center, I notice that their confi-dence as readers has improved. Whenthey write and express their own ideas,they have to make connections for anotherreader. They can then bring that processof making connections to their own read-ing tasks. In writing, they have to "put itall together" for first themselves, andthen for another reader. I want them to

be able to step back from their writingand say, "What did I just create here?"Then, when they are reading, they canask, "What was this writer trying tocreate for me?" After working on spe-cific writing tasks to describe or evalu-ate, for example, or use details or fullyexplain an idea, they are better able tofind these features as they read. Bylearning to make connections as awriter, they learn to find connections asa reader. (personal communication,June, 1992)

Reading college-level texts presentsproblems for students because thewriting style is often denser thanthey are accustomed to. Conse-quently, students are challenged tofind a new way to read complexmaterial to find, as Sally Lipsky ex-plains above, what the writer wastrying to create. Students need newstrategies for finding what thewriter was trying to create. Taskssuch as untangling material in texts,identifying crucial ideas, noting im-portant details, summarizing mate-rial in their own words, and re-viewing and checking their under-standing can all be assisted throughthe writing process. Writing in aresponse journal can help themthrough these complicated cogni-tive activities.

Using a Response Journal

Directions for a response journalshould follow the reading processthat students have to use whenreading a textbook: identifying cru-cial ideas, noting important details,summarizing material in their ownwords, and reviewing and checkingtheir understanding. The directionsbelow take students through a re-cursive reading and writing processwith text material and asks them toreexamine ideas and facts by pos-ing their own questions. Finally,they are prompted to assimilate the

43 4 0

"Reading college-level texts presentsproblems forstudents becausethe writing style isoften denser thanthey areaccustomed to."

"Students cancreate a reader's

log for their lecturenotes in much the

same way thatthey do for text

notes."

material from their own perspec-tive. This process can be integratedwith standard strategies for textreading that emphasize questioningand multiple readings, such as pre-dicting information from titles andheadings, identifying key words,restricted highlighting, and creatingquestions in response to headings.

Sample Directions for Creating a Re-sponse Journal

In your response journal, you willbe keeping a reader's log that helpsyou identify material you do un-derstand and material that createsquestions for you. The reader's logis based on the premise that youcan break up reading a large unit,such as a chapter, into smaller sec-tions which you can explore indepth to increase your understand-ing.

1. Read your text material throughonce, noting major divisions identi-fied through headings and sub-headings. Write a few sentencesstating the main purpose of the ma-terial as you understand it after onereading. List questions you haveabout the material.

2. Read the material again, and thistime, start your reader's log in yourjournal. Take a break after eachmajor section, and write the mainidea in your log. In another col-umn, write questions you haveabout that section.

3. Review your questions from thelog. Read the complete text mate-rial again, using your questions as aguide. As you read, try to find theanswers to your questions; writethese in your log.

4. Write a summary in your ownwords of the important ideas fromthe reading.

444 e-

5. Explain in a few sentences how themain ideas are important to the gen-eral subject of the text.

Lecture Note-Taking and theResponse Journal

Students can create a reader's log fortheir lecture notes in much the sameway that they do for text notes. Inthis case, however, they are creatingthe reading material for their own re-view and comment. A reader's logfor lecture notes can be used in con-junction with a standard approach tonote-taking, such as the Cornellmethod, (Pauk, 1974) that is alreadyrecursive and encourages students todevelop questions and answers ontheir own, summarize sections, andexplain the relevance of sectionalmaterial to the larger subject matter.The following directions illustratethis point.

Sample Directions for Creating a LectureNotes Reading Log

1. Review your lecture notes and thequestions you have written in theleft-hand column. Choose the mostpuzzling questions, and rewritethem into your reader's log.

2.. Identify key words from yourquestions that you do understand.Identify new words that confuseyou. Find definitions of the newwords from the text or from a dictio-nary.

3. Look for connections betweenthese two groups of words. Explorepossible connections in your log,writing about the elements thewords share.

4. List possible sources (such asother books in the course, usingthe library, seeing your instructor, orvisiting the tutorial center) to assist

you in finding answers to your ques-tions. Develop strategies to use thesesources.

Using Reader's Logs andJournals to Prepare for

Essay Exams

If students have been creatingreader's logs and journal entriesthroughout a course term in responseto textbook material and lecturenotes, they are well prepared to studyfor exams. The material they havecreated will help them focus theirstudying and review important con-cepts as well as consider new possi-bilities for exam topics.

When students take essay exams,they usually do not have the oppor-tunity to make revisions before sub-mitting the exam for a grade. Conse-quently, writing an essay exam pre-sents a major problem for inexperi-enced writers: they must submit anearly draft as though it were a finaldraft. In order to write essay examssuccessfully, students must "re-hearse" and practice their essays be-fore actually taking the exam. Mostinexperienced writers do not rehearsetheir writingfor example, by writ-ing it mentally or composing aloud tooneself, or just thinking about thesubject for daysbefore they begincomposing. Therefore, to becomewell-prepared for an essay exam, stu-dents must learn to rehearse writingon the spot, to plan and composequickly, and to proofread expedi-tiously. Students can use their logsand journals to identify possible es-say topics for an exam and then prac-tice writing these essays so that theyare well-rehearsed before the day ofthe test.

Practicing Essay Exams

Give students an opportunity inclass to practice writing essay tests.Plan a preliminary small-groupworkshop during which studentswork together, looking throughtheir logs and journals to identifypossible essay topics. Ask them tochoose two topics with which topractice.

For a second workshop, create asimulated essay test-taking situa-tion, but shorten it so that studentsdiscover how much and how wellthey can actually write in a givenamount of time. Ask students toprepare these two topics for an es-say test. Ask them to bring basicoutlines to class or plans that in-clude main ideas and importantsupporting details. For this secondwriting workshop, ask students toreview their plans and then putthem away. Then give them a shorttime to write, asking them to writeas much of the essay as they can.For example, ask students to writefor ten minutes and then stop. En-courage them to use their free-writing skills, but to monitor theirwriting as they go, noting errorsthey have made that they can re-check later. At the end of the tenminutes, give them one minute tocorrect errors or add information.Finally, ask students to assess theirwriting: Was it clear and to thepoint? Did they include the mostimportant information? Howmuch more do they need to be ableto write in a longer time period inorder to write a strong essay exam?Suggest that students rehearse theessay test again on their own, writ-ing for a longer time period.

45 50

Conclusion

Writing should be an essentialcomponent of a freshman semi-nar course because it gives stu-dents a way to focus attention onimportant ideas and details.Writing can play an instrumentalrole in helping students deter-mine their plans and use themsuccessfully.

When students commit theirthoughts to writing and then re-read what they have created,they gain an opportunity to re-flect and to reconsider their lives.JOUMa. writing, with its infor-mality and flexibility, offers tre-mendous possibilities for en-hancing learning and changingbehavior. Because it is more"open" than traditional essays,students are more likely to feelcomfortable taking risks as theywrite in both expression andthought. And, as students takerisks, they make unexpected dis-coveries that determine their fu-ture paths. These two elemenisdiscovery and determinationhelp students plan successfulacademic lives.

Reference

Pauk, W. (1974). How to studyin college. Boston: HoughtonMifflin.

Chapter FiveWriting and the Individual Needs of First-Year Students

Depending upon their overall pur-pose and structure, freshman seminarcourses will differ with respect to theway in which writing is integratedinto other course activities. Recent re-search conducted at the University ofSouth Carolina (Barefoot, 1992) indi-cates that a small number of fresh-man seminars are structurally linkedwith English composition. Others,which are administered through a va-riety of campus units and depart-ments, include an intensive focus onwriting. Still others include writingas one of a number of important aca-demic skills which comprise seminarcontent.

Whenever freshman seminar stu-dents are assigned an out-of-classwriting project, it is important toimplement writing conferenceswhether with the teacher or with atutorto talk with students about theparticular project in early and middledraft stages. As Muriel Harris (1986)explains in her book, Teaching One -to-One: The Writing Conference, "It is inthe one-to-one setting of a conferencethat we can meet with writers andhear them talk about their writing.And they can also hear us talk, notabout writing in the abstract, butabout their writing" (p. 3). Because allstudents can benefit from individual-ized conferences, we will look atsome basic guidelines for creatinguseful conversations about writingduring the drafting process. Also inthis chapter, we will consider the im-portant role of recognizing and teach-ing a group of students with veryspecial needsstudents who havelearning disabilities.

Guidelines for WritingConferences

When you invite students to youroffice for a conference about theirwriting, some will be intimidatedand apprehensive. Be prepared toaccommodate their apprehensionby initiating a friendly conversationand allowing them to set theagenda for the meeting. Givingstudents the opportunity to tell youwhat they would like to talk aboutin regard to their writing givesthem enough control over the con-ference to alleviate their fear thatyou will "rip their essay apart"when they are alone with you inyour office. You will find that it isstill possible to introduce your ownconcerns into their agenda if youare patient and attentive, and mostoften, you will find that their con-cerns closely match yours.

Even if you are not a writing expert,you can initiate a useful conferencewith your students, and how youbegin the conference will influencethe way the conference will pro-ceed. Begin by just being friendly:standard greeting questions are ap-propriate and will help students re-lax and feel that they can trust you.General questions such as, "How'syour writing going?" "What are youfinding as you work on that assign-ment?" or "What would you like totalk about in your writing?" are suffi-ciently open-ended to allow the stu-dent to zero in on his or her ownwriting process and problems, butalso to point out to you what is go-ing well.

47 51

Make the student comfortable inyour environment by providinga chair and accessible writingsurface. Avoid sitting behindyour desk and using your deskas a barrier between yourself andthe student; the student will im-mediately sense this "hierarchi-cal" arrangement and defer toyou as an authority or resist youfor the same reason. Instead ofusing your desk to establish yourauthority, sit next to or acrossfrom the student, on the samelevelboth of you in chairs orstudent desks, or ideally, arounda small table with the writing be-tween the two of you.

In general, students will leave aconference with more ideasabout improving their writing ifyou fast focus on the "big pic-ture" of the writing: the thesis ormain idea, as well as the devel-opment, organization, and voice.If you are looking at an earlydraft, it is not helpful to discussclarity because many errors willbe corrected in subsequentdrafts; if you do notice many er-rors, just say, "Remember to savetime for careful proofreading and ed-iting before you hand in your finalcopy." Wait until the very latestdraft stages to discuss errors sothat you can be sure the writerhad a chance to make correctionson his or her own.

Think of the conference as an op-portunity to explore with thewriter ways to improve a piece ofwriting. As you discuss the writ-

"As you discuss thewriting, your most

effective role willthat of a 'prompter'who asks the right

questions to helpthe writer discover

her own ways ofproceeding to the

next draft."

Mg, your most effective role willthat of a "prompter" who asks theright questions to help the writerdiscover her own ways of proceed-ing to the next draft.

Begin by asking the student to readhis or her work aloud to you. Asyour students read to you, theymay be hearing their own wordsfor the very first time. A studentwill probably stop every now andthen, noting aloud, "Wait, that's notuhat I wanted to say here." Thus, theoral process immediately begins theimportant revising process for thewriter.

As you listen, do not interrupt thewriter, but allow her to discover herown reading voice. If she has notdone any self-correcting as shereads, and you feel that there weremoments that she should have, youcan ask her to go back over thosepassages that were unclear. As youask for clarification, frame yourquestions as a true reader who is re-sponding to any piece of writing. Ifyou're having an interesting andproductive conversation about thewriting, students may forget thatthey are actually discovering newthings to add to the writing.

Generally, a writing conferenceneed last only fifteen to twentyminutes; and, after half an hour,most students become too tired ofintense scrutiny of language to beenthusiastic. Help students gainclosure on a conference by askingthem to summarize and reviewyour discussion. You can end aconference by saying, "1 think you'vegained same new ideas now. Whydon't you repeat them to me so we canbe sure there isn't anything else that'simportant right now to discuss?" Thisquestion also helps you and yourstudent continue to look towardsthe next stage of the writing process

48

and identify areas that will needmore attention.

Using a CampusWriting Center

College or university writing centers,where professional or paraprofes-sional tutors meet individually withwriters, provide an opportunity forstudents to explore ideas and stylesof expression, to take risks, and to re-ceive non-threatening feedback fromprofessional staff and peers. With in-tensive individualized attention tocomposing, a great deal of growth inwriting can occur.

In the past, writing centers have beenperceived as places where only re-medial students must go to improvetheir basic writing skills. This is nolonger the case; most writing centersare now learning environments forall students, faculty, staff, and mem-bers of the community. There maybe computer labs attached to tutorialservices, and there may be special-ized tutorial programs for first-yearstudents.

Students do, however, remain sensi-tive to hearing their instructors say,"You need to go to the writing center."They may perceive such a request aspunishment or as an indication thatthey are stupid. The way in whichyou frame such a recommendationinfluences the student's perception oftutoring in writing. There are manypositive ways to recommend to astudent that tutoring would be ben-eficial, but all recommendationsshould include the idea that all writ-ers benefit from responses to theirwork. Avoid prejudicial or stigma-tizing language that discourages stu-dents from getting the help that theyneed. Instructors who write in largeletters in red ink on the top of thefirst page of a student's essay, "YOU

OBVIOUSLY CAN'T USE THE ENG-LISH LANGUAGE PROPERLY ," arecommunicating more than just theidea that the writing contains manyerrors: they are insulting the person'sidentity as a communicator.

Working with a Writing Center

Writing centers can supplement yourinstruction, not replace or supersedeit. Effective use of the writing centerrequires that you communicate tostudents your expectations for tuto-rial outcomes. It is appropriate to tella student, "When you go to the writingcenter, tell the tutor, 'I would like to lookat specific ways to expand my develop-ment.'" Such specific directions helpstudents practice college-level vo-cabulary in a particular context asthey gain control of their learning.

Most writing centers will providefeedback forms to instructors follow-ing conferences. However, theBuckley Amendment gives studentsthe right to privacy about their aca-demic records. Hopefully, your stu-dents will be eager for you to knowthat they received tutorial help be-cause they will know that you valueit and will reward them for their ef-forts. Tutoring is usually its own re-ward: conferences will lead to im-provements in writing if a studentfollows up on revision plans. Addi-tionally, you may choose to build intoyour grading schemes points forwriting center conferences that areawarded after you have seen feed-back forms that reveal the substanceof the conference.

Students withLearning Disabilities

Instructors working with studentswith learning disabilities need a basicunderstanding of what a learning dis-ability is, how it may affect an

individual's learning style, andwhat general teaching strategies areusually helpful. Extensive special-ization in learning disabilities is notnecessary. Most important is therecognition that writers with learn-ing disabilities need what all writ-ers need: a supportive place towork, individualized response toideas and expression, and conver-sations that boost self-image andconfidence. Writers with learningdisabilities will need a great deal ofencouragement and response tohelp maintain their motivation, es-pecially during times when theyfeel discouraged or overwhelmed.

Defining LearningDisabilities

Learning disabilities are not clearlyunderstood in many cases, but wedo know that they appear to be theresult of naurophysiological dys-function. Sometimes, a student hasa clear diagnosis of a learning dis-ability and will know, for example,that she has dyslexia, a problemwith reading, or that he has an au-ditory deficit, meaning that he can-not always accurately interpretwhat he hears. But in many cases,the diagnosis is not definitive. Wedo know what learning disabilitiesare not: they are not forms of men-tal retardation or other mentalhandicaps; they are not a form ofmental illness; they are not the re-sult of an emotional disorder; andthey are not the result of cultural orethnic backgrounds. Problemswith writing that students withlearning disabilities experience maylook similar to the writing behaviorof students who have academicallyweak backgrounds, but the sourceof the struggles is very different.Also, the pedagogies for providingindividual assistance vary consider-ably.

49 (1

"Writers withlearning disa-bilities will need agreat deal ofencouragement andresponse to helpmaintain theirmotivation,especially duringtimes when theyfeel discouraged oroverwhelmed."

"Section 504 of theRehabilitation Act

of 1973 describeslegislation which

is crucial toeducational rights

for people withlearning

disabilities."

Legal Definitionsand Student Rights

Section 504 of the RehabilitationAct of 1973 describes legislationwhich is crucial to educationalrights for people with learning dis-abilities. The intent of this Act isthat persons with learning disabili-ties must be provided with an edu-cation that is like and equal to thatreceived by persons without learn-ing disabilities. There are some sig-nificant consequences of this Actfor learning disabled students whoare working on a writing project.

Educators need to recognize thatstudents with diagnosed learningdisabilities must be allowed to usethe appropriate accommodationsrecommended for their particularprofile. For example, if it is recom-mended that a student have a note-taker with them during class, thestudent must, by federal law, be al-lowed to use such forms of learn-ing. Other consequences of this Actinclude allowing students withlearning disabilities alternativeforms of testing, untimed testing oressay writing, use of computers forword-processing and transcrip-tions.

Diagnosis: IdentifiableCharacteristics

Students with learning disabilitiesmay demonstrate some of the char-acteristics listed below. However,each person has a unique learningstyle. Therefore, it's quite likelythat a person with dyslexia, for ex-ample, characterized commonly byreading and writing problemswords are confused or misinter-preted or not processed at allmaybe able to read some kinds of textsmore easily than others and willcertainly be able to understand a

50

text when someone reads it aloud.In sum, it is important to recognizethat a learning disability is a legiti-mate problem for a writer and that itis mandatory to provide the requiredassistance. But at the same time, it isimportant not to prejudge a person'scompetence as a writer or to holdlow expectations for how that personcan make progress in writing.

Common Characteristics ofCollege Students withLearning Disabilities

I. Reading

Confusion of similar words, diffi-culty using phonics, problems read-ing words with several syllables.

Slow reading rate and/or diffi-culty adjusting speed to the nature ofthe reading task.

Difficulty with comprehensionand retention of material that is read,but not with material presentedorally.

II. Writing

Difficulty with sentence structure,poor grammar, omitted words.

Frequent spelling errors, inconsis-tent spelling, letter reversals.

Difficulty copying from board oroverhead.

Poorly formed letters, difficultywith spacing, capitals, and punctua-tion.

III. Oral Language

Difficulty attending to spoken lan-guage and inconsistent concentra-tion.

Difficulty expressing ideas orallywhich the student seems to under-stand.

Problems describing events or sto-ries; improper sequence.

Residual problems with grammar,difficulty with inflectional or deriva-tional endings.

N. Study Skills

Poor organization and time man-agement.

Difficulty following directions.

Poor organization of notes andother written materials.

Need more time to complete as-signments.

V. Social Skills

Difficulty "reading" facial expres-sions and body language.

Problems interpreting subtle mes-sages such as sarcasm.

Confusion in spatial organization,getting lost easily, difficulty follow-ing directions.

Disorientation in time, difficultytelling time. (Wren, C., & Segal, L.,1985)

Although it is helpful to be familiarwith this list of characteristics, re-member that students with learningdisabilities should never be pre-judged regarding their abilities tolearn and develop new skills. Ateacher's or tutor's expectations forprogress can affect the student's con-fidence and ability to learn. High ex-pectations coupled with the commu-nication of confidence and trust willresult in more successful learning.

First-Year Students withLearning Disabilities

Cathy Dugan, Director of the Ad-vising and Test Center at IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania, states,

During the freshman year, learningdisabled students need more directiveassistance than other students. It's im-portant to keep in touch with their ad-visors and instructors and to be flexiblein your approach to instruction. I cannever exactly predict haw a studentwill handle the challenges presentedduring the freshman year. I have foundthat self-esteem is an important vari-able in a student's success, as well astheir previous experiences in schoolwith the label learning disabled. In thebest situations, learning disabled stu-dents have learned how to use that labelto their advantage: they know how todescribe their disabilities and how to re-quest accommodations. It's muchtougher for freshman students whohave just discovered that they have adisability and are just learning to talkabout it with friends, parents, and pro-fessors. (personal communication,June, 1992)

Because students with learning dis-abilities are "at different places" inrequesting assistance and under-standing their disabilities, it is criti-cal that instructors respond to themindividually. Ideally, instructorsshould receive informadon from anoffice of disabled student servicesabout a particular student's disabil-ity, along with suggested strategiesfor assisting the student. However,this ideal may not always conformto reality. You may find yourselfwondering if a student has a learn-ing disability and how to proceedin providing assistance. If you no-tice a student demonstrating char-acteristics of a learning disability,call the campus office of disabledstudent services and seek advice,

51

"Ideally,instructors shouldreceive informa-tion from an officeof disabled studentservices about aparticular stu-dent's disability,along with sug-gested strategiesfor assisting thestudent."

- .

All those working with first-yearstudents who have learning dis-abilities will be most successfulwhen these conditions hold:

1. The student has identified his orher disability to you.

2. The student has familial sup-port for his or her efforts and has astrong advising component fromthe university or school, includingappropriate interventions and as-sistance such as readers, books ontape, untimed exams, and access tocomputers.

3. The student has strong internalmotivation and self-discipline.

4. The student has strong skills intime management and is able tostructure his or her studying ef-forts effectively.

Conversely, when students areweak in any of the above areas, in-structors and tutors will find theirwork more demanding and evenfrustrating. They will have to beprepared to integrate assistance inthese areas:

1. Providing guidelines for timemanagement (personal and studytime as well as work time).

2. Structuring a learning system forthe individual and making a planfor working through the writingprocess.

3. Helping the student create net-works of support in the academicinstitution or at home.

4. Providing motivation and inspi-ration through personal modelingand interactions.

The LD Studentin the Writing Center

by Emily Moran

5. Functioning as a reader andidentifying computer accessibility.

Directive Assistance forFirst-Year Students with

Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilitiesbenefit greatly from the individual-ized assistance available from peertutors in writing centers. Peer tu-tors can provide essential role-modeling and encouragement forany underconfident writer. For LDstudents, tutors provide an extrasupport system. In the followingessay, an LD student explains thekind of help she hopes to receivefrom tutors. Her remarks are alsohelpful for instructors who wish tosupport LD students in their jour-ney toward academic success.

I need tutors to understand where I'm coming from. Tutors have to put themselves into my place or pic-ture and know that my dyslexia doesn't affect me just when I walk into the writing center; it affects me allthe time.

A tutor needs to understand that a student with a learning disability depends upon a lot of people andthings to go correctly. When one thing goes wrong or breaks down, it can rain your day. Tutors canhelp students with learning disabilities by helping them stay on task instead of getting distracted by theirworries. Don't sit in the middle of the writing center because it's too easy to be distracted. I always go tothe corners.

I hope that tutors won't give me negative feedbackthere's enough of that to deal withbut will givepraise. If someone says to me "That's a nice sentence," I think, 'Whew, I did one right thing today."Somedays I don't feel much like "she's speciaL" I think that people think when they see me working inthe writing center, that we're just working on a paper like anybody else, and that's really nice. The fresh-man is totally unable to conceive that they could do this. They just need total reassurance. It's hard for afreshman to get to the point where they can concentrate because of their fear and major adjustmentsthey're facing. Sometimes I think people aren't going to believe me about my dyslexia.

52C

Probably the most challenging as-pect of teaching writing to studentswith learning disabilities is thequestion of when to be directiveand when to encourage self-reli-ance. It is not easy to know whento offer directive instruction andwhen to withhold it. The peda-gogical approach "accommoda-tion, not remediation"can be auseful guide, but even this ap-proach is controversial. A student-centered approach, on which thisdiscussion of writing instruction isbased, may not meet the needs ofstudents with learning disabilities.While we should be committed to apedagogy of helping students growas authorities over their own work,it may be necessary to be more in-structive than usual, overtly identi-fying errors or organizational prob-lems that a learning disabled stu-dent may not be able to see. But fi-nally, since it is impossible to knowwhether and to what degree a stu-dent can overcome a disability, in-structors should avoid negative ste-reotyping and predictions and sim-ply let the students themselvesshow what they can do.

Conclusion

Even the very best writers benefitfrom receiving responses to theirwriting from interested readers. Asthe instructor, you are certainly aninterested reader, but students willalways perceive you as prejudicedbecause you evaluate and grade thewriting, making it part of a stu-dent's record. Students are alwaysaware of the hierarchical dimen-sions of their relationships withtheir instructors; therefore, they arealways going to feel uncomfortablein letting you read their early draftsand hearing your feedback. Dur-ing individual conferences, yourfirst priority will be to put your stu-

dents at ease so that they will beable to listen productively to you.Your second priority will be tohave a good conversation aboutthe ideas in the writing. And fi-nally, it will be important for youto make your recommendationsfor a subsequent draft in terms ofyour needs as a reader. The lan-guage that you use to describeyour responses to the draft affectsthe student's reception of yourfeedback. If you say "I couldn'tfollow your ideas in the second para-graph," or "I couldn't pick up yourmain point," instead of "Your writ-ing is disorganized," or "You don'thave a focus," your students willnot respond defensively and willunderstand what they need to doto write more effectively. This"language of response" ratherthan criticism gives students achance to participate in college-level discourse. Opportunities tointeract privately with instructorsand tutors promote growth inlanguage use and contribute tothe holistic adjustment to collegelife.

References andSuggested Readings

Barefoot, B. (1992). Helping first-yearcollege students climb the academic lad-der: Report of a national survey offreshman seminar programming inAmerican higher education. Unpub-lished Doctoral Dissertation. Col-lege of William and Mary,Williamsburg, VA.

Cosgrove, N. (1990). Writing cen-ters and the learning disabled: Howwe might really help. Voices of em-powerment: Proceedings of the Elev-enth Annual East Central WritingCenters Association, (L. Masiello,Ed.). Indiana, PA: Halldin.

53 I

Gills, P. (1989, November). Thetroubleshooter. Writing Lab Newslet-ter, pp. 12-13. (Contains a bibliog-raphy of materials on learning dis-abilities.)

Gills, P. (1990, February). Thetroubleshooter. Writing Lab Newslet-ter, p. 12. (Contains ideas aboutworking with students with learn-ing disabilities.)

Gills, P. (1989, April). The trouble-shooter. Writing Lab Newsletter, pp.4-5.

Harris, M. (1986). Teaching one-to-one: The writing conference. Urbana,IL: National Council of Teachers ofEnglish.

Huot, B., Godwin, P., Baumhover,S., & Heilman, C. (1988). Draftings:Tutoring the learning disabled studentin a university writing center, Vol. 3,No. 2. Cedar Falls, IA: University ofNorthern Iowa.

Huot, B. (1988, November). Work-ing with Charlotte: A close look attutoring the special learner. Writ-ing Lab Newsletter, pp. 9-12.

Towns, C. (1989, November).Serving the disabled in the writingcenter. Writing Lab Newsletter, pp.14-16.

Wren, C., & Segal, L. (1985). Collegestudents with learning disabilities.Chicago: DePaul University.(write to Carol Wren, Director,Project Learning Strategies, DePaulUniversity, 2323 Seminary, Chi-cago, IL 60614.)

In this chapter we will consider therelationship between variations inspoken English and writing instruc-tion. Besides exploring how regionaldialects and slang affect developingwriting skills, we will look at someideas for helping writers for whomEnglish is not a first language. Thesestudents may be international stu-dents, or they may be American citi-zens for whom English never becamethe dominant language in speech,reading, or writing. Both groups ofstudents need some unique assis-tance in gaining English writingskills. They also require from us ex-tra sensitivity to the ways in whichlanguage use reflects and affects eth-nic identities.

What Do We Mean byDiversity in Language?

Mankind apparently views all unfamiliarhuman behavior as suspicious and unsys-tematic. If you have ever watched a birdbuild a nest on a window sill or in a bushwithin the range of any passing alley cat,you have probably not questioned the in-telligence of the bird. Most people accepteven apparently erratic animal behaviorand assume that, no matter how foolishthe act may seem, it probably makes senseto the animal. But as soon as a humanbeing is seen to behave "differently," he isfrequently considered foolish or uncoop-erative. Language, in this case a dialect,is also a form of behavior. That peoplespeak different dialects in no way stemsfrom their intelligence or judgment.They speak the dialect that enables themto get along with the other members of

Chapter SixDiversity in Language and Writing

their social and geographical group.(Shuy, R., 1981)

If we are committed to encouragingand developing diversity at oureducational institutions in ethnicity,cultural backgrounds, age, gender,and socio-economic backgrounds,then we must be committed to nur-turing the diversity in languagethat results from these same back-grounds. Language is a delight be-cause of its rich variety, and eachperson who begins college comeswith a variety of stylistic repertoiresin both speech and writing. Ac-cepting and valuing diversity inspeaking and writing styles is notsimple, however. We must find away to balance our commitment tovaluing diversity with our commit-ment to helping students use Stan-dard Written English correctly.

Slang and Dialect

Because each person has a "socialand geographical group," each per-son also has a dialect. Regional dia-lects bring variety, innovation, andliveliness to American English, butdialects also can lead to confusionand prejudice. In the college class-room, instructors generally expectstudents to use and endorse a stan-dard form of English, and deviationfrom this standard can result in ste-reotyped judgments about a stu-dent's literacy level, intelligence,ability to learn, and attitude towardeducation.

55

Because some dialects vary moregreatly than others from the stan-dard form for written Englishwhat some scholars call StandardWritten English (SWE)writing"correctly" in college may present additional challenges forstudents whose dialect is "faraway" from written conventions.

Other factors that hold studentsback from writing correctly in-clude minimal reading experi-ence and inexperience with"switching styles"; we all "switchstyles" when we choose, for ex-ample, to use a more formalspeaking style rather than a re-gional dialect because we under-stand that the purpose and envi-ronment of the conversation re-quire it. Some students may be-gin college with backgroundsthat did not expose them tomany occasions requiring such"switching." Valuing the variet-ies of English complicates teach-ing writing, but we need to besensitive to students' personallanguage backgrounds if wewant to send the strongest mes-sages that we believe in theirabilities to succeed.

The Speaking/WritingRelationship

We know that there is a relation-ship between speaking and writ-ing, but capitalizing on that rela-tionship to improve writing and,at the same time, explain the

"When you feelthat you need to

address the use of'slang' or dialect

in a student'swriting, focus on

the differencesbetween informalspeech styles and

formal writtenconventions,

without suggestingthat the student

writes incorrectlybecause he or she

has a 'languagedeficiency."

differences between the two stylesto help students write correctly,seems impossible. On the com-plexities of the speaking-writing re-lationship, Bennett Rafoth (1993)explains that "If writing were sim-ply speech written down, learningto write would be almost as naturaland effortless as learning to talk."Rafoth explains that writing andreading rest on what we call theprint code, and that there is, there-fore, a key difference betweenspeaking and writing. For ex-ample, readers "rely on visual cueslike spacing and punctuation tohelp them move across lines anddown the page," and print cues"have a rough correspondence tovocal features we rely on for speak-ing and listening, like pausing andfalling intonation."

Even organization and appearanceare tied to the print code: placingtopic sentences at beginnings ofparagraphs is a "convention of theprint code which assists readers,who, unlike listeners, have no op-portunity to ask for clarifications."Rafoth (1993) also identifies simi-larities between speech and theprint code. He notes that "composi-tion specialists agree that goodwriting has many oral qualities,"such as voice and rhythmfeaturesthat are essential to clear and effec-tive prose. The way in which we"hear" writing as we read and useour familiarity with oral languagehelps us to understand what weread. Furthermore, both speechand writing make extensive use ofcontext and purpose: speakers andwriters alter their sense of what tosay according to the situation.

The similarities and differences be-tween speech and writing compli-cate the ways in which we can talkabout spoken language varietiesthat students use in their writing. It

rtr.1

56

is very difficult to move studentsaway from "writing like they speak'without infringing on their "right totheir own language" because dis-cussing an individual languagestylea style that is a result of per-sonal, cultural, and ethnic environ-ment and thus very much a part ofthe person's identitywill inevitablylead to offending the person.

When you feel that you need to ad-dress the use of "slang" or dialect ina student's writing, focus on the dif-ferences between informal speechstyles and formal written conven-tions, without suggesting that thestudent writes incorrectly because heor she has a "language deficiency."Remind students that everyone hasdifferent styles for speech and writ-ing and that when we write, we haveto edit for inappropriate or ineffec-tive use of informal speech styles.

Reinforce Conversation as aTechnique for Gathering Ideas

While you are trying to teach stu-dents to produce correct writing thatis different from their speech, youalso should continue to promotetheir natural abilities as conversa-tionalists. Continue to encouragesmall-group discussions as a way ofbrainstorming in the beginning of awriting task. Allow students to feelfree to be themselves in your class-room so that they use their own lan-guage styles comfortably; the free-dom and trust that develop in theclassroom will influence the way inwhich they writewhen studentsfeel welcomed and valued duringclass discussions, they are morelikely to write openly, fully, andclearly. And they will not speakopenly unless they know that "their"language is accepted and appreci-ated because of Its unique features.

To reinforce the value of language va-rieties, encourage students to usetheir dialects in writing as direct quo-tations, illustrating how they thinkaloud and how they talk with theirfriends and family. Asking them towrite about their dialects or slang willforce the issue to the forefront; asthey capture speech in writing anduse quotation marks around it, they'llnotice the differences themselves.

Group Activities for DiscussingLanguage Varieties

If you are planning units in yourcourse that consider issues of diver-sity, you can integrate language-based projects that tie into the generaltopics about diversity. The activitiesbelow encourage students to recog-nize and appreciate language differ-ences.

1. The Same Letter, Written Twice: MyFirst Two Weeks at College

Ask students to discuss how we allmake choices about language use de-pending upon the context in whichwe are speaking or writing. Studentsbenefit from group activities thatheighten their awareness of the dis-tinction between slang and formallanguage. For example, ask studentsto write a letter to two different audi-ences describing their first weeks atcollege. They will readily discusschoices in style and content. Whenwriting to a peer, students will useslang and describe social activitieshonestly and openly. When they arewriting to a parent, they will be morecareful in using slang and in offeringdetails about activities because theywill not want to offend, disturb,frighten, or anger a parent. Becausethey know why they use slang withfriends or only in certain environ-ments, and why they use more for-mal expressions and styles when they

find themselves with authorities orwith people they do not know well,they will readily grasp the conceptthat when they write academic es-says, they should use slang judi-ciously, if at all.

2. Introductions: Meet YourClassmates

Another way in which to foster dis-cussion of diversity in languageand background is to ask studentsto interview each other and then in-troduce one another to the class, inboth speech and writing. Thisproject brings differences out to theclass as a whole, allows students tctalk comfortably in small groupswhere they may feel less anxiousabout their language differences,and demonstrates differences be-tween informal (small group), for-mal (class presentations), and writ-ten language styles. Students willnaturally use these different styleswithout any advice from you; youmay want to provide a follow-updiscussion that asks students toidentify those differences theynoted as people spoke and wrote.

Tell students that they will work insmall groups to conduct interviewsof one another; then they will eachpresent one briefthree minutes atmostspoken presentation about apartner from their group. Follow-ing their presentation, they are re-sponsible for writing a paragraphthat introduces their partner as partof a journal task. You might evenchoose to collect the written inter-views and "publish" them for theclass as a whole to read again to fa-miliarize themselves with theirclassmates.

Begin by assigning small groupsrandomly, asking students to"count off" by fours, for example,and then work in these numerical

57 c

"If you are planningunits in your coursethat consider issuesof diversity, you canintegrate language -based projects thattie into the generaltopics about diver-sity."

"Students have agreat deal of fun

talking about slang,especially in class,

because they are con-vinced that such lan-guage is taboo in the

classroom and thatmerely uttering thesewords in front of aninstructor is break-ing rules of school

behavior."

groups to interview each other andprepare short presentations. Byworking in small groups ratherthan pairs, first-year students cancreate thorough interviews andpresentations. Ask students towork in their groups to design a listof questions for the interviews. As-sign group roles of lime-keeper(this person monitors the inter-views, noting for the others whenthe allotted time for each interviewhas passed), and facilitator (thisperson calls a halt to the interview-ing process and asks the others toreview their notes on the inter-views, asking additional questions,if needed).

Each group member should be as-signed to introduce one othergroup member to the whole class ina spoken presentation and in a jour-nal paragraph. Each person shouldunderstand that he or she musttake notes when interviewing thepartner. When the class is ready tobegin the interviewing process, tellstudents that each person in agroup takes a turn being inter-viewed, with all other group mem-bers participating and asking ques-tions. Encourage students to have"open" conversation as it developsduring interviews so that they havean opportunity to learn about theirsimilarities and differences.

3. Identify Dialect Differences

Ask students to identify words, ex-pressions, or styles of speech thatthey recognize as different fromtheir own. For example, there aredialect differences for large sand-wiches on long rolls (hoagies,grinders, subs, Italians) and for car-bonated beverages (soda, pop,tonic) that most groups of studentscan identify. As students namethese words, point out that the dif-ferences are regional and, therefore,

58

are part of a per ion's dialect. For afollow-up activity, ask students tosearch for more words that are partof a dialect by talking with people intheir residence halls who are from adifferent section of the country thantheir own. In Pennsylvania, the east-ern and western dialects are differentenough that students quickly learn toidentify where someone is from ac-cording to whether they say "soda"or "pop," or "rubber band" or "gumband," "paper sack" or "paper bag,"to name just a few. They also noticepronunciation differences in theword "water" depending uponwhether someone is from Philadel-phia or Pittsburgh.

4. List Slang

Students have a great deal of funtalking about slang, especially inclass, because they are convincedthat such language is taboo in theclassroom and that merely utteringthese words in front of an instructoris breaking rules of school behavior.This idea in itself is worth discussing;indeed, you can expect that somestudent will say, "It feels funny sayingthese words here." In this activity, askstudents to list slang terms they usedin their high schools, jobs, or neigh-borhoods. Again, it may be best tobegin this project in small groups be-cause students will feel more com-fortable using these words in a class-room among only a few peers. Askfor a volunteer from each group toidentify slang words listed by his orher group. Put these words on theboard; you will immediately noticethat there are many terms withwhich you are unfamiliar! Be sure toask students to define the words thatyou don't know; your ignorancehelps make the important pointabout slang that it is generational,largely developed by young people,passed around by them within theirpeer groups, and that it fades fast.

What was "cool" in the fifties or six-ties, isn't "cool" in the nineties.

Dialect and Written Errors

If you find that your students writewith many errors in spelling, gram-mar, or punctuation, you may feeloverwhelmed by the task of "correct-ing" their papers. People make er-rors in writing for many reasons, andusually, it's impossible to determinewhether errors come from a lack ofexperience in writing, an absence ofproofreading, poor reading in gen-eral, or from a lack of understandingthat written English does differ fromspoken English. The simplest diag-nosis for you to make, and one thathelps you avoid stigmatizing or ap-pearing prejudiced, is to assume thatno one has ever taught these studentshow to proofread.

When you are working with first-year students, you can expect thatthey will submit final drafts that donot look as though they have beenproofread at alland you may won-der if your students know English atallbut it is much kinder for you totell students that proofreading is ahighly specialized reading skill(which it is) and requires specificstrategies and practice. If you decidethat you are not going to expect "per-fect" writing and that you are willingto overlook some errors while teach-ing proofreading strategies to helpstudents learn to find their own er-rors, you will relieve yourself of theburden of correcting writing. Then,you can feel free to respond to writing.

Proofreading StrategiesYou Can Teach

Proofreading is a highly specializedreading skill; you can teach somestrategies during class, but you can-

not expect students to turn in per-fect writing in the course of oneterm. You can, however, expectsome progress. Tell students thatproofreading means a) slowingdown their reading, b) performingmultiple readings and purposefullysearching for specific errors, and c)isolating words and sentences sothat their eyes learn to focus closelyon the text they have written.

Because proofreading and editingshould only occur during the finalstages of the writing process, em-phasize proofreading on finaldrafts; this may spoil pretty printedpapers, but it will reinforce the ideathat writing always needs to be re-vised and errors can always befound. You might decide to askstudents to use these techniques inclass just before they submit their fi-nal drafts to you. The 15 minutes ofclass that this will take will pay offfor you when you do not have tocorrect these errors later. Proof-reading in class also gives you achance to observe student readingskills, and it gives students a chanceto ask you questions about gram-mar, punctuation, spelling, andsentence structure. The instructionyou can provide in class about theirwriting will be far more meaningfuland complete than the commentsyou can write on their papers late-.

Proofreading techniques, however,will not necessarily help studentsidentify awkwardly constructedsentences or writing that is too col-loquial. When you find that yourstudents are "writing too much likethey talk," ask them to learn tomonitor their style of writing byworking with a partner and check-ing their colloquialisms (which theywill generally call "slang"). Whenthey spot slang, tell them to askthemselves, "What do I mean bythis?" so that they develop the habit

59

"When you areworking with first-year students, youcan expect that theywill submit finaldrafts that do notlook as though theyhave been proofreadat alland you maywonder if your stu-dents know Englishat all. . ."

"When workingwith international

students, continue touse the process ap-proach to teachingwriting, but recog-nize that interna-

tional students needmore overt and di-

rective instruction tocorrect grammar,

spelling, usage, andpunctuation errors."

of clarifying their ideas by usingspecific vocabulary instead of rely-ing on slang to communicate anidea. For example, to say that aparty was "cool" may communi-cate in speech that it was well at-tended with a lot of friends, goodfood, and dancing. But in writing,all that is missing.

Proofreading Techniques

Suggest the following strategies tohelp students develop proofreadingskills.

1. Read aloud with a better writer.

Writers have to learn to monitortheir writing by focusing more care-fully on what they actually wroteversus what they intended to write.The more experienced writer canfollow along and identify placeswhere the original writer has notread what was on the page.

2. Read aloud and listen for phrasesand expressions that are usuallyused "on the street," with peers, orin casual conversation.

Usually these phrases or expres-sions will not work in writing un-less they are used as direct quota-tions to reveal aspects of thespeaker's personality and style.

3. Read the writing backward to iden-tify typing or handwriting errors.

4. Read for specific errors, such aspunctuation mistakes.

Tell students to read their writing,stop at every comma, and checkwith a better writer to confirm cor-rect usage.

5. Read with a pencil and ruler, plac-ing the ruler underneath the line of

60 CU

script or hyping to isolate the printfrom other lines.

Place the pencil on individual words,one at a time, and move it along tothe next word only after checking theisolated word carefully.

International Students

Most colleges and universities wel-come international students to theirclassrooms. You will likely have theexperience of teaching students whoare in the United States for their edu-cation and for whom English is not afirst language. These students willwrite very differently from thosewho are American-born, and youwill have to be flexible in the way inwhich you respond to their writing.When working with internationalstudents, continue to use the processapproach to teaching writing, butrecognize that international studentsneed more overt and directive in-struction to correct grammar, spell-ing, usage, and punctuation errors.

Although we can expect that nativeEnglish speakers can identify andunderstand most of their errors be-cause they have their spoken knowl-edge of English to draw upon, wecannot expect international studentsto identify their own errors withoutdirect instruction. You, of course,may not have time to provide this in-struction; consequently, you willhave to request that a student receivespecial tutorial help, or you will haveto learn to ignore the errors for themoment.

You can choose to concentrate onlarger featuresorganization, coher-ence, focus, developmentand lookpast the grammar and usage featuresthat will be more persistent as errors.However, some students, dependingupon their backgrounds, may have

I

trouble understanding the Americandiscourse structurethat is, the gen-eral essay form that we require in col-lege. The "five-star essay"a two tofive page paper with an introduction,body, and conclusionis unique toAmerican higher education. Otherculturesnon-English speaking andEnglish speakingdo not have thesame expectations for written expres-sion on these larger levels of organi-zation and development.

Some students may need additionalhelp in understanding the idea ofparagraphs, thesis statements, andthe general idea of essay coherenceand organization. Again, decide howmuch individualized additional in-struction you can provide, and thenrefer students to tutoring at yourwriting center where the staff canhelp international students with theirwriting.

Tips for Workingwith International Students

1. Be directive and precise in yourexplanations about grammar, spell-ing, punctuation, usage, and idioms.

2. Respond carefully to ESL studentswho seem to expect authoritative an-swers from you. They may comefrom traditional instructional settingsthat have prepared them to treat theinstructor with respect and assignhim or her complete authority.

3. Set concrete goals and realistictime-frames for individual confer-ences. ESL students are likely towant to work long hours with you tomeet their own high standards fortheir writing. Urge students to planmultiple short sessions with you.

4. Suspend your preconceptionsabout how any ESL student may be-have with you or toward you. Be

open to learning about cultural dif-ferences from your students.

5. Do not judge or assess the reac-tions of ESL students to your com-ments during a conference. Stu-dents from non-Anglo cultureshave different conventions for bodylanguage, facial expressions, andverbal feedback

6. Suggest that ESL writers usetheir first language while compos-ing initial drafts or outlines. Stud-ies show that ESL writers maywrite more fluently in English ifthey first compose in their first lan-guage, then translate (Friedlander,1990).

7. Give ESL writers opportunitiesto write about topics related to theirfirst-language culture and experi-ences.

Students with LimitedEnglish Proficiency

You may have noticed a new groupof students appearing in yourclasses over the last few yearsstu-dents who were born in the UnitedStates and have lived here all theirlives but still use a language otherthan English as their "first" lan-guage, having never acquiredstrong English speaking and writ-ing skills as a consequence ofschooling in the United States. Thisgroup of students is identified ashaving "limited English profi-ciency" (LEP). Such students mayspeak English with strong foreignaccents and may be weak writers,with or without interference fromtheir first language. It is not neces-sary for you to diagnose wheretheir weaknesses as writers in En-glish originated; instead of trying todiagnose the writing "problems" orinsist on correcting all errors, focuson being sensitive to the student's

61 6e;

"Give ESL writersopportunities towrite about topicsrelated to theirfirst-languageculture andexperiences."

background and cultural differ-ences that may influence his or herreceptivity to your teaching style,especially as it pertains to languageinstruction.

Remember that LEP students areactively straddling several culturesand actively identifying with theirnon-English speaking cultures.Such individuals are going to havea heightened sensitivity themselvesto comments about their languagestyles because they know theirweaknesses in English are a resultof their backgrounds, which maybe very important to them. How-ever, changing their writing doesnot have to intrude on their identi-ties. As long as you do not confusespeech behavior with writing be-havior while discussing errors inwriting, you can safely discussstrategies for improving their use ofEnglish.

Such students may have experi-enced prejudice in Americanschools because of their culturalidentities and will be very sensitiveto teachers' perceptions of theirabilities. Commenting on their mis-takes should never take the form of"You don't know English," "You'refunctionally illiterate." Instead, acomment such as "There are some er-rors in your writing that distract yourreader from getting your ideas," com-municates the point that errors, nomatter why they're there, need tobe corrected for successful commu-nication.

The following essay was written bya high-school student attending aspecial pre-college program forHispanic students. In this essay, shedescribes the effect of prejudiceespecially as it involves her abilityto use Englishon her educationalexperience. Her views clearly sug-gest to us that the most important

instructional technique we can of-fer students like Cindia is to be sen-sitive to their cultural backgrounds,to encourage them to work hard,and to have high expectations fortheir success in school.

Cindia's essay points out forcefullyhow prejudices and stereotypesmake their way into our views to-ward language. As long as she feltthat her use of English was inad-equate, her self-esteem was low

WE CAN DO ITIBy Cindia Sanchez

A lot of people hurt my feelings, but something that hurts me so deeply inside iswhen someone is prejudiced against us, the Hispanic population. They thinkthat we cannot do anything. That puts me down, but at the same time, puts meup. It puts me down because I feel bad when I hear somebody talking badabout any Hispanic person. And that puts me up, to continue working hard toshow everybody that we are not the kind of people that they think we are. Weare like everybody in this world.

When 1 just came here, my family and I always had in mind that we were com-ing to have a better future, where everything was different a place where wewill have more opportunities, and where my family can improve themselves.And it is like that, but at the beginning all I faced was something that I did notexpect or know. I faced a big barrier that did not let me go through like Iwanted to. It was like a sin that I did not know English.

At the first days of school, once a teacher was talking to a group of Latino stu-dents, and I was in that group too. He told us that the Puerto Ricans were theworst. They were dumb, dirty.. . I felt so bad at that moment that I could noteven defend my culture, because I could not speak English.

At that moment, I felt like telling the teacher that we are not like that. We have awonderful culture, we have the same capacity and intelligence as every nation-ality in this world. And our race is like every other race that has good peopleand bad people. Also I wanted to tell him that if we want, we can be better thanthem. Our people are good people. They are happy, and a lot of them do notgive up so easily.

At that time, people like that destroyed my self image, but later I realized thatthere was no reason to feel hurt because what the teacher was saying was nottrue at all. We, the Puerto Rican people, have a lot of things to be proud of. Wehave to let everybody in the whole world know all the good stuff, because a lotof them only see the bad things. We have a lot of role models, like Iris Clinton, aCoordinator of the Bilingual Education Program, Nancy Matos, a judge, bothfrom Bethlehem, and Ni tza I. Quinones, a judge in Philadelphia. They are onlysome of the role models that we still have, and that is what people need to see.

But that was yesterday. Now I am solid and sure about who I am and about myculture. I can defend myself and my people. I showed to all the people whothought that I could not do it, that I CAN do it! I improve myself as much as Ican every day, and I will continue giving my all.

It hurts me a lot when someone else discriminates against any Hispanics. Wehave to fight against discrimination, and the best medicine for that is EDUCA-TION. That way you can prove wrong those who believe that Puerto Ricanscannot do it. WE CAN DO IT!

62

and so was her confidence in her abil-ity to succeed in school. The stereo-types about Hispanics and PuertoRicans in particular, were tied to herinability to speak English persua-sively. Her arguments demonstratehow educators must recognize thatprejudices can manifest themselves inthe way we talk about language usein speech or writingand that weneed to become aware of our ownperceptions toward the language va-rieties and competencies that eachstudent brings to the educational set-ting so that we can work to "over-come those perceptions that mightcompromise our abilities to offer allstudents and equally effective educa-tion" (Stone, 1992).

Tips for Workingwith LEP Writers

1. Help LEP writers connect withtheir first-language culture by assign-ing topics related to this background.

2. LEP writers may feel embarrassedto speak in class. Provide "safe" op-portunities through small groups andindividual conferences for LEP stu-dents to talk with you and with theirpeers.

3. Set high expectations for your LEPwriters and help them meet theirgoals by performing well in class.Encourage revision so that they havea chance to practice new stylistic rep-ertoires.

4. Discuss with your LEP writerstheir feelings of prejudice and stereo-typing.

5. Focus on content instead of cor-rectness during conferences and revi-sion plans so that they believe youwhen you tell them you care abouttheir experiences and ideas (K. A.Werner, Instructor, Indiana Univer-

sity of Pennsylvania, personal inter-view, October, 1992).

Conclusion

Students with greater differencesbetween their spoken and writtenlanguages are most likely to bethose who most need more oppor-tunities to become successful. Weneed to let them have more chancesto learn how to edit their writing,and we should not penalize themfor what they haven't yet had achance to learn. Encourage readingand revision; encourage workingwith others; encourage learning totrust one's own voice and, at thesame time, translate that voice intowritten conventions.

Encourage writing to discover andrediscover; encourage learningproofreading skills as a kind ofhighly specialized reading skill. Betough. Return work to be revised,but give specific feedback on howto revise, and be sure to tell stu-dents what was positive about thewriting. Allow students to discoverthat hard work can be rewardinginstead of frightening and frustrat-ing. Encourage collaboration andpeer-exchange: when studentsshare their writing with their class-mates they can see how their ideasand expression can bring pleasureand enlightenment to others.

As you consider how to integrate amulticultural consciousness intoyour writing pedagogy and as youstruggle with the complexities andconflicts inherent in such a commit-ment, keep in mind the general sig-nificance of this process to meetingstudents' needs and creating thekinds of changes required by thenew demographics of higher edu-cation. As stated by Mary Kalant-zis and William Cope (1992) in their

636C

article, "Multiculturalism MayProve to be the Key Issue of OurEpoch,"

In higher education, such changesare necessary not just for the moralwell-being of our students, but alsofor our collective economic well-be-ing. In education faculties, in busi-ness schools, in the arts and socialsciences, students must be preparedto face the challenge of multi-culturalism as an intrinsic elementof their future productive lives.Who, after all, will be their clientsand co-workers? (p. B5)

The tolerant and sensitive atti-tude toward language differ-ences that you demonstrate mod-els a way of behaving towardone another that students will re-member from their college edu-cation. As an educator, you canfeel rewarded and satisfied if thismodel becomes part of their wayof looking at the world.

References andSuggested Readings

Friedlander, A. (1990). Compos-ing in English: Effects of a firstlanguage on writing in English asa second language. In B. Kroll(Ed.), Second language writing:Research insights into the classroom(pp. 109-125). Cambridge: Cam-bridge University Press.

Kalantzis, M., & Cope, W. (1992,November 4). Multiculturalismmay prove to be the key issue ofour epoch. The Chronicle ofHigher Education, p. B5.

Kroll, B. (Ed.). (1990). Second lan-guage writing: Research insightsinto the classroom. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Rafoth, B. (pending). Writing/speaking relationships. In Encyclo-pedia of English studies and languagearts. New York: Scholastic.

Shuy, R. (1981). Dialects: Howthey differ. In V. P. Clark, et al.(Eds.), Language: Introductory read-ings. (3rd ed.) (pp. 485-507). NewYork St. Martin's Press.

64

Stone, E. R. (1992, Summer). Lin-guistic factors in academic achieve-ment. New York Higher EducationExtension Service.

AppendixAdditional Ideas for Writing Topics and Assignments

When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, awoodcarver's gouge, a surgeon's probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow.Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you located thereal subject? You will know tomorrow, or this time next year. (Dillard, 1989, p. 3)

You may wonder how you start, how you catch the first one. What do you use forbait? (Dillard, 1989, p. 12)

These ideas are for helping students to get started writing and to catch fire. These are quick in-class assign-mentseasy to present, monitor, and evaluatethat can easily be developed into longer projects if you so de-sire. Some of the topics are "experimental" in the sense that they will help students develop creativity and learnthat taking risks with ideas and expression can open them to the rewards of writing. And finally, you and yourstudents should have fun participating in these writing activities.

Writing Activities

Write with Your Students

Whether or not you believe it, you are the expert in your class, and when you assign writing tasks, students willbenefit from your participation in the activity. When your students are writing, write with them, and when it'stime to share or exchange writing, continue to participate in the way that is most effective for your class. For ex-ample, you may want to become a member of a small group and take a turn reading your writing aloud or pass-ing your writing around for responses. Sometimes, however, you may decide that your presence in a smallgroup would make the students uncomfortable or less natural with each other. Students will value their ownwriting more when they see that you value the assignment enough to try it too, and watching you take risks willmake them feel more like taking risks too. Your own experience as a participant in the class' s "writing commu-nity" will also help you notice what is vorking and what isn't with the assignment, and you will also feel thesame kinds of apprehensions and rewards that the students do.

It is important also to model some of the activities that will be very new to the students, such as clustering. Asyou play with words and images, they will watch your creative process at work and see how ideas develop onthe spot. Even though you may not feel like the resident expert all the time, your students believe that you are,and they will appreciate your effort to demonstrate what you are teaching. Remember that we learn manythings by watching experts demonstrate, and writing can be effectively demonstrated just like you learned todance, play the clarinet, swing a baseball bat, or knead bread.

Brainstorming Activities: Listing and Clustering

During the first two weeks of class, students are overwhelmed by their new environment; this is a good time touse "listing" as an invention techniqueit's easy, quick, and helps people focus their thoughts when they'refeeling "brain-locked."

65 El c

First, use listing to generate class discussion; later ask students to choose one topic and freewrite about it for fiveminutes, then share this writing in a small group. The topics below can also be used as general categories to helpdevelop a longer essay. For example, when writing in response to the topic, "My Adjustment to College," a first-year student could write separate paragraphs about a) missing home, b) good things that have happened so far,c) my roommate, and d) things I'm worried about. The listing and freewriting will provide material for develop-ing each paragraph.

*List four tLings from home that you miss.

*List four things about this week that have been great/awful.

*List four characteristics of your roommate.

*List four worries that you have about being in college.

Clustering is another invention technique that is fun to use in class; one of its strengths is its visual nature. Whenclustering ideas, writers can get a visual picture of development and organization.

Suggested Topics

1. Comparing Social Life in College and High School

This is actually a difficult topic because it requires writers to compare two sets of details. First, writers must gen-erate the details, then examine and analyze them. Clustering will help writers see what information will workbest in their essay.

*In the middle of your page, write the word "friends." Draw lines from the words, "high school friends,"and at the end of each line, write a friend's name.

*Do the same for "college friends."

*Around the name of each friend, list words that you associate with that personwhat do you do to-gether? What social activities help constitute your relationship? Do this for both sets of friends.

This dustering activity generates details and associations that writers can use in describing their social activitiesin high school and college. Next, they will have to analyze the similarities and differences between details. Uselistings and categorizing to help in this process.

*List social activities that you do with both sets of friends.

*List social activities that are unique to each set.

*Create categories for the similarities and differences.

*Analyze your categories. What are the features that create similarities, differences?

2. How Family Values Help Me Succeed in College

The same approach of clustering and listing can be used in generating material for this topic.

*List your family members.

66

*Choose one member and write his/her name in the center of the page.

*Extend lines from the person's name toward the page's edges, =Id at the end of these lines, write wordsthat you associate with this person. What does this person like to do, eat, think about? What doeshe/she do with you that is especially enjoyable? Do this for one other family member.

*Examine the words you have written for each person: what features do these words have in common?Consider how what you do with a person, say to them, and think about them reflects your family'svalues.

*Freewrite for ten minutes about how one family member has helped you learn a set of values.

3. Greek Life

Help students explore their preconceptions and stereotypes about fraternities and sororities through someimaginative writing.

*Freewrite for five minutes: Describe the ideal fraternity or sorority member whom you would like tomeet at a party.

*Freewrite for five minutes: Describe the worst stereotype of a fraternity or sorority member.

Follow these activities with some listing activities:

*List what you believe are benefits from joining a fraternity or sorority.

*List what you believe are drawbacks resulting from joining a sorority or fraternity.

Ask students to ir. terview a "brother" or "sister" about actual benefits and drawbacks. They can then write upthese interviews and share them with the class, comparing the images and realities of Greek life.

4. Professors

Students need help in learning how to interact with their instructors, how to present themselves during conver-sations, and how to ask questions in class. Focused freewriting activities will help them discover strategies toimprove communication with their professors.

*List your present instructors.

*Pick one and list his/her characteristics.

*Freewrite for five minutes. How does this person expect you to behave during class discussion andduring individual conferences?

*Write an imaginary conversation between yourself and this professor. Evaluate this conversation.What went wrong? What went well?

*Describe the ideal student who is able to communicate effectively with his/her professors.

*What do you need to learn to be a dearer communicator with your professors?

67 7G

5. Sexual Identity /Activity

We all know that students need to talk and learn about sexual identity and activity, yet it may be very difficultfor them to feel comfortable discussing these topics in large groups. Individual journal writing in a journal thatis not read by others will help students find their thoughts and learn how to articulate their ideas for discussion.Assign journal topics for out-of-class writing; tell students they will not have to share their writing, but they willhave to identify ideas they are comfortable discussing. The writing that results from these topics is not meant tobe analytical, but to provide material for discussion that will lead to analysis.

*Explain why you do or do not believe students should have access to birth control through universityhealth centers.

*Describe your attitude toward the opposite sex.

*Explain why you do or do not believe sexual activity is acceptable before or outside of marriage.

*Describe your ideal partner.

*Describe your worst date.

6. Diversity Issues

Again, students may feel more comfortable talking about stereotypes and prejudices after they have had achance to write privately and focus their thoughts. Out- of -clac5 journal entries that are not shared should helpstudents prepare for discussion.

*List four groups of people who are different from you because of ethnicity, religion, race, or sexualorientation.

*Choose one group and freewrite for five minutes describing your stereotype of this group.

*Describe experiences you have had with representatives from this group of people.

*Review your writing: consider how your experiences reflect or are in conflict with your stereotypes.

7. Topics for Returning Adults

Adult students experience college differently than the average 18-year old freshman. They may have families,jobs, and many other responsibilities to balance with their academic lives. Writing topics should help such stu-dents express their apprehensions about being in college, about feeling "different" than most of the other stu-dents, about juggling their responsibilities, and about interacting with professors who may be their peers or maybe younger than they.

*Describe your strengths as a student. What characteristics and skills from other work you have donewill carry over to your college work?

'Describe your weaknesses. What skills do you feel you need the most help in developing?

* Describe the other students in your classes. What abilities to succeed do they seem to have that you feelyou do not? How can you develop these abilities?

68 7i

*List responsibilities at home or at work that you feel will interfere with your ability to be successful.

*List people you can call on to help you with household chores, child care, and any other dunes that cantake you away from your schoolwork.

*Describe your stereotype of the college professor.

*List your professors; choose one and describe him or her in detail. When do you feel comfortable talk-ing with this person? When are you intimidated or insecure? Write an imaginary conversation be-tween yourself and this professor that shows how you can communicate to your satisfaction Whatdo you need to do to be able to really communicate effectively with this professor?

Ten Tips for Creating Your Own Topics

When you are designing topics for student writing, use these techniques as you compose questions.

1. Begin with simple tasks: use listing, clustering, and freewriting in small increments. Ask students to describebefore asking them to explain.

2. Help students learn to analyze details by asking them to create categones that lend themselves to analysis.Ask them to look for similarities and differences.

3. Use the journalistic heuristic to write questions. Use who, what, where, when, why and how to begin questions

4. Avoid questions that lead to simple "yes" or "no" responses.

5. Create writing projects that build from listing and freewriting to essays.

6. Create connections between speaking and writing. Many topics about which you may be asking students towrite include stereotyped images and assumptions about behavior and values. Ask students to explore theirstereotypes by writing about them. Next, ask them to consider their actual experiences and compare the two.Finally, ask them to interview someone representative from the group about which they hold a stereotype, andexplore how the individual reacts to the stereotype of their group. For example, on the topic of date rape, askstudents to describe the typical rapist and separately, the typical rape victim. Compare their stereotyped de-scriptions to the statistics we now have on date-rape. Ask them to interview a person who has been trained towork as a volunteer at a rape-crisis center, and look for additional information about date-rape (they shouldknow, of course, that such volunteers will not reveal specific information).

7. Be creative and bring in imaginary writing tasks. Such tasks are fun and can be non-threatening becausethey are not personal. For example, when using writing to help students discover strategies for situations theymay not have yet experienced, use imaginary scenarios to generate discussion. For example, ask students towrite the conversation between the two parties struggling against a potential date-rape situation. Discuss waysto talk and listen to avoid date-rape, and then ask students to rewrite the conversation so that date-rape does notoccur. Similar activities can be developed around peer-pressure issues, such as drug and alcohol use.

8. Focus topics narrowly. For example, if you are discussing abortiona very difficult topic about which towrite clearlyask students to do five-minute freewriting before a focused discussion For example, ask studentsto list one context in which they think abortion is acceptable and then to list one context m which they thinkabortion is unacceptable. Finally, instruct students to choose one of these and wnte for five minutes, explainingtheir position.

69

9. Construct writing topics that address the positive first. For example, if you are discussing roommate rela-tionships, ask students first to describe the things they like about their roommates; then ask them to describe thethings that create conflict. Stressing the positive helps students recognize that their situation is not hopeless;with a more positive attitude, they will be more likely to find solutions.

10. Personalize topics. Students, when learning about issues that seem to exclude them personally, need to findpersonal connections. For example, in discussing prejudice and discrimination, ask students to write about atime they felt "out of place," ignored, or insulted. Ask them to describe what made them feel different from therest of "the crowd," and how they felt as a result. Use this material as a starting point for talking about differ-ences and prejudice. Another way in which to personalize a discussion of prejudice is to ask students to listwords or phrases"names"--they have been called or might be called, and then to choose one and write aboutits meaning and effect on their morale. Use this material to lead into a discussion about how language createsand reinforces prejudice.

Reference

Dillard, A. (1989). The writing life. New York: Harper and Row.

70