Earlier this summer I taught a class where I used in-class writing assignments extensively and was surprised by how effective it was as a pedagogical tool.
Each day I brought in a list of questions for students, although they were free to write about whatever they wanted as long as it somehow related to our readings. Most of their responses showed thoughful engagement with the texts and it was enormously helpful for me to read what they wrote. It provided immediate feedback on the kinds of things that they liked as well as on what they were not getting. I also had students bring in their own questions and asked them to talk about why they wanted to address that issue. In this way, the writing assignments helped shape class discusssion.
The questions I gave them were helpful in a number of ways. Writing them helped me prepare for class in general and it consistently reinforced to students the ways in which I wanted them to be reading and thinking. But I think the biggest success of the in-class writing was demonstrated at exam time where they had to write four essays. The class was very nervous and disgruntled about having to take an exam, but in the end most of them did extraordinarily well. I think this is because they had been writing off the top of their heads about the material on regular basis, which reinforced their knowledge and their thought.
So, I know that most people reading this blog are already well aware of the benefits of this type of assignment, and in a way I am preaching to the converted. However, I couldn’t resist sharing my success and encouraging educators to continue to integrate in-class writing into their pedagogy.
Many faculty with whom we work here at the Institute are often concerned with the added workload involved in assigning writing. Diana, could you you speak with the sort of work involved in using in-class writing in this way?
Reply to Mikhail
Preparing the questions for the in-class writing didn’t feel like extra work because it also helped me prepare for the discussion of the text. It helped me focus on what I wanted to talk about to write up those questions.
As for reading their daily work, this was a relatively small class - 17 students. So I was able to easily read them on the subway home after class. However, I don’t think it is necessary, if you are working with a larger group, to read all of it. I didn’t grade them, just gave them a check, and I rarely wrote comments. Perhaps with a larger class one could skim them, or just actually read half of them. The only problem I see with this is that sometimes students said something blatantly incorrect - those were the only times I commented, to make sure they knew. If you put a check on writing you haven’t read, you may be sending the message that what they said was “right” and in some cases it isn’t.
Maybe people who have done this with bigger classes have other strategies. I’d love to hear them.
Reply to Diana
This reminds me of a film class I had in college.
After seeing a film for the first time, we had to write a reaction paper. It was only 2-3 pages long and was only to be the first draft. The professor said that it was important to process our first impressions and that writing was a great way to do this. I still think about these papers 25 years later.
Now, imagine that an entire class could do this type of work and see each others’ work and comment/reflect on this work as well.
I believe this is an incredibly powerful tool. Thanks for the example.
Reply to Gerald
Thanks for sharing this. I have been using in-class reaction essays (5-7 minutes) with a course that I teach. It serves as a powerful way to get each student thinking at the top of each class meeting; by the time the discussion begins they are bursting with ideas. The class is small (20 students), so I am able to compose brief comments, also taking the first minute of each class to address how they did as a group. My feedback functions as an ongoing response to writing skills as they develop, which proves more influential than one or two sets of comments on longer papers they might get throughout the semester. Also–with these assignments–each student always leaves the classroom having expressed something and having communicated with me, whether or not they spoke up that day.
Reply to Kimberly